Inappropriate comparisons

[Peter Crane <pgcrane@erols.com>]

Last week, there were a number of messages on RADSAFE when National
Public Radio had the temerity to quote Dave Lochbaum of the Union of
Concerned Scientists.  As Glenn Carlson pointed out in a message, the
agitation was not over the substance of what Lochbaum said -- that was
beside the point -- but rather that NPR should have asked him, rather
than someone more to Bernard Cohen's liking, for comment.  Sandy Perle
responded that to defend UCS was like defending Hitler.
    Mr. Lochbaum doesn't need me to defend him; he can defend himself,
or let his record do so.  Maybe someone from NEI could write in about
how NEI and Mr. Lochbaum agreed in recommending to the NRC that it scrap
its SALP evaluations, which the industry found so objectionable.  That
doesn't sound to me like the action of a knee-jerk anti-nuke.
      But even if Mr. Lochbaum were wrong on every issue, what
conceivable basis can there be for comparing him to Hitler?  Has
discourse in this country sunk to such a level of crudity and incivility
that every person we disagree with must be likened to Hitler?  Not only
is this a loathsome slur on the particular individual, it also demeans
the memory of those who died at Hitler's hands.  Sandy Perle would do
well to offer a prompt apology to Dave Lochbaum and Glenn Carlson, and
to do so publicly, here on RADSAFE.  
            
Peter Crane
pgcrane@erols.com
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