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Apropos strepdukakis
antinucleosis and an earlier question about my conspiracy, there
is also Alan Sokal's Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative
Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity (I wrote that from memory) essay originally
published in Social Text.
The conspiracy of ignorance masquerades as common sense.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, January 29, 2002 11:28
AM
Subject: Nuclear issues and role of
public opinion thread
Radsafe:
With
the numerous recent posts related to public opinion being a real, perceived,
or lamentable actor in nuclear technology related issues, it is interesting to
note a famous quote from Abraham Lincoln which he stated during his first
Lincoln-Douglas debate in August of 1858:
"With public sentiment,
nothing can fail; without it, nothing can succeed. Consequently, he who molds
public sentiment goes deeper than he who enacts statutes or pronounces
decisions." - Lincoln
I came upon this Lincoln quote in researching a
talk I was invited to give to the New England Chapter of the American Nuclear
Society in the fall of 1988 prior to the Dukakis-Bush, Sr. presidential
election. I prepared a talk titled: "Nuclear Power and Public Information --
Suicide on the Installment Plan" for this ANS meeting held at Seabrook
Station. This talk was based on my observations and experience in how the
nuclear power industry had [mis]handled its dealings with the public based on
my inside the industry experience from 1972 as an environmental radiation
monitoring scientist and some direct experience in public information efforts
within the industry.
In late 1988, prior to the election, I had
independently and on a lark authored a satire on the "health
hazards of strepdukakis antinucleosis" which was widely
published in a various major New England newspapers as well as Nuclear News
and the HPS Newsletter. This strepdukakis satire was published
in the Boston Herald and clearly got to the Dukakis presidential campaign.
After the satire was published in the HPS Newsletter, I received a
phone call from the Dukakis energy advisor wanting to know what were my
qualifications as an environmental scientist and if I was employed by the Bush
campaign! I had the pleasure of telling the critical energy advisor
caller from the Dukakis campaign that I had a graduate Public Health
degree from the UMass School of Public Health and 16 years experience at that
time in environmental studies. Further, I was a registered Independent voter
with no connection to the Bush campaign who wrote the satire
"strepdukakis health threat to the body politic" simply
because I felt that Massachusetts' Gov. Dukakis [who had held up the licensing
of Seabrook Station with a pocket veto in effect by refusing to cooperate in
emergency plan development] was a hypocrite on his energy and environmental
policies.
I believe the Lincoln observation from 1858 shows the genius
of Lincoln and the huge job facing the nuclear technologies industry if
it is to be fairly considered for power generation and other applications
where it could be meeting a variety of our society's needs.
Stewart
Farber, MS Public Health
Consulting Scientist
email:
SAFarberMSPH@cs.com
[203] 386-1224
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