linear etc..etc...etc......

[JMUCKERHEIDE@delphi.com]

Todd Jackson writes:

> Followup to A. Tschaeche:
> 
> You comment that public opinion is "wrong".  Public opinion isn't
> right or wrong, it just is!  You may perceive it as right or
> wrong but that doesn't make your perception any more correct than
> anyone else's.  I do think you reflect the opinion of many others

That's really wrong :-)  

> (especially on radsafe), but our only option is to work at
> changing the reality of public opinion and adding more logic and
> common sense to it.  
> Loudly proclaiming the public to be wrong and telling members of
> the public to trust the experts isn't the way to change the
> general opinion; that only happens by showing receptive

I think you are misreading Al's point. He's not doing what you accuse him of
doing. He is not "loudly proclaiming..."  He is making a point that the public 
is wrong only among us, and seeking ways to deal with correcting that
erroneous perception. He's NOT proposing to just go tell the public its wrong
and "trust us experts". He wants ideas about how to go about developing ways
to engage the public in order to provide for its education and development of
confidence. 

> individuals your reasons and facts.  That's what we try to do as
> contributors to radsafe and that's what we should do more of
> outside radsafe.

Right! But that doesn't mean you/we can't say the public is "wrong", though we 
might euphemize it as "misled". (Obviously there is no need to get a message
to the public if there is no "misperception" to correct. It's better to deal
here with how to do it/what than to worry about the semantics here in
discussing what actions are appropriate.  

> Todd Jackson
> tjj@nrc.gov
> 
> Opinion is my own, reviewed by none, questioned by some.

Thanks.

Regards, Jim Muckerheide
jmuckerheide@delphi.com