Re: WIPP shipment through Albq. NM

["Vincent King" <slavak@bresnan.net>]

----- Original Message ----- 

From: "William V Lipton" <liptonw@DTEENERGY.COM>

To: "Steven Dapra" <sjd@swcp.com>

Cc: <radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu>

Sent: Tuesday, January 13, 2004 5:29 AM

Subject: Re: WIPP shipment through Albq. NM





.......Overall, I'll take my chances with an irrational pubic over having an

elite group of "the best and the brightest" tell me what's good for me.....

>

> Bill Lipton

> liptonw@dteenergy.com

>



*******************************************



Not me!  If I start having symptoms of a heart attack, I'm calling 911, not

a neighborhood meeting!



I trust people who have taken the time to learn something about what they

are talking about over people that haven't.  The more it has to do with my

personal safety and health, the more strongly I am inclined to go to the

experts.



Sure, a few experts are snobs at times, but to look down one's nose at

everyone who has gone to

the effort to learn something in depth and tag them as "elitist" is itself a

form of snobbery.



This is not a slam on 'the public' - it's just that they are, by

definition, less informed than the experts.  Leaving decisions to 'the

public' means they will more likely be guided by daytime television than by

facts and sound principles.  Human rights may be advanced by popular vote,

but technology is not.



By the way, if the public is continually coddled with "your fears are valid"

rather than hard facts and data, there will never be a change in their

opinion, because they would see no reason for a change. Educating the public

involves contradicting their unfounded perceptions.  Most members of the

public expect the experts to provide them with solid information.  Of

course, the more tactfully this can be done, the more effective it usually

is.



Vincent King

Grand Junction, CO



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