A Cloud Of Unknowing

One of our many highly intelligent readers is banging the proverbial head against the figurative wall:

Hello B, I came across this article that left me wondering what in the world is going on!  Riddle of the radiation sweeping across Europe: UN nuclear agency mystified by soaring levels I have questions.  Seriously, if the amount of this radioactive iodine-131 is so small, why even mention it.  Did NASA release the images of the Tarantula Nebula in order to explain the radioactive iodine- 131 or did someone just see the description of the radiation and winds produced by this nebula and conveniently link it to the 'riddle of the radiation'. How many patients pee and poo would it take to loft this radioactive iodine-131 into the atmosphere?  Does it become aerosolized when these patients flush the toilet?  Are they referring to the sweat that is 'excreted' by the patients that gets wafted into the air as they walk down the sidewalk? I could go on, but I won't!  What do you think is up with this?  Why would they even bring it up?  Stuff like this makes me crazy!!

Being a man of few words, I briefly responded:

You have a rather intriguing way of opening several cans of worms at once.

To answer your first question, yes, they do think we are stupid.  To a certain extent, they are right, but I think the more appropriate word is 'ignorant,' which suggests at its root that we ignore/look the other way when it comes to a lot of important things.  In my own experience, I used to think that if Hollywood would produce quality entertainment, people would flock to it, but I've found that most people just want mindless pablum and escapist schlock.

In my travels, I've found repeatedly that most people don't have a care outside their neighborhood, much less global or universal concerns.  It's enough for them to feed their families every day and worry about rain or lack thereof.  Wind and sea currents propagating radioactive elements across the globe are beyond their scope of immediate problems.  Heck, I could introduce you to a dozen people of my acquaintance that live on $5 a day.  The other day, I bought a piece of furniture and after assembling it, I took the box out for trash.  I hadn't even set it down when an old man asked if he could have it.  My box was his furniture.  He just landed a new bed!

Those are the vast majority of people, whose cares can not extend beyond the immediate need.  Of the remainder, most are willfully ignorant.  It's easy to lay the blame on media and public education as failing to raise us above the symptoms to see the causes, but I think we all bear a large responsibility to use the skills and talents we have been given to educate ourselves, by asking the appropriate questions and seeking the correct answers.  If, in March, the worst nuclear disaster ever occured (and is ongoing), and by November, folks are detecting unusual radioactive elements around the world at the same latititudes, then WE are responsible for making the connection and then doing something about it.  The corporations and their mouthpieces will do all they can to limit liability, just as with BP.  If they can delay the 'eureka' moments long enough, then most people will forget about the initial problem, as they go about their daily grinds.

And honestly, it seems to work like a charm, except for the few dozen of us who can think a single thought longer than the span of a commercial.  We are marginalized as loons and tin-foilers by the mass media, and the average Joe naturally doesn't want anyone to think he's crazy, so he avoids such people and thoughts.

Because Fukishima has been buried in the mass media, and people who look for conspiracies in such things are marginalized, and most people don't personally investigate such things further than the first 60 seconds of the nightly newscast, most will never make the association between European radiation and Japanese reactors.  Those who inadvertently wander into such territory will run away as quickly as they can because they don't wnat to be marginalized.  Think of how many people became violently angry if someone suggested 9/11 was a set-up.  And how many folks voted for Obama because they didn't want to be labeled racist or stupid?  People will do ANYTHING to appear normal and follow the group mind.

This kind of willful ignorance is unforgivable, to my mind.  That folks refuse to entertain alternative ideas because they are weak and insecure have no excuse.  Even claiming that they are indoctrinated by mass media and education at some level requires capitulation on the part of the individual.

To paraphrase Mark Twain, if everyone is going in one direction, you should go in the other.  I first read that when I was in seventh or eighth grade, and it has stuck with me for life.  It has also rarely failed me, as eventually, folks come around, but by them I'm off on another tangent entirely.

Try to explain to someone that Fukishima caused the European raditation with wind and sea current charts and their eyes will glaze over in five seconds flat.  Yet, it clearly shows that radiation in Norway and Sweden is predictable, given the wind currents at that latitude.  Baffin Island should be rather 'hot', as well, if someone were up there checking.

Eventually, people 'get it', but it takes folks like us talking about it for years for it to sink in.  Occasionally, it helps if an 'expert' comes out and confirms it, like the whole global warming farce.  But we usually aren't that lucky.

As for NASA, there's a group inside that has been communicating visually for many years.  Releasing images that create links in people's mind between disparate subjects is just one of their techniques.  I missed the image you're talking about, but it seems in keeping with their doings.  Wouldn't surprise me in the least.  I'm still debating whether it happens at the highest ranks, or whether it is clever apparatchiks doing it under the radar, but it can sometimes be rather amusing to look under NASA's skirt.  Hoagland thinks it's part of an ongoing educational effort, I think it's to see who 'gets it,' and tag them for later treatment (half kidding).

At any rate, you're not alone out there.  There are plenty of us raging against the machine.

As you can see, we have a habit of being all too terse and abbreviated in our responses, but we will not apologize!

Needless to say, I'm far more willing to buy the Fukishima cause, before considering sweaty, defecating patients.  For one thing, size of the source is far too small.

One thing is clear.  BP causing Oklahoma earthquakes and TEPCO causing the irradiation of the northern hemisphere means that corporations have far too much power and lack of responsibility.  The only argument in their favor is that they can't possibly pay reparations for damage to the Earth on such massive scales.  They can, however, be treated like any other mass murderer and be marched to the figurative gallows and summarily executed and their net worths divvied up and given out as partial repayment for the sufferering and death they have caused, both now and far into the future.  No, it's not justice, but it is a start.  It it could be done to EG Farben after World War II, then it can be done in these cases.  It should also be causing a mass reconsideration of how much leash we give to such creatures.

Since none of these things are happening, one can only assume that the global population doesn't care about being erradicated by a bunch of greedy board members.

Que sera!

In the meantime, Clif High's latest interview is out.  Many thanks to the Bali Bureau for passing on the link.  It seems that what we are unwilling to clean up, the Universe will take care of for us.  The problem is, It is less concerned about collateral damage than we are, and given that we don't care at all, that's saying quite a bit.

Stand by for transmissions from the Far Side!