this post was submitted on 25 Aug 2023
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[–] [email protected] 163 points 1 year ago (8 children)

The level of ignorance around any nuclear related incident is astounding

[–] [email protected] 76 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If the radiation levels are truly negligible then the media shares blame for getting people upset over it.

[–] [email protected] 84 points 1 year ago (28 children)

Oil companies are ultimately to blame. After all, it was the Rockefeller Foundation who did the early radiation studies in the 50s, and then blatantly lied about the results to make radiation sound super scary. They claimed that there was no safe dose of radiation, and that any exposure, no matter how small, led to a direct, linear, increase in cancer risk.

And then the oil companies funded politicians who declared education to be the enemy, so now Americans don't know enough physics to know that every day, they are swimming in safe doses of ionizing radiation. That ocean water has millions of tons of natural uranium oxide dissolved in it.

US nuclear policy has been based off of these lies, it's part of why nuclear power is so expensive.

Those same oil companies actually paid to found Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth to specifically advocate against nuclear power, by spreading fear and lies about how nuclear physics work.

The Rockefeller foundation still funds Greenpeace, and still requires that Greenpeace be anti-nuclear to receive that funding. All while being heavily invested in oil.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Truly. The evacuation order itself killed more people around Fukushima than radiation did.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Also, no news piece ever mentioned how far from the coast Japan is planning to release that water

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[–] [email protected] 72 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Holy crap. This is how I find out that Rahm Emanuel is the US Ambassador to Japan? How is he possibly qualified for that job?

[–] [email protected] 57 points 1 year ago (3 children)

It's a cushy ambassadorship to an ally. A dog could do the job.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 year ago

Of course a dog could eat some fish.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Ugh I wish you were wrong.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I didn't read the article, just saw the picture in the post and thought "that dude looks a lot like Rahm Emanuel. " TIL.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Who is he and why is he not qualified? I have never heard of him

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

He’s a former Chief of Staff to Obama and the former mayor of Chicago. From what I know about him, which granted isn’t a ton, he has zero experience in international diplomacy aside from whatever he might have seen second-hand as Chief of Staff.

[–] [email protected] 40 points 1 year ago (1 children)

TBF, chief of staff gives you a lot of experience in everything

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (3 children)

True, it’s one of the most powerful positions in American government, but I guess I’m still a naive idealist when it comes to global diplomacy. I just really wish there was an expert on Japan in the job. East Asia is only getting more complicated for the US, and Rahm Emanuel is famous for his extreme temper and lack of poise in high pressure situations.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago

It’s been my observation that ambassadorships are often given out as rewards or for other domestic political purposes. The career foreign service people whose job it is to do the real work of diplomacy aren’t political appointees

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[–] [email protected] 33 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

There’s two types of ambassadors: for countries you have tense relationships with, you send the professional diplomats who are really good at negotiating for things without starting wars.

For countries who are friends and you aren’t going to have tough negotiations with them, you send somebody who has good connections to the president. The ambassador gets a cushy job for 4 years that’s basically a reward, and the foreign country gets the message that an ambassadorship there is treated as a reward for the president’s friends, which strengthens the relationship

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[–] [email protected] 36 points 1 year ago (5 children)

This will be fine for him but I am reminded of Thomas Midgely Jr who popularized using lead as an additive. He showed how safe it was by breathing in leaded exhaust fumes. He very shortly after took a vacation which was really just him recovering from lead poisoning.

Fuck that guy. His death was pretty hilarious though. He got polio and was largely bed ridden. He made a serious of pulleys to help himself work. He got tangled in it and accidentally hung himself.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I know too little about radioactive water and what the acceptable amount is for a person to eat through a fish that has been swimming in it

But holy shit can these stupid politicians who also don't know shit about it stop insulting everyone's intelligence with Simpsons (was literally an episode) like ways of convincing people.

I only trust well regarded scientists and experts, not some slimy politician. Literally kindergarten tier persuasion tactics.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

That strikes me as more sad than funny. I don't understand why you would screw yourself over so thoroughly just to try and convince the world that you didn't screw them over. Everyone loses.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Your understating how destructive that man was. He'll probably end up killing more people than anyone in history.

You can't blame global warming on one person, but he was a huge and significant factor in it.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Not really global warming but he was the main contributor to the hole in the ozone layer we are still fixing since he popularized CFCs as a refrigerant.

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Just tritium. Nothing too major about it and it doesn't stick around compared to fission products. Good candidate for dumping into the ocean.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Didn't know Rahm went from mayor of Chicago to Ambassador to Japan.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Shadows of drinking water in East Palestine.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:


Japan began releasing more than 1 million metric tons of radioactive water from a wrecked nuclear power plant on Thursday, prompting widespread concerns over contamination and safety.

The decision to release the wastewater has been a controversial one, sparking protests in Japan and further afield in South Korean capital Seoul from antinuclear activists and those concerned about contamination.

The UN has backed Japan’s assessment of the situation, with the organization’s nuclear regulator saying it is safe to release the water, and that doing so will have a negligible impact on environmental health.

Protesters gathered in Japan and South Korea this week to push back against the release of the radioactive water, with much of the concern centering around possible contamination, particularly of seafood.

In July, a public survey found that 62% of South Koreans would cut back or stop eating seafood after the water was discharged, according to news agency Reuters—despite Seoul pledging to closely monitor the release.

In recent weeks, some consumers in China—Japan’s biggest export market for seafood—also questioned whether it would be safe to eat the country’s seafood products after the water was released into the ocean.


The original article contains 590 words, the summary contains 190 words. Saved 68%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Reminds me of that guy who launched himself against a window to demonstrate how unbreakable they were

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago

To be fair the window didn't break.

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