When did we lose sight of the fact that hasty decisions are rarely wise? W/ respect to Japan's earthquake/tsunami/volcano/nuclear plant crisis, ninme puts it
succintly:
Sometimes something horrible happens and it’s horrible because of the horrible things that have happened, and there really aren’t any lessons to be learned.
and in her twitter feed, humorously:
Due to threat of tidal wave? "Switzerland suspends approval process for 3 nuke power plants to review safety measures after Japan crisis"
Jonah Goldberg
explores the theme.
In Europe, where nuclear power is vastly more common than it is here, the Japanese earthquake is being exploited to the hilt. "If the Japanese," editorializes the British newspaper the Independent, "with all their understandable inhibitions about anything nuclear and all their world-leading technology, cannot build reactors that are invulnerable to disaster, who can?"
Well, that's just it. Who said anything, anywhere is invulnerable to disaster? At magnitude 9.0, this was Japan's biggest earthquake and could be the fourth largest ever recorded (it was even detected in Pennsylvania). Perhaps the standard shouldn't be whether Japan's reactor was "invulnerable" but whether it succeeded by taking such a beating without threatening much human life?
I can't decide if the anti-nuke reaction is more stupid (you really thought you were invulnerable?) or obscene (is this really going to be our reaction to broad-scale tragedy from now on? Exploit the dead for our stupid causes? For what kind of person do causes not drop away for a few days at least while the dead are buried?)
Rather than worry about letting this crisis go to waste, this strikes me as a great moment to simply cope.
