For an American journalist, or perhaps just speaking for myself, the loss of Keith Olberman on the nightly news is the equivalent of the Beatles breaking up. What is amazing is in part that an Olbermann, whose analysis not only critiqued the global power system but dismantled it for everyone to see, existed; what is more amazing is that he could be the top-rated show on a major cable network. If there were about a million a night watching him, that tells you there are a heck of a lot of wide-awake people and many more on the way. That’s what he meant when he said he was more amazed by his audience than they were by him.
Olbermann announced last night that it was his last edition of Countdown, after a nearly eight-year run. NBC ended the contract; that’s basically how Keith put it in a brief farewell to his viewers. The decision coincides with the recent federal approval of Comcast partnering with NBC-Universal. Its current and transitioning-out parent company is General Electric, purveyors of light bulbs, missile parts and toxic global misery (radiation, dioxin, PCBs, yadda). I was impressed that a bastion of integrity grew up in its house, but sometimes that’s how it is: narrow, conservative parents producing a great artist for a child.
Comcast has issued a stark denial that it had nothing to do with the decision, and that it had promised not to influence the news divisions of NBC. Perhaps that may be true — but what other statement would its publicists approve? So when there is just one possibility given, it’s a good idea to look at the others.
One thing to consider is that NBC is notoriously bad to its top talent, whether we’re talking Conan or Phil Donohue. They don’t seem to care about popularity; you have to hand it to them for being so boldly individualistic, or perhaps stupid.
Looking at just one chart — the announcement that Friday’s was the last program — one of the main clues that a relationship is about to change is that Jupiter (the ruler of the 7th house of relationships) is about to change signs, from Pisces to Aries. By whole sign houses, it goes from the 7th house of relationships to the 8th house of transformation. So a relationship is on the brink of change. The thing about the 7th is that it would be the ruler of the corporate parents (the ‘other’ in the relationship) and the ingress into the 8th has a feeling of corporations and lots of resources changing hands, which is an inherent meaning of the 8th.
Right near the cusp (properly, the peak) of that 8th house, in late Aries, is Eris — which in mythology is about the unleashing of chaos and to me is about the chaos of the Western identity crisis, so profoundly mingled with corporate memes. How many people proudly wear Nike hats and shirts not only to be part of the club but to provide themselves with some sense of identity in the world? There are nightclubs in Paris you can’t get into without the right brands of apparel. The brand becomes the product and the identity. This is an unexamined sickness, with its roots in tribalism, that we really need to look at, so we can take back that energy and do something creative with it.