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Re: perception and reality
Unfortunately this is entirely wrong, AND doesn't work.
You may have influenced a lightweight reporter.
S/he likely won't be there in a year.
Following this kind of poor advice, a senior scientist worked with a senior
NYT reporter. Later, a fear-mongering article appeared on the front page.
When confronted by "you know that's wrong" the reporter replied: "I won't
tell you how to do nuclear physics, and you won't tell me how to do
journalism."
Joby Warrick wrote, with color graphic editing, etc., a major
above-the-fold article Washington Post on Japanese survivors outliving the
unexposed population, following a long working relationship with a renown
expert. The Washington-crawlers of the NCRP, HPS, NCI, and other minions of
the Regulatory Agencies etc. got to the editors.
Never again. After a substantial continuing dialog and interest in
follow-up, Warrick went silent. He later won awards for fear-mongering
articles on Paducah and DOE's lies that they were killing-all-the-workers.
He "learned how to do journalism." Honest journalists, like honest research
scientists, usually find more rewarding careers. Like selling real estate in
one case where the researcher gave up fighting DOE.
The USCEA stuff was crap. Reporters work for people, like HPs. They too want
to keep their jobs and advance in their careers. They too follow directions,
or sacrifice their careers. They too keep silent. They too lie to satisfy
their masters. The greatest joke of all, is that they too say "We must lie
in order to maintain our credibility!?" :-)
If you want to make a difference, first get real about why the fraud
continues while the science has refuted the "facts" for >100 years!
Otherwise don't bother complaining here.
(EPA reply brief to the Safe Drinking Water Act lawsuit is due Aug 19! Is
anyone serious about correcting the ongoing fraud?)
Thank you, Larry. I do NOT mean this personally! I was duped by the "good
guys" (their prime directive is: "Do not make waves with the gov't no matter
how dishonest they are." :-)
Regards, Jim
============
on 8/14/02 6:25 PM, Grimm, Lawrence at LGrimm@FACNET.UCLA.EDU wrote:
> Radsafers:
>
> Boy I hate getting in these kinds of discussions, but my button's been pushed.
>
> In USCEA (now NEI)public speaking training, I learned the three hit theory of
> peoples' perceptions of reality. Essentially it states that when told
> something three times, without any countering information, a person will come
> to believe what they have been told. It is a foundation tool of the marketing
> industry. It is why the anti-nuclear folk are so much more successful than we
> are in "selling" their product/beliefs. How do you prevent people from
> believing a falsehood? Simply counter the information with your own hit.
>
> I suggest that you follow my example and send the reporter an email to counter
> his built-in belief that radiation is bad, bad, bad. It may take awhile (it
> took me one year to get one reporter to be neutral), but you can change them
> (to at least a neutral belief). I recommend that you email the reporter
> something akin to what Michael Stabin wrote which compares responses/real risk
> to the different emergencies. It has high emotional impact, which helps to
> break through the person's (false) belief. Please be tactful if you do email
> him - really review it to make sure it does not attack him personally,
> otherwise you can kiss your effort goodbye.
>
> Countering false beliefs is a never ending battle. It is tough, takes
> commitment and you must have patience when your efforts do not work right
> away.
>
> PS: It is nigh on impossible to correct the anti-nuclear bias "hit" that all
> the people reading the article got. You can only hope that this guy's future
> writings will counter this hit today.
>
> Larry Grimm, Senior HP
> UCLA EH&S/ Radiation Safety Division
> * lgrimm@admin.ucla.edu Phone:310/206-0712 Fax: 310/206-9051
> Cell: 310/863-5556 Pager:1-800-233-7231ext93569
> * On Campus: 501 Westwood Plaza, 4th Floor, MS 951605
> * Off Campus: UCLA Radiation Safety Div, 501 Westwood Plaza 4th
> Fl, Box 951605, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1605
> * If this email is not RSD business, the opinions are mine, not
> UCLA's.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Michael G. Stabin [mailto:michael.g.stabin@vanderbilt.edu]
> Sent: Wednesday, August 14, 2002 12:51 PM
> To: radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu
> Subject: Re: perception and reality, my foot
>
>
>> Dismissing people with concerns as stupid or inferior will only
>> reenforce their fears.
>> ...those who want to continue their elitist and condescending approach to
> public concerns:
>
> As noted by others, however, and I agree, the overreaction was not so much
> by "the public", but by those who dispatched hundreds of emergency workers
> to pick up a box of dirty tools off the roadway (thanks for the correction,
> Rick). Perception is not reality by a long shot. In my post, there were only
> words copied from web pages, but under those words was a reality. Two human
> beings died in an inferno caused by a truck crash in Orlando and six other
> human beings were crushed and mangled to death in Oklahoma by a truck
> carrying peaches. These people were probably horribly frightened and
> suffered pain before they died. Their families and friends had to attend a
> funeral. Their beds at home and perhaps desks at work are now vacant. That's
> reality. In the low level rad waste incident, absolutely no one was harmed,
> but officials massively overreacted and scared the public. Then the
> disingenuous politicos jumped on the situation to show how "inherently
> dangerous" the whole nuclear industry is, and tried to tie it to Yucca
> Mountain. Did these same critics suggest that we also shut down the
> petroleum and peach industries? Noting this is not elitist or condescending,
> it's just an attempt to state the point that the reactions were
> inappropriate, and that things shouldn't happen that way in the future.
>
> Mike
>
> Michael G. Stabin, PhD, CHP
> Assistant Professor of Radiology and Radiological Sciences
> Department of Radiology and Radiological Sciences
> Vanderbilt University
> 1161 21st Avenue South
> Nashville, TN 37232-2675
> Phone (615) 343-0068
> Fax (615) 322-3764
> e-mail michael.g.stabin@vanderbilt.edu
> internet www.doseinfo-radar.com
>
>
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