Pluto and Free Speech

If Pluto had his way, no dots would ever get connected in America. We'd stay confused, mentally worn down, bedazzled by fluff, hypnotized or made fearful by what's becoming known as the mainstream media echo chamber. Mercury figures stuff out, analyzes, deals with the facts at hand. And in the 1776 Sibly chart, Mercury and Pluto are in opposition. Lately, authority (Pluto) has grown monstrous, stooping so low as to take Mercury's fact-finding tools -- reporter's notebooks, laptops, cameras. The witness aspect of Mercury is under attack by a power structure desperate to control what's in the public discourse. Faced with the threat of an out-of-control Pluto, Mercury gets frightened and grows silent. It makes Americans vulnerable to things like mind control and psych-ops.

And this tense face-off is a key to understanding why the powers-that-be go to such lengths to block voices that offer another perspective. Pluto is a planet of extremes and compulsion, and now, with the pre-emptive arrests of activists in Minneapolis, as reported in Salon.com and elsewhere, there's an attempt to criminalize free speech. Any American that cares about civil liberties should be alarmed that a ramshackle Earth Justice bus was pulled over and towed away, leaving its owners by the side of the highway.

In her book Soul-Sick Nation, Jessica Murray calls the Mercury-Pluto opposition, one of the major plotlines in the American story. Writes Murray, "Wherever it is placed, Pluto points to a highly charged situation that nobody wants to name. The aspect in question suggests fear of recognizing the truth (Pluto) even when discussing known facts (Mercury)." The new phrase I hear lately is cognitive dissonance to describe the hash and re-hash that never gets to what the collective hungers for -- genuine, authentic, resounding, deep truth. Hidden power interests (the corporate bottom line, political pressure) pollutes the waters, buries what Mercury tries to discern about what's going on.

Pluto, hiding his human face under riot gear, looks intimidating, it's true. The hidden power, those dispatching this army against Mercury never have to do the dirty work themselves. But the dehumanized robocop is a symbolic image, of the brutal face of America, like Pluto's shadow realm, are a dimension of who we are. It's power gone wild, without the balance of Mercury's clarity and discernment. Last week in Denver, a group of active service members from Iraq Veterans Against the War marched to present a letter to the Democrats, but were kept back by a line of police. One marine said it was simply a "communications problem," adding, "I'm sure there are some good Americans in there (the DNC) that would not be okay with a bunch of Iraq Vets getting arrested if we don't go home...but this is my home. This is my home."

It takes courage to speak up, when America is showing its authoritarian side. But we can take heart that we've been to this dark place before in our history, and democracy survived. Pluto territory is taboo, and there's been a lot of fear seeded about getting angry in America. But anger is a motivator, it alerts us to something out of whack, and can light a fire under us to act. When more of us overcome that fear of expressing anger about what's going on, it sets us on a road back from these extremes, blatant lies and manipulation. We'll have mastered this built-in tension as a nation, when we stop fearing dangerous truths, and see them as a catalyst for Plutonian transformation.

• Democracy in Peril: AP Photographer, Amy Goodman among four journalists arrested at RNC
• How to Create an Angry American