This is no ordinary weekend in the history of the world; no ordinary moment in humanity’s relationship to technology. As I write, crews of nuclear engineers are working against the clock to prevent the meltdown of not one but at least two atomic reactors, both of which are being flooded with seawater in a last-ditch attempt to keep the core from melting through the containment structure. It is probable that both have already experienced partial meltdowns, whatever that means. Five separate nuclear plants are in crisis at once. This is the first time in history that we are witnessing and indeed experiencing the simultaneous failure of multiple nuclear devices. These are a mere 170 miles from one of the biggest population centers in the world, in the midst of a powerful technological society that has been brought to its knees by a natural event.
A nuclear disaster is the time when we need society’s infrastructure the most. And as we are seeing, it’s the time when we’re least likely to have it available. With Japan already devastated, this is the last thing people need to be thinking about; therefore it’s the first thing that the planners of society — and make no mistake, society is planned — should be thinking about but evidently lack the common sense to do so. But somehow I doubt that these same engineers go home and light a candle in a wicker basket next to the drapery.
I am aware that the veil of denial, secrecy and lies that go hand in hand with splitting the atom have provided us with a population that is largely ignorant of the risks of what happens when you do so. There is not an ‘anti-nuclear’ movement to speak of. There are definitely some dedicated activists and mostly a few informed people who don’t like living an hour away from a decrepit nuclear plant that’s sitting on a fault line, as I am right now.
Nuclear power is a world of deception. There’s a reason that Harry Truman had to get on the radio a few hours after he ordered the bombing of Hiroshima and tell the American people that God told him to do it, and that Hiroshima was a military base. God didn’t tell him, and Hiroshima was an ordinary city going about its business. There was simply no other way he could justify murdering 150,000 civilians in an instant, and another 150,000 a few days later.
It’s the nuclear angle of Friday’s earthquake that makes this a global issue. It is the nuclear angle that raises the matter to the highest level of discussion of where technology meets ethics — or where it should. Indeed, the only way to advocate for the further use of nuclear power is to suspend all ethics; to disown any respect for humanity. If you don’t get the problem with nuclear power, you probably don’t get it, period.
Nuclear power is a technology that cannot be controlled. We are seeing evidence of that now. Of course, on a good day, it can be temporarily controlled; but that’s not the day we have to worry about.
The day we have to worry about is today, when five of these reactors, built on a volcanic island along a fault line, are in some level of distress that we don’t really know the extent of. The fact that we don’t know how bad this problem is does not, in itself, mitigate the problem. In fact, it’s a big part of the problem. Paraphrasing someone who wrote on my Facebook wall, the information time lag on this situation has become one of the most effective political manipulation tools in existence.
Tonight is the night to think about nuclear power. It’s the night to consider how a society can go from everything being perfectly normal one day to a situation so frightening it’s difficult to look even at a photo; too horrid to consider even a few facts objectively; so sad there are not enough tears to shed.
My friend Anatoly, the technician who runs the website we share and who accompanies me online about 18 hours a day, lives in the Ukraine, not so far from where the Chernobyl accident happened in 1986. We are both fans and admirers of a photographer named Elena Filatova, who has traveled many miles on her motorcycle within the Zone of Exclusion of the Ukraine, documenting the devastation with her camera.
What I love about Elena’s work is how starkly and yet with such utter compassion she portrays what happens when nuclear power goes wrong. She understands this is not a technical or a political issue. She reminds us that it’s a human issue. Please take a look at this short film she made based on her travels through the city of Pripyat and the Zone of Exclusion.
Tonight Japan is struggling to control not one but many reactors that are threatening to run out of control. It’s not merely that a meltdown could inflict slow death on many, and sicken tens (or hundreds) of thousands of people, wipe out an entire region of Japan and contaminate the North Pacific region as far away as Seattle. It’s that there are hundreds more of these devices, all of them near population centers, many on fault lines, and all run by imperfect humans. Many are manufactured by General Electric and Westinghouse — two companies I assure you have no interest in safety; they don’t even understand the concept.
The day we have to worry about nuclear power is today: particularly while we sit here uncertain what tomorrow is going to bring, as brave dedicated people give their lives to try to stop this impending doom, while hundreds of thousands of people are being moved away from their homes, out of the potential path of radiation.
And the day we have to worry about is a thousand years in the future, when someone builds a city on a nuclear waste dump not knowing it’s there, having no idea what it even is.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWYR5i0tMuA
http://www.cbc.ca/news/yourcommunity/2011/03/citizen-byte-japan-earthquake—philippe-mckie.html
Question (hand raised,.. and this is damned serious, I’m not fuckin’ off now), Who out there has the capacity to get the first hand facts in, not the Bullshit media factory, but the god-damned fucking facts of what is going on within the vicinities of this global fucking disaster, and tell me what the fuck is going on??!!
Got it?
Keep the pie-holes running, sure. But give me some god-damned fucking substance! (and I aint talkin’ about the ‘theory’ Bullshit).
..accountability..
..not persecution..
..accountability..
Let’s work on bio-profit (..probably some sci-fi alien maleficent term[?]) (..fuck-it, they’ve already stolen all the titles anyway!!..)
Really, we’ve got a lot to talk about..
Jere
US Senator Joe Lieberman is calling for a halt to new nuclear construction in the US, changing his previous position of support for nuclear energy to one of “let’s see how this develops” He is not calling for an end to it but is definitely calling for serious reconsideration, based on the fact that a significant number of the reactors in the US are the same type as those which are failing in Japan:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/03/13/ftn/main20042619.shtml?tag=newsvine
It’s encouraging to know not everyone is digging their heels in on this.
Pam, good public relations (related as that is to public perceptions – erroneous or otherwise) requires diligence and exercising a sense of responsibility. It does not mean that the Japanese authorities are preparing for the worst. These 24 hour news loops struggle to fill content – consequently, any new sensation or ‘report’ is hyped up.
Ridiculous! Unfortunately, the disaster per se is now being unhelpfully mingled with nuclear speculations. That’s poor form from the press.
So many ‘experts’ are being trawled up that it’s difficult to keep track! The Daily Mail is a rag though. Sorry!
Unfortunately, the nuclear risk coverage is ramping up the fear levels. We need to be quelling fears not amplifying them. We need to trust the Japanese authorities at this point. I see no reason not to. They are an honourable, integrity-upholding bunch, it seems to me.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1365781/Japan-earthquake-tsunami-Fears-second-explosion-nuclear-power-plant-exclusion-zone-facility-widened.html
If you scroll down to the bottom to the video interview from ITN news their expert says Japan is clearly preparing for the worst case, (because they’re evacuating people up to 20 km and journalists aren’t allowed closer than 60km).
Even if it is just in case
I appreciate how people have responded to the original article. Thank you Half De Witte for tossing in the premise of plausibility structures (and the wiki link to help expand my little brain) and Kelly’s heartfelt description of that we are encountering as witnesses.
When I hear/watch the officials explain the nuclear disaster, I have a visceral response that immediately makes me wary. From the expert from the University of Georgia, to the Japanese officials, my internal warning flags have gone off since the beginning. I do not think questioning anyone about anything is fear mongering. We need to ask more questions. Reporters need to return to the art of reporting by digging and finding out what really is going on.
Kelly’s posting reminds me that to this day, I have not been able to look at any footage of hurricane Katrina. I have not wanted to see or carry those images in my mind and even years later, I look away. For some reason, however, I have watched the Japanese story with great interest. There is part of me that understands how horrific it all is and yet there is a part of me that understands from a deeper level that somehow it all is okay.
For me, it seems like a time to watch. I want to remain peaceful. The bubbling over of war, coups, raw emotions, disasters, unrest, etc. seem to me that the collective ego senses its own death and it is acting as if it were real.
dy
To our horror, we had to watch so many people meet their deaths in front of our eyes in realtime television. Part of me was disgusted with that part of myself that was entranced with what seemed like a blockbuster movie. My only reminder that it was real was a gutted feeling of complete helplessness.
I search their faces exposed to the camera and exhausted by the ordeal but I can’t see the magnitude of their grief. The quite Japanese should be grieving, falling to the earth and convulsing, as is only right for real human beings that have suffered such devastation.
That is not a luxury they can indulge into because the right to do so has been taken away from them.
They are not out of danger and they carry a collective wound of what nuclear power can do: Nagasaki and Hiroshima.
Can we all pretend a little stoicism, fatalism or denial about plutonium and uranium?
We’ve probably already transcended nuclear power, or nearly so, with the Hadron Collider, don’t you imagine? What we need is the quantum weirdness that millions of minds can produce by imagining a thing to be so. Mustn’t rule out the law of attraction when you need it the most. We could be toast, or not. our choice.
This is an interview with Bill Nye
http://cnn.com/video/?/video/world/2011/03/13/nr.nye.nuclear.reactors.cnn
speaking of enough already… I tried to click on that bloglog link
and couldn’t get anywhere. ‘Jus sayin’ 😉
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1365536/Japan-earthquake-tsunami-Thousands-undergo-radioactive-screening-explosion.html
(Wonderful seed catalogue Jere)
Should we perhaps seek to find a middle way in this standoff of diametrically opposed views?
Perhaps the way to take a constructive approach is to introduce the notion of Plausibility Structures:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plausibility_structure
I think it clear that such structures carry latent assumptions. These tend to take on collective characteristics and therefore harbour the seeds of ideology. We benefit from taking a deliberate stance regarding the nature of ideology. This would require interrogation of it, with a series of questions such as “Is it all good or all bad?” “If neither, then what aspects are helpful/unhelpful?” etc
Now, the environmental movement in any of its major manifestations, carries Plausibility Structures and these will also have intrinsic ideological potential.
It is simply impossible to excise all possibility of distortions once Plausibility Structures are in play and entrenched.
Of course, we have psychology in play when we look at social/global change mechanics – not mere brute facts. People do not simply respond on the level of facticity. The media has key modus operandi that quickly migrate to sensationalism, voyeurism etc that always distorts the factual picture. However, without the dramatisation, there would not be the exposure – it is a double edged sword.
We do not need to view this incident as an isolated event – when considering Plausibility Structures of Environmentalism it is in fact crucial we don’t.
The principle to extract is clearly one about how humans manage the natural world – it is interesting that a view about this can be extracted equally from the early chapters of Genesis, Scientific modalities and contemporary human experience.
The question, which may be addressed from any number of ideologically driven, plausibility perspectives, is surely one of the human place within the global ecosystem.
Of course, we shape it and it shapes us (and our Plausibility Structures seem to mirror that process). But there is this central question of ‘How far?’
It is interesting that Astrology offers tools that draw upon celestial bodies, which transcend this green/blue/brown/white rotating ball. We kill God but transcendence whistles its tune nonetheless…
Clearly, many humans have lost sight of the question “What grounds us, what supports us, can I/we in fact be healthy if radically self-sufficient???”
We can use any number of paradigms to address those questions – but that does not make the questions go away. Indeed, not all questions are there to be answered. Some are there in order for us to conceive the radical, to re-conceive, to retain/foster open minds.
Consciousness is not simply defined by right/wrong, truth/pragmatism etc
When we change, we transcend ourselves as we once were. Uranus shifting may well symbolise a shift in the way epistemology and what constitutes real knowledge is processed in the human psyche.
Whatever the human dimension, things need to change.
Things WILL change, whether we succeed in adapting or not…
YOU choose!
Link will work IF, you delete the back parentheses from the http address bar. (Hassle, I know, shoulda wrapped it correctly the first time..)
Apologies,
Jere
..FAILURE on the link (too long, I think’s me didn’t wrap it correctly ?) Sorry!
It WAS “Horizon Herbs” in Oregon. Brilliant cats! (Got some work to do on my linkage skills..)
..Next time..
Jere
And as far as direction goes, I think we’re All gonna have to ‘askew a bit in Some Seed Growing Ways That Are Pretty Kind .
..The world won’t end.. just a FUCK LOAD of People’s Lives..
..We are brighter than this.
..Together we stand, divided we fall…
..Diversification, and Volitive Compassion,.. this is where we go.
..Hell yeah, link’s functioning. (Still remember something.)
Honestly,.. I wish Blessings, Love, SAFETY, And Peace.. to my fellow soul trippers ALL across this Crazy world. Please be safe.
We’ve All got SO Much to Talk about over the next few decades…
Peace, Love, (and whoever you are),
Jere
Hope MY LINK works. If it does it’s a fine version of the GD’s Eye’s of the World.
(Side note: Charles, I’m feelin’ ya,.. throw a tarot spread if you’d like, I wouldn’t mind playin’ with ya. ..could be a cool distraction (poor term),.. I always carry cards with me so, I can check ’em out. 😉 )
Jere
Well said, Eric. Thank you.
I agree. Enough is enough. Eric, you’ve done enough damage to this world with your fear mongering. Just stop. You are using classic propaganda techniques, like associating Chernobyl with Fukushima, when everyone knows there is no possibility that even a major meltdown would be anything close to Chernobyl. Even you know that, Eric, although you would never admit it, because it would blow your whole propaganda point.
Your actions are worse than the faceless nemesis you abhor and denounce. You have become a propagandist and see the boogie man everywhere you look. Do you honestly think that the entire government of Japan is in a conspiracy to kill its citizens? Oh of course you do, you’re a conspiracy nut, you believe utterly ridiculous things like the 9/11 Truther movement.
This is NOT the night to think about nuclear power. There are too many fearmongers Like Eric Francis, with distorted views, shoving propaganda down your throat. Tonight is the night to think about how we conduct ourselves in a crisis. Do we pray for the tragically destroyed country of Japan? Do we hope that our best technological efforts can save us from a situation beyond anything we expected? Do we believe in ourselves and our destiny? Or do we lash out in fear against something we know little about, from an obsessive need self-preservation against an imaginary enemy conspiring against us? Do we use the propaganda techniques of the people we distrust, spreading lies, and becoming exactly like them?
Just stop, Eric. Stop now. Enough is enough. You will be ashamed of yourself when this is all over.
Daiichi 3: from World Nuclear News
http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/RS_Venting_at_Fukushima_Daiichi_3_1303111.html
Burning River- re: “The dear, quiet, codependent Japanses people just may be the first to stand up en masse and lead the rest of us in standing up en masse. Now. Stop. No more. Enough. ”
I am sobbing as I am reminded about the documentary “White Light Black Rain:The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki”….which ran on HBO a few years ago. The saddest part of the documentary to me was how the survivors of the bombings were made “outcasts” in Japanese society, as they were visual “reminders” of Japan’s “loss” of the War. No memorials for them, no parades, no special treatment, no honor-NOTHING. They were doubly victimized by their own people, govt., families. TRAGEDY.
And now the Japanese people suffer yet again, at the hands of the Nuclear Age.
I hear ya loud and clear. I live between the Willamette and Columbia rivers and between 2 nuclear facilities. Trojan Nuclear Power Plant is downstream from here, Hanford is upstream, not to mention the dams driving the salmon extinct. The waves from the earthquake reached our coast destroying a few ships and docks and killing a few people. The wind would bring us a portion of any radiation that leaks out. How’s that for Aries point + Uranus? It’s already planetary even if there’s no meltdown.
http://www.canadianbusiness.com/markets/market_news/article.jsp?content=D9LU3FN00
From The Associated Press, March 12, 2011 – 10:20 PM
Japan says partial meltdown likely at 2nd reactor
TOKYO (AP) – Japan’s top government spokesman says a partial meltdown is likely under way at second reactor affected by Friday’s massive earthquake.
~~~~~
I don’t understand this “likely under way” language. Do they actually have ways of knowing the status of these reactors, or not? If not, that alone is an outrageous admission of lack of competent control in a dangerous technology. Amazing that this is considered acceptable by anyone, anywhere.
You’ve told it like it is, Eric. Have been all along. When is enough enough? Something in each of us one day/some day will just stand up and say NO. Enough. Oppressors, historically, only get away with it for so long. Maybe it will start with the Japanese people this time who have known that this was going to happen and their leaders did nothing to protect them .
The dear, quiet, codependent Japanses people just may be the first to stand up en masse and lead the rest of us in standing up en masse. Now. Stop. No more. Enough.