Not to in any way compare the minimal risks North Americans may face from the radioactive cloud that is escaping Japan to that faced by the Japanese people much closer to the nuclear reactors that are spewing toxins into our common atmosphere, nonetheless the following news story released tonight by the New York Times gives one pause:
A United Nations forecast of the possible movement of the radioactive plume coming from crippled Japanese reactors shows it churning across the Pacific and touching the Aleutian Islands on Thursday before hitting Southern California late Friday.
If the reports from Japan are accurate, some 180 men, most "older," are being cycled into the danger zone to try and contain how much radiation escapes the six damaged reactors in question.
I suppose the theory that their employer, a Japanese nuclear company with a documented history of lying to the public, is using is that "older men" have less time, theoretically, left to live, so sacrificing their lives is relatively acceptable from a moral perspective.
Of course, none of these older men are executives. They are workers. They are not the men at the top of the company, all of whom are safely ensconced in enclaves far from the scene of disaster.
So it goes. The rich and the powerful and those most responsible for tragedies like this one have the resources to insulate themselves from the immediate effects when disaster strikes.
But over the longer run, if there is any kind of god and any kind of justice, they will be forced to pay for their crimes. This is where journalists come in. We are the ones who do the dirty work exposing the corrupt cowards who inhabit almost every position of leadership in the type of companies that produce energy, including nuclear energy.
Unfortunately, in our time, journalists have been largely removed from the picture. So now all we are left with is the heroic story of 180 older men trying to clean up something they never had any influence over in the first place -- nuclear facilities inadequate to withstand the force of a tsunami that any student of history could easily have predicted would have struck northern Japan sooner or later.
Yes, these 180 men are heroes. Hopefully, their efforts will succeed, and millions more will be safer as a result. But as each and every one of their men die prematurely, who will be there to recognize their sacrifice?
Not the Emperor, not the Prime Minister, not the executives of the corrupt company they worked, and died for.
There will be nobody.
And that, my friend, is not about politics or science or human nature.
That is about class.
-30-
4 comments:
These men are indeed heroes- it is as I said - it will be those 'unsung' who will become the heroes of this crisis. However, I don't think they will die with no one noticing- their families and friends will know what they sacrificed.
Although I agree 'class' and 'money' and 'position' often afford people with a free pass in times like this- I would not agree that the only wicked people are in the upper echelons of society- I've met plenty of evil and conniving (non heroic) people in every class of society. Unfortunately, corrupt cowards exist in each and every class.
Safety of workers at nuclear power plants is a forgotten chapter in the history of the nuclear industry in Japan. About 30 years ago I read a book about Japanese nuclear plant workers in Japan while I was working for a consumer/environmental organization there. Even during the time when plants were operating as they should, they had some workers who were regularly exposed to radiation at work, which the company considered "safe." Those workers were mostly transient, and the book traced some of them and found many premature deaths and higher rate of health problems among them. It was a minor publication and didn't get too much notice by media. S.
Anjuli -- I did not say that "the only wicked people are in the upper echelons of society" or even imply that, because that is not my view. Evil exists up and down through the classes. What I wrote about is who pays the consequences at a time like this -- whether they are good or bad men is irrelevant. All that matters is their class.
S-- thank you for telling me about that publication!
You are correct- I misunderstood and thus misspoke.
On the lines of heroes- I just read a heartwrenching article about the "Fukushima 50"-- here is the link:
http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/88094.php
These are more heroes emerging in this time of crisis.
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