RE: CSI Miami I-131 Episode

[RuthWeiner@AOL.COM]

I believe the problem arises because most people's experience of ionizing radiation and radioactive materials is not only fictional, but just this kind of fiction.  Most people have enough experience with lawyers and doctors to know that fictional protrayals don't apply to all members of a profession and can be exaggerated. 



Having said that, I recall that a few months ago number of  AMA members took ER (I think) to task for portraying complete recovery of stroke and heart attack victims.  The AMA members pointed out that most people admitted to emergency rooms with severe acute heart problems are elderly and rarely recover anything like completely normal functioning.  So they are concerned too. 



My main point is that most people's experience of radiation is what is portrayed in entertainment venues, and it's almost always adverse. How about  show where a Tc-99 injectionfinds a severe fracture?  How about a sci-fi show in which a nuke plant saves a community from total blackout?  I don't think one ever sees those.



Finally, it's not "just entertainment."  Movies like "The Best Years of Our Lives," "schindler's List," and "Marty,"  the muckraking novels of Upton Sinclair, "It Can't Happen Here" by Sinclair Lewis, "The Crucible" by Arthur Miller, the opera "Wozzeck," the plays of Berthold Brecht, and Picasso's "Guernica," just to name a few, are all powerful and influential social commentary.  The last, in fact, is so powerful that the current US administration looks on it with disfavor.  



I disagree with Sandy.  It is important to speak out regarding distorted portrayals of radiation, no matter how fictional they are.



Ruth Weiner, Ph. D.

ruthweiner@aol.com 

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