Fake News- a potted history of the 20th and 21st centuries
Another episode in our Neptune season and we turn to the subject of fake news. Actually, that in itself may be fake news as this really is going to be a wider consideration of media trends.
Indeed, I want to start by noting that although Neptune may have an association with modern day media, communications are fundamental to the human condition and most of the planets have something to say about it (no pun intended).
Of course, it is no surprise to note that we associate Mercury with messages and exchanges but we may forget that the Moon, representing the masses, includes gossip and common knowledge, and plays a big part in the dissemination of news and in scaremongering too. Jupiter has an association with publishing and publicity and expanding the number of people reached by any story. Even Mars plays a part as competitive sources fight, with propaganda, to become the dominant “truth” not to mention the more cruel and malicious elements. Then there is Venus, with her softly softly PR approach – just a snippet over a generous lunch perhaps? And Mars with Venus probably describes that insidious process of lobbying.
Furthermore the 21st century may have coined the phrase fake news but it most certainly doesn’t have a monopoly on media lies and half-truths- the people have always been gullible and society has always included those prepared to take advantage of the fact.
So what part does Neptune play? I think in some ways it is a fairly neutral one- it represents dissemination, with global reach and without limits so it is obviously relevant to the internet. However, Neptune does not care particularly about the truth, for Neptune all is true, as all possibilities exist co-terminously – all widely disseminated stories and memes are the domain of Neptune whatever their source or purpose.
However where Neptune is relevant on the internet is that even the term fake news is ambiguous. It can include:
• completely fictitious stories invented by students in their bedsits for a laugh ( although many are later taken as fact by readers)
• deliberately positioned stories by political bodies or corporates to encourage a particular perspective (propaganda) or sell a particular product (advertorials);
• stories and views proffered by “influencers”- these are almost always operating in a Neptune driven environment and often fail to disclose what they are being paid to do or say
These may or may not be related to the political bodies or corporates mentioned above
• Stories circulated by people or groups who care only for what they can earn from advertisers for “eyeballs”- they don’t care about the truth, only whether it is sufficient to form clickbait – so the more salacious the better
• Memes which start out as legitimate but lose connection with their original content so that the meaning changes as people share them
• Negative statements repeatedly frequently (used by people such as Trump) to undermine real news content by referring to it as fake news
What pulls those altogether is the fact that the reader will have no idea of the original source of the content, will not know the purpose or motivations of the creators and will not understand the financial and other benefits that may accrue to those creators as a result of the direct dissemination of the content or the behaviour of the readers thereafter. That is very Neptunian.
So, where should be start if we want to consider modern fake news? If we want to look at social media and the internet there is no better place than the Neptune/Uranus conjunction of the 1990s. But as I said, I want this to be broader as other media and even face to face PR still plays a part in the mass delusions of the current day.
I think this means that we need to turn once more to the Neptune Pluto cycle that started in 1891/2 at 7 Gemini as that best describes the wider cycle that we find ourselves in. Our first chart is therefore for that conjunction.
And of course it was in Gemini. Usually I am discussing what this means in terms of the trade cycle, but in this case it is more relevant to look at Gemini as the Mercury ruled sign of communications and exchange. Clearly we were starting a cycle where media was going to be important. Indeed one of the first reference to the term “fake news“ appears in the 1890s.
But it is a long cycle and it takes a long time to form a new aspect between the two planets. Our first significant aspect was the semi-square, in orb in the early 1930s. 1933 for example was the year that Hitler established a Ministry of Propaganda. But even before then, we can see the tentacles of Nazi influence in the Völkischer Beobachter which restarted on 26 Feb 1925
We can see immediately the Uranus Neptune quincunx at 20 degrees, activated by the Moon. But we also see the Mars-Pluto square strengthened by Jupiter and Saturn forming a rectangle, close enough in orb of Neptune for its influence to be felt.
The chart for the formation of the Ministry is even sharper.
As well as being semi-square Pluto, Neptune is conjunct Mars on the South Node and quincunx Mercury- lies are centre stage. And not only do we have the semi-square with Pluto but a sesquiquadrate with Uranus too. Unfortunately, though unsurprisingly in hindsight, there is a lot of power in the chart.
So let’s leave it there and move on to the happier times of the 1950s and the beginning of the advertising golden age. This, as we know, was the start of the Neptune Pluto sextile. Neptune is in by now in shiny glossy Libra.
However, before we cheer the sparkles, we should note some of the similarities to the 1933 chart. Now Uranus is semi-square Pluto and Mercury is square Neptune. Neptune remains in the same sign as Mars, although they are not close enough for a conjunction, and Mars is still conjunct the South Node. This may not be a time of such harsh messages but the public are perhaps no less susceptible to being manipulated than before. Nowadays we are wise to many of the games advertisers played in the 1950s through to the 1980s but at the time we were drawn in by those messages.
The Sextile remained in orb throughout that whole 3 decade period, making its final sextile of the era in 1986, peak Saatchi and Saatchi days.
We can see from this that media influence is nothing new. But what of the more recent “internet years”?
There were three conjunctions between Neptune and Uranus in 1993 and the first two are relatively un-aspected. The third however is rather more interesting.
There is a sextile with Mars ( interesting how this planet seems to come into play in so many of these charts) and Mercury and these planets enable to some extent the re-activation of the Pluto Neptune sextile. There is also a semi-square with the node.
We know how this conjunction correlates with the rise of the internet but we can also see how the inclusion of Mars creates the conditions for competition, whether for eye-balls or of opinions. There is definitely the potential for things to get out of hand in this chart- although there is also the potential for crackdowns and regulation by governments with Saturn square Mars and Pluto and trine the Sun and Jupiter.
Of course in 1993 Neptune was in sedate Capricorn, so while the seeds were being sown, there was no particular wave of fake content at that point.
Neptune moving into Aquarius increased the potential and there was certainly a bit increase in the amount of fake advertorial, not to mention the explosion of memes at this point.
But it was Neptune moving into amorphous Pisces around 2012 that really provided the conditions for the fake new industry to take off. The increasing problem was identified by Craig Silverman in 2014-16.
We see it reaching a peak in the USA around the 2020 election, and especially in December 2020 when Neptune was Square the node and THE Sun/Mercury conjunction. The nodal square was almost exact on 6th January 2021 coinciding with the storming of the Capitol.
Where do we go from here?
I am afraid it can get worse before it gets better with Jupiter conjoining Neptune in Pisces in April 2022. But we also cannot ignore the fact that we have not yet reached the Neptune Uranus sextile which coincides with the return of the Pluto Neptune cycle ( and thus Uranus Pluto too) in the late 2020s. This suggests to me that the greatest peak of fake news has yet to manifest.
But can you believe me?!!!!!!!
