Re: NIMBY for Nevada residents

[Dave Derenzo <dave@UIC.EDU>]

I think that what was meant by the original saying (not the same as what 

was in the message that started this thread) was that if someone perceives 

something to be a problem, it is a problem.  The problem is very real, 

although it is not scientific in nature, rather, it is psychological in 

nature.  People who go into Health Physics are generally the types who make 

decisions based on science and facts.  We also need to remember that there 

are a lot of other people out there who make decisions on a more emotional 

level.  It is hard for us to understand them, and vice versa.  If we all 

stubbornly stick to "just the facts" when dealing with perception, we will 

never get anywhere.  So much of the bantering back and forth on this list 

with the "antis" is in this category.  And many of the messages in this 

tread belie the fact that we do not understand how to deal with perceived 

risks.  If you try to beat these folks over their heads with facts and 

science, you are wasting your time, they will just dig in deeper.  They did 

not take their stance based on facts and science, but rather on 

psychological grounds (whether they know it or not).  There is an 

appropriate saying - If you use the same approach, you will get the same 

results.  Maybe a different approach is in order (I am not an expert in 

this area, but there are a lot of books that one can read on this 

subject).  Lastly I would like to say that even if you approach the problem 

from a more psychological perspective, you still may not be able to solve 

perception problems.  As I am fond of saying, you can't convince the 

un-convincible.  But you may be able to avoid putting them on the 

defensive, which will improve our collective credibility with others.  We 

may not win every battle that way, but we may win the war. (Sorry for all 

the cliches in this message, maybe I should have gone sports-casting).



Dave Derenzo, RSO

University of Illinois at Chicago



At 09:14 AM 3/11/02, you wrote:



>On Fri, 8 Mar 2002, William V Lipton wrote:

>

> > Perception is reality; just deal with it.

>

>         --Are you implying that we should not fight like hell to correct

>it? If you are, let me propose an exercise for you.

>         Public perception is that nuclear power is much more dangerous

>than coal burning power. But scientific analyses show that a coal burning

>power plant, over its life time will kill about 1000 people, while a

>nuclear plant would kill an average of less than one. The exercise I

>propose is for you to picture yourself explaining to each of these 1000

>people that they must die because public perception is wrong. How would

>you do it? If it were me I would say that I have been fighting with all my

>might to change that public perception, and that is all I can do.

>

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