Re: Suggestions? and MSC story to be on CBS- Misuse of language

[RADPROJECT@aol.com]

In a message dated 1/10/00 7:22:23 AM Eastern Standard Time, 
liptonw@dteenergy.com writes:

<< For the media, a "disaster" is something that:
 
 (1) people are scared of, and
 
 (2) people think could happen to them.
 
 Whether or not it's "fair," the JCO event meets both of these criteria.
 
 The opinions expressed are strictly mine.
 It's not about dose, it's about trust. >>
=======
When language is misused to the extent it commonly is in societal and media 
reporting, one has crossed into a very dangerous area. George Orwell warned 
about "The Misuse [or Corruption]  of Language" in a very insightful essay 
over 40 years ago,  and further warned in his book "1984" about the meaning 
of words being manipulated to mean whatever some self-serving ministry of 
information wanted them to mean [i.e.: black-white].

The word "disaster" has some implicit meaning in terms of magnitude of injury 
or loss that should not just be glossed over by equating one death to 
thousands of deaths in other cases, because the one death in an industrial 
accident involves radioactive material. 

While the loss of even one person in an accident is tragic,  I believe it not 
proper to casually equate it to disasters in which thousands died. This  is a 
corruption of language and thought that should not be tolerated, since it 
crosses over into propaganda.

Stewart Farber
Public Health Sciences
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