Antinuclear

Wobbly words promote the nuclear industry

“CLEAN”

Nuclear “acceptance campaigns” featuring “truth squads” were created so as to create a “pro-energy climate” to “stabilize people’s attitudes.

Stop the Nukespeak and Tell the Truth About Nuclear Technology THE HUFFINGTON POST, by Rory O’Connor, February 23, 2010 “…in Nukespeak, proponents speak of “health effects” when they really mean “cancer.” Accidents such as the infamous one at Three Mile Island are merely “anomalies,” “significant events” or “abnormal occurrences” — and when they recur, they are re-dubbed “normal abnormalities.”

Radioactive substances such as Strontium-90 are measured in “sunshine units,” and when deadly plutonium somehow goes missing, it’s simply a “MUF – material unaccounted for.” “Boundless energy” to save us from “freezing in the dark” would be “too cheap to meter” — if we only went nuclear.

Most of this universal nuclear language was created by such early government boosters as the Atomic Energy Commission — acting in concert with industry forces — as part of a conscious selling strategy that eliminated “scare words” and replaced them with “palatable synonyms.” Nuclear “acceptance campaigns” featuring “truth squads” were created so as to create a “pro-energy climate” to “stabilize people’s attitudes.” And where government and industry experts weren’t enough, a compliant and complicit media was co-opted and enlisted in the sales effort………….

Once again government and industry shills are ignoring reality and lying to us — and once again the media is aiding and abetting them, as detailed in this Action Alert from the ever-estimable Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR).

Entitled “Network Nukes Boosters,” the FAIR report critiques “incomplete and unbalanced reports” by ABC World News and NBC Nightly News following Obama’s recent announcement of $8 billion in new loan guarantees for a nuclear power plant in Georgia………..the media should reject the use of industry rhetoric, stop using nukespeak talking points, and start telling us the truth about nuclear power!

Rory O’Connor: Stop the Nukespeak and Tell the Truth About Nuclear Technology

February 24, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | 1 | antinuclear, nuclear