Workers at Fukushima Complain of Bad Conditions.. So What?

The damaged nuclear reactor problem at Fukushima is becoming more and more stabilized. It's been more than a week since humans entered damaged reactor #. Of course, for the people living near the plant and the workers there, things are still terrible. For the rest of us, as is always prudent and wise, we must be ever diligent about what we buy and feed our children.

Complaining about harsh work conditions? Join the club.

Nevertheless, Fukushima hasn't become the disaster that some had claimed it would become.


The fact is that, in this country, as in life everywhere, the good must be taken with the bad. We have benefitted from nuclear power, we must bear the costs of that. Especially the people who lived near the plant who made livelihoods off nuclear power.


Whereas before, some elements of the mass media were screaming about nuclear holocaust, armageddon and nuclear winter, the hyperbole has slowly been dying away.


Once again, the scorecard must be examined, as I wrote in Radiation, Fukushima Facts and Blogger Frustration:

At Chernobyl, 237 people suffered from acute radiation sickness soon after the accident, of whom 31 died within the first three months.

Here's a fun fact for you about Fukushima: Total number of people reported to have acute radiation sickness from Fukushima; 0 (zero). Total deaths from Fukushima nuclear accident in first four + months; 0 (zero).    


Now, since millions haven't died, the news changes focus on the workers at Fukushima.

The Yomiuri Shimbun reports:

N-plant workers still labor under severe conditions

Severe summer heat causing heatstroke and poor accommodations have plagued workers at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, even though the government has announced that Step 1 of settling the crisis was nearly complete.

Improving worker conditions at the plant was one of the targets of Step 1. However, some employees are still not happy with their conditions.

Hoo hum. I bet that you could survey all employees in any field and find that most of them are not happy with their conditions.

On Tuesday, Goshi Hosono, the state minister responsible for dealing with the nuclear crisis, and Tokyo Electric Power Co., announced the near completion of Step 1.

Working conditions at the plant have improved to some extent. Worker exposure to radiation has been steadily reduced and efforts have been made to make workers more comfortable.

Currently, about 1,500 people work at the plant every day. A gymnasium at the Fukushima No. 2 nuclear power plant, about 10 kilometers from the No. 1 plant, is now equipped with showers and bunk beds for 240 people. Temporary dormitories are also under construction in the area, but problems remain.

I guess the danger from radiation can't be so bad for us living so far away. If it is so dangerous, then how is it that 1,500 people could be working at the plant everyday?

At the special earthquake-resistant building at the No. 1 plant, housing the crisis headquarters, workers are still forced to sleep on blankets on the floor. "I can't sleep well here," a TEPCO employee said.

The summer heat has been hard on workers wearing heavy protective gear including full-face masks, as temperatures around the No. 1 plant have exceeded 30 C almost every day.

This is Japan. It's summer. It's hot. We don't really need a weather report. We also do not need to be reminded that, since this is Japan, people sleep on the floor. Funny that. I sleep on the floor every night too.

According to TEPCO, 32 workers had been diagnosed as suffering from heatstroke as of Monday. On Tuesday, a worker in his 20s suffering heatstroke symptoms was sent to the hospital. Another TEPCO worker said, "It's too hot. My cool vest [containing refrigerant] doesn't work well."

Even though air-conditioned rest stations were set up at 11 locations in the plant, workers' faces are flushed from the heat when they remove their masks, according to TEPCO sources.

As radiation-tainted debris has steadily been removed, radiation levels at the plant have decreased.

Well, the radiation levels at the plant have decreased? That's good news. Thirty two workers have heatstroke related problems in the summer in Japan because they are working in protective suits in 30 degree celsius (86 fahrenheit) temperatures and this is the news?!

You're kidding, right?

I have one piece of advice for the TEPCO workers at Fukushima; You accepted a job at a certain renumeration. No one forced you into taking that job. You decided to take it by yourselves. 

I hate to sound so cold, but, if you don't like it, then quit... Or ask for a pay raise. You guys took this job on your own volition. What did you expect?

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Propaganda and the Fukushima Nuclear Reactor Accident

"I have the greatest admiration for your propaganda. Propaganda in the West is carried out by experts who have had the best training in the world -- in the field of advertising -- and have mastered the techniques with exceptional proficiency ... Yours are subtle and persuasive; ours are crude and obvious ... I think that the fundamental difference between our worlds, with respect to propaganda, is quite simple. You tend to believe yours ... and we tend to disbelieve ours." -- a Soviet correspondent based five years in the U.S.


I have been accused of many things during the short life of this blog. Most recently I have been called "propagandist for the nuclear industry" besides a lot of four letter words and anal orifices. On top of that, also in my life, I have been called many bad names and, unfortunately, done many bad things more times than I care to, or could possibly, remember. Yes. I have done many bad things in my life and I've lied before and tricked people. I have been a sh*thead many more times than I care to recall.


I want to brag, here, though, that I think I am a big enough man to admit it. I'm sorry about those things. I am trying to live right now and to make up for my past wrongs whenever and where ever I can.

No matter what I do or write on this blog, though, I keep getting attacked for being an apologist for the nuclear industry or accused of being "pro-nuclear power." That is patently false. I am not pro-nuclear power excepting for the fact that I believe, in this day and age, we have no viable cheap alternative for energy. I certainly do not like the pollution that coal and oil cause and the illnesses that come with (not to mention the wars).


This article is for those of you who are on the fence and still haven't made up your mind if the situation at Fukushima is safe for you and your family or not.


First, my disclaimer: I've said it over and over that I believe the worst thing that could happen to us is to lose a cheap and clean source of energy. Our other alternatives for energy are not clean (oil, coal) and neither are the remainders cheap or even conceivably efficient until, most probably, the next century. It has been proven that the claims by the IPCC that "80% of our energy needs could be met by renewables by 2050" is pure science fiction; so where does that leave us?


I know of one acquaintance who tells me that he has a friend who said he wishes Japan would abolish nuclear power forever and hoped we could go back to living like the days of the Edo period." You know, the days of old Japan when Samurai and Geisha were running around?.... Really! This guy said this. My only retort to that is, "You mean the Edo period like when Japan was a desperately poor country and most people were starving? Gee, that sounds like a fun and realistic vision for the future! I'm sure today's youth in Japan will be into that big time! Sweet!"


Sounds like paradise to me. I wonder what this hippie dreamer would do without his iPod and Nike hiking shoes as some Samurai chased him down wanting to whack off his blond locks for a trophy? Seriously folks, there are foreigners who have very weird ideas like this running around Japan. I've met one before! Anyhow....


I'm not anti-nuclear power nor am I pro-nuclear power. I just want to cut through the propaganda and BS and get to the truth. Regular readers of mine will know from this blog or Lew Rockwell that I am definitely anti-government in any way shape or form and am always very skeptical of what those clowns in the government say. I am also very skeptical of what passes for "news" in the media today.


Recently, I have been railing on both the government, the media and a sensationalist named Arnie Gundersen. It seems to me that you have here different entities that are all saying various things about the Fukushima disaster and, if you bother to investigate, (which I have) you'll find that they all have an agenda.


I don't have any agenda except wanting to get the truth out. As an ex-news person, I know how to check information - which is something that it seems that 97% of the people are incapable of doing by themselves - I do this because it is the field that I am expert in.


Everyone has a motivation for everything they do.


Here is what I can srumise Arnie Gundersen's motivations are. You check these things by examining a person's critics. Asking fans or followers is like asking a hard-core Rolling Stones fan what they think of Mick Jagger. I found this on Atomic Insights by a guy who works in the nuclear industry named Rod Adams. He wrote:



Gundersen is not dumb; you cannot earn an MS in nuclear engineering and be dumb. He is devious and carefully selective of the facts and opinions that he offers, perhaps that is why he is no longer employed in the industry proper and has to try to make his living on the fringes of the technology.


It is my opinion that Arnie Gundersen must be terribly disappointed with the fact that the decommissioning business has been slow ever since nuclear plant owners determined that existing nuclear plants are valuable assets that should be kept running – and producing revenue – for as long as possible. He is probably bitter about the NRC license extension process; I would bet that he entered into the decommissioning business under the assumption that there would be few, if any license extensions. He must have expected that there would be a lot of work for years to come in plant decommissioning. That was a common perception in the mid 1990s, though it was one with which I strenuously disagreed.


Finally, since the decommissioning business has not worked out, I think that he and his wife are now professional fear-mongers (aka “expert witnesses”) who are willing to testify under oath that plant operators should be forced to shut down plants producing a million dollars worth of electricity per day any time someone measures a concentration of a weak beta particle emitter at a level of about 0.0000000000075 grams/liter in a well that is not even used for drinking water. The Fairewinds Associates, Inc. clients pay them to help establish a legal basis for shutting down valuable electricity production facilities AND they take the money!


That would be enough to make me angry even if I did not know that shutting down the plant would simply require expanded operation of coal or methane burning plants.


If you bother to check, you will see that Gundersen has many issues that could be construed as a conflict of interest hence his testimony is suspect.


I don't think it is necessary that I mention how we must be very suspicious and skeptical of whatever the government says about anything. Never trust the government at face value. That's a given, unless you are brain dead. I criticize the government constantly. Of course, TEPCO's announcements about Fukushima are to be taken with a huge grain of salt too.


So take people like Gundersen who are claiming the worst industrial calamity in history, the inept and totally incompetently government and TEPCO, and what have you got?... Different entities all pushing a certain agenda. Who to believe?


There must be, of course, some middle ground. I suspect that, in that middle ground, somewhere lies the truth.


This blog has consistently and repeatedly stated that the situation near and in the nuclear power plant at Fukushima is an extremely serious problem. It is a crisis of epic proportions for the people living near or within the exclusion zone. But for those of us living in Tokyo, upwind and over 230 kilometers away (or farther), it is, as I've said many times, merely an inconvenience - no matter how much some people love having a victim complex.


Like I've stated over and over, I want to get at the truth. Sensationalism and media hype help no one. Nor does lies or cover ups. 


I live in Tokyo, I check the levels of radiation daily. They are safe. We don't drink tap water - never have - (even though those levels are very safe too) and always check where our groceries and produce are from. We don't eat processed foods and over 70% of our diet is raw fruits and vegetables. I suggest that you do the same. I have deemed that our situation here is safe. If the facts change on the ground, I might alter my opinion. Only a fool doesn't alter an opinion once different facts become available.


People making wild claims are guessing. Wild claims are not facts. They are meaningless conjecture.


Now, if I lived in Fukushima, near the nuclear power plants, that would be another story. The radiation levels there are too high. That's a fact. They are so high that even the government has ordered an evacuation. That's a fact. If I lived there, I would have left long ago. The facts insist upon that course of action.


But I don't live there. That's a fact too.


I will say here that, since we have a small child, if we lived in Fukushima, near the damaged nuclear power plants, I would have moved away long ago. Job and work be damned. But in Tokyo, so far away, even with trace elements of radioactive materials being found in tea in some areas (probably you can find traces anywhere in the world anytime of the day), we'll take the risks.... Especially when you weigh the risks intelligently against the benefits.


Toward that end, here is the best, most balanced recent article that I've found on the situation here at Fukushima. This is an article about one of Japan's top radiation treatment specialists who is extremely critical of TEPCO and the Japanese government's handling of the situation at Fukushima (join the crowd, eh?). I quote his article as it is from a critic of the situation. Let's use this to judge our risk here in Tokyo. This radiation treatment specialist is the main focus in an article entitled: Nuclear Workers and Fukushima Residents at Risk: Cancer Expert on the Fukushima Situation: 

Japan's leading business journal Toyo Keizai has published an article by Hokkaido Cancer Center director Nishio Masamichi, a radiation treatment specialist.

Nishio originally called for “calm” in the days after the accident. Now, he argues, that as the gravity of the situation at the plant has become more clear, the specter of long-term radiation exposure must be reckoned with.

Lamenting the poor state of public knowledge of radiation, Nishio writes, “Japan, with its history of having suffered radiation exposure from the atomic bombs, should have the most [direct] knowledge of radiation, but in fact, in the approach to the nuclear accident, has simply fallen into confusion.” He places blame on a number of groups:

1. TEPCO executives, who he accuses of having hidden the truth and prioritized the survival of the company over public health.
2. Bureaucrats who were unable to put together an accurate body of information about radiation effects from which to formulate policy.
3. A prime minister and cabinet lacking both leadership and an appropriate sense of urgency.
4. Politicians who sought to use the crisis in intra- or inter-party struggles.
5. Nuclear industry lobbyists and “academic flunkies” (goyo gakusha) of the government who built up the myth of nuclear safety in the first place.

Looking at these groups, he writes, “I just cannot feel any hope for Japan’s future. These circumstances are simply tragic.”

This sounds terrible, and it is... For the people near the reactors and in Fukushima. But before we go off soiling our pants, we need to read more. He starts to delve into specifics:

Nishio provides a blunt and hard-hitting specialist perspective on major government decisions. Here is a summary of some of his major points:

Workers:

1. He accuses the authorities of prioritizing their own convenience over the lives of nuclear workers. Nishio argues that raising the exposure limit from 100 mSv to 250 mSv can have serious health effects. He also states that reports of poor food and sleeping conditions for workers show that “… they are not even being treated like human beings.”
2. The JSDF helicopters that dropped water on the Fukushima Daiichi reactors and spent fuel pools in the days after March 11 were outfitted with the types of radiation shields used in hospital x-ray rooms. Nisho says that this  was akin to “putting on a lead helmet in order to protect yourself from radiation from space”. The planners, he argues, did not even understand the difference between airborne radiation from a nuclear accident and radiation used in the controlled environment of hospital treatment.
3. Referring to “protective” suits is a misnomer bordering on fraud in Nishio’s view since nothing can offer total protection from radiation exposure.
4. A lack of nutrition and rest can make workers more susceptible to radiation symptoms. Nishio speculates that having the workers sleep together in gymnasium-like barracks with no privacy is simply designed to keep them from running away. Just 30 minutes from the site, he points out, there are empty hotels which could offer those on the front line a quiet, secure place to rest and recuperate.
5. He accuses TEPCO of being up to the old tricks of the nuclear industry: giving dispatch and temporary workers broken radiation monitors, only giving them monitoring devices when they are working despite high levels of radiation throughout the site, and so on.
6. Without accurate assessment of internal radiation exposure through “whole body monitoring”, there is no way to tell how much exposure workers are actually suffering.
7. Measures must also be taken to gauge different types of exposure (i.e. alpha rays from plutonium and beta rays from strontium).
8. Around 5000 workers have worked at the site since March. This number is high, but if radiation release continues, 100 or even 1000 times that number may be needed over time.
9. The MOX fuel in reactor number 3 is particularly dangerous but Nishio doubts that special measures to protect workers are being taken. 
10. “Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Harvest” treatment has been put forward by doctors as a way to minimize the chances of bone marrow deterioration among workers, but this was turned down by the Nuclear Safety Commission of Japan. Nishio asserts that this is evidence that they simply do not grasp the severity of the situation.
11. Apart from the iodine that they are being given, workers should also be taking Radiogardase (Prussian blue insoluble capsules). Not working to bring together the best preventative medicine, Nishio asserts angrily, is an example of “graveyard governance”.

You'll notice that not once, even though highly critical of the handling of the entire situation at Fukushima, does this specialist talk about dangers to, say, Tokyo residents or dangers to people outside of the exclusion zone. He talks specifically about the dangers to workers and people living near the damaged reactors or near or in the exclusion zones. Well, hell yes, it is a clusterf*ck for the people working at the reactor or the people living in the area!!!... Like I said, if I lived around that reactor, I'd have uprooted my family long ago and left... But I can't really say that. Why? I wouldn't live near a nuclear reactor in the first place. 

The doctor then goes on to criticize the situation and handling of that mess for the poor people of Fukushima. He says:

Fukushima Residents:

1. The threat to public health is not simply a matter of distance from Fukushima. Wind patterns and topography are even more important. (The good man is completely right about that see my post about that here). 
2. The release of data from the expensive SPEEDI system, was delayed until March 23. This delay resulted in unnecessary radiation exposure. “It is only conceivable that the high rate of radiation released was not reported because of fears of a panic.”
3. Former Minister for Internal Affairs Haraguchi Kazuhiro has alleged that radiation monitoring station data was actually three decimal places greater than the numbers released to the public. If this is true, it constitutes a “national crime”, in Nishio’s words. He follows with, “Giving us the truth once is much more important than saying ‘hang in there Japan!’ a million times.”
4. According to Japanese law, the rate of radiation exposure permitted for ordinary citizens is 1 mSv / year. This has been raised to 20 mSv / year in a “time of crisis”. Such a dramatic increase in permitted exposure is akin to “taking the lives of the people lightly”. Nishio believes that 20 mSv is too high, especially for children who are far more susceptible to the effects of radiation.
5. Even more important than a permitted 20 mSv exposure rate, however, is the lack of adequate provision for measuring internal radiation exposure among the Fukushima population.
6. The American Academy of Sciences 2008 “Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation” report claims that there is no safe level of radiation exposure. Despite this and other examples of leading research, however, the Japanese government has moved on the assumption that there is no evidence for increased cancer risk at under 100 mSv of exposure. The European Committee on Radiation Risk argues that existing risk models do not take internal exposure into account. High rates of internal exposure will mean a dramatic increase in cancer risk for Fukushima residents, with as many as 400,000 cases predicted by 2061. Nishio argues, however, that these calculations rest on some shaky assumptions and that the number is too high. He believes strongly, however, that internal radiation exposure must be taken seriously by the Japanese government.
7. Comparing the 6.9 mSv exposure from a CT scan to a similar amount of radiation exposure outside of a controlled environment is misleading. Long term exposure and internal exposure can have unpredictable effects on the human body. Comparisons with radiation used in cancer treatment are also scientifically shaky.
8. The large amounts of radioactive waste water at the Fukushima Daiichi site will contaminate the soil and water supplies, significantly increasing the risk of internal radiation exposure.

Once again, I direct you to the fact that, while he is extremely critical of the way this has been handled, he is specifically speaking of a localized area. More proof of this is evidenced in #1 below where he states, "...it is important that every resident in at risk areas be given a device to monitor personal radiation exposure."

Necessary Countermeasures:

1. Among people living in the same area, rates of exposure can vary greatly based on lifestyle and movement patterns. As a result, it is important that every resident in at risk areas be given a device to monitor personal radiation exposure. Apart from protecting individuals and allowing them to make informed decisions about their safety, the data gathered can be used in future medical research and in court cases that will no doubt originate from the Fukushima Daiichi accident.
2. There is little conclusive scientific data on the risks of low level radiation exposure. The government, however, must not let this turn into a case of “we don’t know so we can assume it is safe”. On the contrary, Nishio argues that it is necessary to proceed under the assumption “we don’t know so we must assume that it is dangerous”.
3. Residents must be given real time radiation data as well as the best possible advice about how to decrease their exposure.

I totally agree with this specialist. Now, how does this very critical attack against the japanese government and TEPCO stack up against people like Arnie Gundersen who claim things like dangerous radiation that can't be detected by Geiger counters being found all over Tokyo?

Once again, to repeat, I am not pro-nuclear power and I am not anti-nuclear power. But, one thing for sure is that I am very anti-sensationalist hype and pushing hidden agenda types and will attack them whenever I see the need to.

There's two sides to every story. The truth usually lies somewhere in between. It takes a diligent and fair person to find that truth. Blind acceptance is a fools game.

Don't be a fool. Check the facts. Do the research. Get the truth.


Thanks to What Really Happened.com for the quote from the Soviet correspondent

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Politics and Power: Creating Bankruptcy and a Real Nuclear Disaster in Japan

The only thing we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history - Friedrich Hegel (1770 - 1831)


A couple of recent articles on Japan have hit my eye. They both have to do with money and how poorly the Japanese government have handled the economy and how the regular Japanese is paying the price.


The first article is about another doofus who thinks that a Japanese government takeover of TEPCO, the company that owns the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant, is the answer to our problems. Read this article and wonder no more how this guy never got a job in the real world.

The traditionally left wing Asahi Newspaper reports about how Tadashi Maeda, an adviser to Prime Minister Naoto Kan, has proposed the nationalization of all nuclear power plants in Japan as a means to secure the long-term viability of atomic energy:

(Tadashi) Maeda, chief of the Corporate Planning Department of the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, said during a recent interview with The Asahi Shimbun that the risk of a disastrous nuclear accident resulting in a tremendous amount of monetary compensation argues for the nationalization of nuclear power generation.

Tadashi Maeda is a

blood sucking tax feeder or just plan stupid?

Question: Why should nuclear power plants be nationalized?

Answer: Atomic energy should be in the hands of a state-run operator of nuclear power plants. It is important for the government to assume full responsibility for (their safe operation). The state-run company would acquire the nuclear power operations from utilities and sell electricity to TEPCO and other electric power suppliers as a wholesaler. The profits from the power sales would be used to pay compensation for the nuclear disaster. This way, the financial burden imposed on the public through higher electricity bills and other forms would be minimized. This system would also contribute to ensuring a stable power supply.

Riiiiight! Get that? What he means to say is that the state run company would be a middle man and sell the electricity to TEPCO who would then sell it back to you and me. Now, how in the world will having the idiots in government as a middleman, and taking a cut off the top, going to keep costs low? Isn't this the very same government that wants to double our Sales Taxes? 


This sounds like another sham to try to get more money from the public and private enterprise without it looking like what it actually is: Another tax guised in the mask of protecting the public.   


Now, who in their right mind would recommend such a thing? How could anyone think that the government could run anything and not turn it into a boondoggle with massive red ink? How could anyone think that adding a government run middleman will do anything except increase costs and prices?


TEPCO didn't get to be the biggest power company in all of Asia and the 4th largest power company in the entire world by having a bunch of lazy, useless bureaucrats running their organization.


Who could possibly think it would be beneficial to anyone to have the Japanese government running our nuclear industries? Look at how well the Japanese government has done at running the economy and the social welfare programs over these last 20 + years! What a marvelous job they've done there. Why, we're only at debt that is 225% of annual GDP.


Imagine the work of wonders these geniuses can do if they get a hold of the nuclear industry. If having the Japanese government run the nuclear industry is such a good idea, why stop there? Why doesn't the Japanese government just nationalize all industry, from cars, to electronics, to farming, to broadcasting, to the Internet, and even to production of candies for kids in order to protect the public and companies from high costs?


Hell, nationalize everything and we'll have a workers paradise!


Just like North Korea or the old Soviet Union. Paradise!


How could I have been such a fool not to realize it all this time? That's it! The answer to our problems! Nationalize everything!


You see, I'm married and my wife gives me an allowance to live on, like most Japanese wives do for their Japanese husbands. But, darned if this allowance hasn't been going down annually over these last twenty years. This situation is really getting desperate.


Bloomberg reports:


Japanese men have seen allowances wither to the least in three decades as their wives pare household spending in an economy mired in deflation. Known in Japan as salarymen, the workers receive 36,500 yen ($452) per month for pocket money, amounting to $15 a day and the smallest amount since 1982, according to a survey by Shinsei Financial Co. released today. Japanese wives typically manage their husbands' earnings. Japan's growth of less than 1 percent per year in the past 10 years has crimped pay, forcing housewives to cut back on pocket money and exacerbating the deflation that has plagued the economy for more than a decade. Wages have been dropping since the March 11 earthquake and household sentiment is near a two- year low, making a consumer-driven economic rebound less likely.  


In my case, I used to get about $50 for a night's out at the pub. But recently, over these last ten ~ fifteen years,  that has dropped to about $35 a night as well as cut from four night's a week to two.


This has been during the bursting of the so-called Japanese Bubble Economy. Just like the west and the USA has done over the last three years, the Japanese government has blown hundreds of billions of dollars propping up Zombie banks and defacto insolvent institutions. They did this by borrowing and using tax money.


They used our tax money and have now borrowed us and our children into a debt that they can - we can - never repay. 


One day soon the piper will need to be paid. 


That is the day Japan goes bankrupt....


And idiots like Tadashi Maeda think the Japanese government should take over our industries? See? We never do learn from history. 

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Fukushima Disaster: The People of the Lie

"A lie told even ten thousands times never becomes the truth" - Mikhail Gorbachev


There are people in this world who are so desperate to be proven "right," at least in their own minds, that they would do, or hope for, most anything to achieve those ends. Some of these people are very mentally ill yet they fail to realize or see the shortcomings of their thinking. 

CARLY SIMON - YOU'RE SO VAIN

They are the People of the Lie. These people are all around us. They function in our society. We see them daily. These are the bosses at work who extoll the virtues of living right, telling the truth and working hard yet they are having an affair with another woman. 


These are the people who claim to be in search of the truth yet they commit lies at work and home. These are the wives and husbands who, on the surface, seem contented but actually commit domestic violence against their spouses and children.


These are the People of the Lie. These are also people who will do most anything or hope for ill fortune against others in order for them to get their desired gains.


The most extreme (traditional and much over-used) example of those sorts of people - people who will do anything to be proven correct - are political groups like the Nazis. These people were so sick that they would even kill others in an effort to be proven correct.


Recent modern day examples of these sorts of people were the hard-core believers in Man-Made Global Warming (AGW). I remember on a very popular morning FM radio show in Tokyo in 2006 when I was debunking the entire theory of AGW - after having Greenpeace members as guests on the program (who couldn't rectify their beliefs with scientific fact) - we received a telephone call from a very irate listener who firmly believed in Man- Made Global Warming. This listener was so furious that I would go on air and publicly debunk this polemic. 


He wanted to talk to the boss of the station. It was to his shock when I told him that I was the general manager of the station and if he didn't like what he heard on air there was something on the radio called a "tuner" and he should use it to change the station. He was so furious with that that he threatened to, "Come down to the radio station, set it on fire and burn it to the ground."


I told him that if he did that then we would have, "The police come down to your house, arrest you and send you to prison." Never heard from him again. 


I wonder if he still believes that AGW nonsense?


This is the kind of person who I classify as the People of the Lie; they will do anything to be proven correct, even if it means that people must be injured or die (of course not them) in order for that to happen.


The most recent example of this disgusting sickness, in many forms, is the current controversy about radiation from Fukushima. Specifically, how the Fukushima problem affects us in Tokyo, 230 kilometers away.


We've heard all sorts of stories; how Fukushima was going to make 1/3 of Japan uninhabitable; then it was half of Japan; there was going to be a nuclear winter, etc., etc.


I know one guy who, at the start of this entire affair, took his whole family and ran away to southern Japan. It was with glee when he announced on Facebook that they had found two TEPCO workers dead at the damaged reactors. He triumphantly wrote something to the effect of, "See? I was right. You are going to see more and  more dead guys like this coming out of there in the next few days and weeks."   


It was to his chagrin that I had to alert him to the fact that those two guys were killed because they drowned. When the tsunami hit, they were trapped underground and couldn't escape. Their deaths had nothing to do with radiation. Their bodies were covered in bruises and they had broken bones from being bashed around in a small room when the water came in and there was no way out.


May they rest in peace. Too bad some sick people are happy about their sorry lot.


To date, there haven't been any deaths directly related to radiation at Fukushima. It seems that, like Chernobyl, panic over radiation will cause much more damage than the actual radiation itself.


Yesterday, I wrote a post entitled Results of Geiger Counter Use in Tokyo that was about my factual research using a "professional use" Geiger counter in various places in and around town. I could not find any elevated levels of radiation even though I went to several major areas in this city. The levels were all lower than regular levels in Hong Kong and in some UK cities. I wrote:


The readings have all been between 0.07 mSV/hr to 0.13 mSV/hr. A flight on a commercial jet airplane from Tokyo to New York will expose you to about 190 mSV (about 18.0 mSV/hr) so you can see that the current levels are not be worried about. Unless, of course, you are the worrying sort.  


Yet, even with my merely reporting the facts, some people want to take me to task and argue with me for doing so. Since this post is not about people's lack of critical reading skills or lack of analytical thinking abilities (I've covered that here: Critical and Analytical Thinking are Lost Arts Amongst Many of Today's Adult Population) I will stick with the subject and that is an examination of the People of the Lie; People who are so desperate to be "right" that they will do anything or desire anything so that they can be  proven correct.


One such person is a reader who is so desperate for this that it seems he hopes radiation is at dangerous levels and many men, women and children in Tokyo do get deathly ill so that he can say later, "I told you so." I don't think it is a problem using his pen name since it is a moniker. His handle is Richardw. He commented:


The question is not what readings you found - but which areas you didn't read that others have found high levels in. Why is it your call to say no big deal? You are a shill - and you are doing a good job of protecting the industry. Hope it goes well for you. Nice to see you work for the industry that TEPCO is known for funding. Well done - Marketing suits you.


Richardw's lack of reasoning skills are so faulty that I don't know where to begin. Richardw accuses me of being a "shill - and you are doing a good job of protecting the industry." And to what basis does he make these claims? Because I reported factually and truthfully what the readings of the Geiger counter I used showed!? Astounding! 


Do tell, Richardw, how does that make me a shill? Would you have been happier if I lied and made up wild claims of dangerous radiation in Tokyo? It seems you would.


The knee-jerk reaction and excuse of most of these people like Richardw is that TEPCO lies. Well, it is known and a matter of public record that TEPCO has lied about many things in the past. There is no debate and argument about that. There is, though, argument about what they lied about in this most recent case at Fukushima. For example, the charges that TEPCO lied about meltdowns at the reactor cores as early as March 18th. There was conjecture that the cores may have melted down at that time. Even TEPCO's own records show that there was this possibility, but until the radioactive release and danger was brought under more control, these claims could not be verified. That TEPCO did not announce unverified information does not constitute a lie. Unverified information is just that; it is conjecture. Public companies handling a nuclear crisis have a responsibility to tell the truth. They do not and should not go on the mass media making pronouncements of unverified claims. That would be most irresponsible.


Once again, we must only deal with known facts. I always want to deal with facts. My post was factual. What else is there?


What is the motivation for being one of the People of the Lie?


Either way, like I said, TEPCO has lied. That is a known fact and in the public domain. Lying is a very bad thing and should not be easily forgiven. TEPCO's motivations for lying are for money and lying to protect people's job's and their own, as well as the livelihoods of their employees and their families. 


That being said, these motivations for TEPCO's lying are easily recognizable, and, in a way, very understandable.  


Motivations for people like Richardw, on the other hand, are more difficult to pin down. But, in my opinion, once you do recognize then for what they are, they are even more ugly, disgusting and grotesque than TEPCO's simple-minded motivations.


Like my friend who ran away to southern Japan, these people are so "sick" that they desperately want people to suffer or die in order to be proven correct. The fact of the matter is that People of the Lie, like Richardw, want to be proven correct for nothing else but to be able to say, "I told you so." It is nothing short of narcissism and the twisted vanity of a psychopath. 


Trust that, even though they fail to realize it, the fact is that people like the ones who lied at TEPCO and people like Richardw are actually birds of a feather. 


They all are truly People of the Lie.  

To read more on the concept of the People of the Lie, I recommend F. Scott Peck's bestselling book, "People of the Lie - the Hope for Healing Human Evil"

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