[ RadSafe ] Jeff Purcell Cornell Article ..

[Earley, Jack N]

Sandy Perle wrote, " Professional organizations have the right and duty to provide accurate information. In the end, the public needs to hear all sides of an issue and then they need to form a decision, an opinion, based on the best information available. Nobody is going to force a decision either pro or anti down the throats of an educated public."


Paternalistic governments constantly impose decisions--for our own good, of course. 

Simply providing accurate information isn't enough, as your LNT example shows. People primarily make decisions based on fear and greed, and fear of loss is five times more powerful than desire for gain. That's why most gamblers and so-called "investors" lose--they take profits too soon and let losses run too long--avoidance of pain until it hurts too much to continue. That's also why they're duped into making bad decisions--their emotional hot buttons are being pushed, frequently in the guise of "saving the children" or some such. At the GNEP meeting in Hood River, Oregon a few weeks ago, one woman (from the Hanford area) commented that she couldn't believe all of the hysteria she was hearing. An Oregon woman responded that she didn't think there was enough hysteria. 'Nuff said. . . .
 
 
Jack Earley
Health Physicist
509.372.9532