The news that Japan will re-start some nuclear power facilities gives us this headline in the New York Times (6/17/12):
Japan Public Still Divided as 2 Reactors to Be Opened
But the lead by reporter Martin Fackler almost immediately contradicts the “divided” headline:
TOKYO — Brushing aside widespread public opposition to avoid feared electric power shortages, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda ordered the reactivation of two nuclear reactors at a plant in western Japan on Saturday.
If there’s “widespread public opinion,” can people really be divided? It turns out this is not just a problem with a headline writer. The article later states that the “Japanese people have remained deeply divided on the safety of nuclear power.”
Have they? Fackler writes:
According to polls, two-thirds of Japanese express deep concern about the safety of nuclear plants after last year’s accident, which contaminated food with radiation and shattered the myth of Japan’s infallible nuclear technology. The day before Mr. Noda gave the order, his government was visited by an antinuclear group led by the Nobel laureate Kenzaburo Oe, which presented what it said were the signatures of 7.5 million people calling for the abolition of nuclear power.
Two-thirds of Japan being worried about nuclear power doesn’t sound all that divided. And, as the Associated Press reported earlier this month (6/5/12), one poll showed a remarkable shift against nukes in the last year:
Japanese oppose nuclear power more strongly than they did while the tsunami-damaged Fukushima plant was still in crisis a year ago, according to a poll that found widespread dismay with the government’s handling of that disaster and the ongoing recovery.
The survey released Tuesday by the Washington-based Pew Research Center said 70 percent of Japanese believe the country should reduce its reliance on nuclear energy, up from 44 percent last year.
“Divided” appears to be used here in the special media sense of “mostly on the wrong side.”
What’s “deeply divided” here is the corpress’ spin cycling from reality.
But that’s to be expected when “freedom of the press” is interpreted to mean being free to ignore the facts, wouldn’t you say?
This should come as no surprise; the major media groups here in America are always going to back Nuclear Power, even if there is only ‘one person’ who wanted it, as long as GE and other power companies favor it.
But recall, the media are not saying there is an equal division of people on either side. “Deep divide” means that 1/3 who disagree with the 2/3 thirds will not suddenly up and leap over to the other side, nor try to climb down into the pit to try and cross over because “the divide is so deep”.
Former Prime Minister Naoto Kan may have got it right when he was looking to force power utilities to buy power generated by renewable energy sources at fixed prices, promoting wind, solar and geo-thermal. Instead Noda wants to become reliant on US Liquid National Gas: http://www.fpif.org/articles/japan_nuclear_energy_and_the_tpp
reposting this article… such ‘spin’ must be constantly addressed and the perpetraters brought to task. The NY Times has been publishing a LOT of nonsense in the last few years.. much more than in the past. Having recently returned after 10 years in Tokyo, I have many contacts there, none of which would use the word ‘divided’ in their appraisal of opinion there. People do NOT want the reactors … period.
Bingo!….and I do not mean, in the “sense of a win””…this is very Sad for my friends in Japan, and the rest of all humanitiy and Life throughout the World!..We here at Care2 and all logical sources, will continue to create logical, effective petitions, to stop this insanity. We wish recovery for Japan and all the rest of the World from the radio-activity that is already around the World , from the tsunami and has poisened The World wide Oceans and food supply. ALL Nueclear plants, must be shutdown, NOW, in Japan, and all other countrys!..as far as war threats…I KNOW WE HAVE JAPAN’S BACK AND WE CAN STILL DO IT, WHILE SHUTTING DOWN ALL THE OLD AND DEFUNK PLANTS HERE IN THE USA…THIS IS REAL!
We just had a protest and a “die-in” in front of the Japanese Consulate here in LA today in solidarity with the people of Japan who do not want their nuclear plants restarted. We are reviving the anti-nuke movement here in Southern California and are trying to keep San Onofre from reopening as well. If we all join this worldwide movement and start educating our families, friends and neighbors that nuclear power is neither safe, clean nor cheap, we can prevail.
Shelly, to close all nuclear power plants would mean a changeover to other less “clean” forms of energy. But as I would wager that you and Lauren would also want an end to gas, coal, and oil, that leaves us with little power left to live on. I suppose what would be left would be green power. Even in that, there are problems to our environment. I think it would be fun to see how you would whittle that down as well. The problem with your mindset is not nuclear power, per say. The problem is fear. Fear of the dangers inherent in these advanced technologies. Why is the drive never to fix, upgrade, and harness these technologies? Instead, we have lie abouts where we play dead in front of a consulate or just hide under the covers. The Japanese people are working on these problems. They are smart, brave, and educated. My money is on them. Not on those who wish to go back to a horse and buggy right up until the time that the horse kicks you and the buggy breaks. Then I suppose we outlaw that too. Your mindset would’ve prevented us from ever getting to the moon, flying planes, building cars. I doubt electricity would’ve ever been invented.
We need FUSION power yesterday. (Not Fission.) Plus wind power, and similar carbon-free sources of energy.
Oh, and that supposedly infallible Japanese nuclear power (which everyone knew wasn’t infallible,) was American technology by GE, circa 1963, and was a cheaper but less safe type of plant than others that GE had engineered.
There are two things frightening about this story: (1) that after the dust has settled, the authorities are going to reinstate nuclear power and (2) one third of Japanese people have fallen for the PR. The latter is a testament of the power of PR which includes a press that obfuscates, underestimates graveness, or mis-frames issues and facts.
By the way, in light of the long-term planetary consequences of nuclear accidents, the decision to instate or re-instate nuclear power does not lie locally. It is not for the Japanese to decide the fate of the planet and all living beings on it. With the Fukushima accident, they lost that privilege anyway.
Nuclear power is very dangerous. So much so that only governments can insure them. Take that away and private enterprise gets out of that business. However we in the USA are energy hogs. Japan’s efficiency was at 85%, Germany at 70% and the USA at a poor 43%. Among the many things we need to do is to bring our efficiency up to Japanese levels which will allow us to close down the dirty power plants as we also add, wind, geothermal, kinetic, solar and tidal forms of generation. Better now than later. And it looks like the use of GHG producing power plants will continue for many decades. However Germany is doing it now and their govt is behind forcing the changes. We and everyone needs to.