Re: Anti-nuclear sentiment

[Holloway3@aol.com]

It seems that some are mystified about the reasons for so much anti-nuclear 
sentiment.  It certainly seems that a rational approach to power generation 
would include nuclear power as an acceptable source of power.  But we may be 
misunderstanding how people form their opinions.  Recently,  I have read some 
of Mark Twain's writing on how people form opinions.  He was mainly talking 
about opinions on religion and politics but his remarks would serve just as 
well in regard to opinions on any subject.  Mark Twain claims that  people 
form their opinions not on the basis of rationality but through the influence 
of their relatives, friends and neighbors.  He shows that this seems to be 
the case of religion especially, where religious views are very strongly 
influenced by association, rather than rationality.   He also mentions 
"cornpone opinions", to the effect that the source of one's daily bread also 
influences opinions.  I think Mark Twain is probably right about how people 
form their opinions.  If so, those who are hoping that nuclear power will be 
evaluated on the basis of rationality will probably be disappointed. Only 
when the public begins to view nuclear power as necessary for their well 
being, will their attitudes change.  In other words, self interest is 
probably a much stronger factor than rationality in determining attitudes 
towards all things nuclear.    
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