Saturday, August 13, 2011

Follow Your Government's Instruction and You'll Be OK, Says the Government

First, the Japanese government who is losing credibility by the day, if not by the hour, among the Japanese population and the world at large over its (non-)handling of the nuclear and radiation crisis.

The Ministry of Education and Science has just created a new booklet for elementary schools, junior high schools, and high schools to be used in the new semester starting in September to teach children about "radiation", and what to do in a nuclear disaster like the one they've been having since March 11.

So let's take a look. What are the children supposed to do in the post-Fukushima age? Here's from Asahi Shinbun (3:02AM JST 8/14/2011) as to why this booklet has been created:

  • To give children the basic understanding of radiation

  • To prevent bullying of children from Fukushima in their new schools outside Fukushima [for those children lucky enough to get out of Fukushima]

  • To teach that radiation is emitted from radioactive materials like uranium, and that we may be exposed to radiation from natural sources as well as in medical treatments anyway

  • To teach them the effect of radiation in different dosage

  • To teach them that radiation is not contagious

  • To teach them to pay close attention to the announcements by the national government and municipal governments in the event of a nuclear accident and evacuate accordingly.

About the last point, many people did just that. They followed the government instruction on evacuation and ended up going where the radioactive plume went - north and northwest, then change direction and headed south from there. The government instruction, assisted by the nuclear experts back in March, was to go as far away from the plant, in any direction, as the strength of radiation decreases with the distance. What they forgot to tell the populace is that it was not a nuclear bomb that exploded in a flash but a broken nuclear reactor releasing a tremendous amount of radioactive nuclides in a plume.

Anecdotes of children from Fukushima being bullied were reported back in April and May, and the media made much of them. Whether they were true or another "baseless rumor" from the government, I do not know.

The booklet continues the government's position to confuse "radiation" with "radioactive nuclides", making it appear as if radioactive nuclides that exist in nature are no different from the man-made radioactive nuclides. (That will be another post.) I'm pretty positive that the booklet will have the illustration of the different level of radiation from different sources, rendering everything into numbers in microsievert and millisievert.

And here's the US government, telling farm supply stores, gun shops, military surplus stores and even hotels and motels to watch out for domestic "terrorists". The FBI brochures ask proprietors, clerks and others to watch out for "potential indicators" of terrorism. In the brochure "handed out to surplus stores by agents of the FBI in Denver in recent days", those "potential indicators" include, among other seemingly legitimate concerns:

  • Insist on paying with cash

  • Significantly alter appearances from visit to visit (haircolor, beard, dress)

  • Have missing fingers/hand, strange odors, bright stains on clothes

  • Make bulk purchase of the following items:
    Weatherproofed ammunition and match containers
    Meals Ready to Eat
    Night vision devices, night flashlights

Cash is now a terrorist tool. Flashlight, too.

Never mind that, as the linked article points out, another branch of the same government, FEMA, tells citizens to store up on flashlights and matches in a weatherproof containers and ready-to-eat foods as part of disaster preparedness. So you go to a surplus supply store to stock up on these essential disaster preparedness items as recommended by FEMA, and you may become a "terrorist" according to FBI. Catch 22.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ultraman, I just love your writing style!

On a serious note: "To teach them to pay close attention to the announcements by the national government and municipal governments in the event of a nuclear accident and evacuate accordingly."

It seems that the Japanese government is trying to remind its citizens to remain docile and obedient toward them ('no effect on health!'). But that last bullet point - is it possible that the government thinks that molten blobs may reach the water table and cause a steam explosion resulting in another evacuation? Otherwise why print a 'back-to-school' brochure for an event that is still in progress? Wouldn't they normally want people to stop thinking about evacuation and return to 'normal' without any fear because 'it could never happen again' etc.?

Anonymous said...

'Insist on paying with cash'? How likely is that? People don't have to insist, they just pay with cash and the last time I went shopping, no clerk ever refused cash. So the FBI wants clerks to watch out for people who 'pay with cash' which opens up the 'terrorist' profile to anyone not careless with credit card spending.

arevamirpal::laprimavera said...

@anon at 4:05PM, I guess the government is preparing for the next one at a different plant (pick any from the choice of 54 aging reactors).

@anon at 4:09PM, there were merchants on ebay who said they would accept gold and silver as payment. I wonder if they have been arrested as terrorists.

Anonymous said...

the government is really fighting for the genocide, no more white glove, full lies and deception. No more honor, plain dirty hand kill and direct at children, no mercy.
Shit, if my government was like that I would be on the street with a gun against it.

Anonymous said...

" What they forgot to tell the populace is that it was ...a broken nuclear reactor releasing a tremendous amount of radioactive nuclides in a plume. "

And populace believes it -was- so.

While in fact it still -is- ... so the plumes continue unhindered, de-populace reactors remain open, continuously belching particles into the intentionally irradiating skies. And will intentionally be kept open for years to maximize global holocaust; here japanese sit in the 1.st class...

So why not do smtg about it?

How many irradiating sources are there open to the skies? Mirroring from uncovered hot spots, seems that lots more that theses four infamous TEPCO-stars...

Would populace be told if all myriad semi secret university/milit 'lab'-nuke plants kept irradiating townsfolks? LOL. Are there recent photos, independent measurements of Fukushima Daini etc. reactor buildings? Yes. Definitely not shown...

.

ファウスト(メス) said...

緊急 -
私はアイデアを持っている -
減速する可能性
減速する xtend and pretend ==
必要性の助言を
私に連絡してください!
緊急 -

tsuafelamefa AT hushmail

ファウスト(メス) said...

and my apologies for the rough interface

Anonymous said...

So the Ministry is admitting that the citizens got dosed, and then is forced to pretend it is of no consequence.

From this report,
http://www.nirs.org/reactorwatch/accidents/chernob_report2011webippnw.pdf ,
it appears many European women aborted their babies in the months after Chernobyl.

If the Japanese follow the Ministry's advice, will the women refuse to abort the Fuku teratobabies?

arevamirpal::laprimavera said...

@ファウスト(メス), sorry I don't know the answer to the question. Any hint?

Anonymous said...

I remember the blue pill.It was nice.

Anonymous said...

Lies, lies, and more lies are the fuel of government and business.

The amount of lies used by these "leaders" proves that, there is no reason for them to ever tell the truth. Well, the Public can lie, too.

"We trust the government and believe all politicians are very intelligent."

Anonymous said...

Strong delusion and denial.This is the malady effecting the Japanese public during this nuclear on going disaster. The only citizens who are pissed off enough to stick their neck out and stir things up are those who are displaced and directly effected by the crisis. Most people here do not want to rock the boat or take any chance of being the nail that sticks out and gets hammered back into place. The business leaders and politicians are doing their best to keep people calm and present a sense of business as usual. After all, the Japanese economy is dependent on exports. They feel it is more important to present the appearance of things are getting back to normal.
This is such a disaster that people just can not wrap their minds around it.
Please pray for the Japanese people. We need a miracle to get out of this one.

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