Japan: The real disaster

[Govangirl]

I've been really annoyed this week with the hyperbole and scaremongering by the media over the radiation 'disaster' when there is only one catastrophe: the death and suffering of thousands of people by the earthquake and tsunami. The resulting irrationality over radiation has been breathtaking. Politicians and the media need to say the truth, i.e. this incident was caused by an immense natural disaster that has no relevance to nuclear power plants in the vast majority of places in the world.
Meanwhile the real apocalypse takes second place to the more easily dramatised hi-tech problem of the nuclear plant, an incident which has killed two unfortunate workers and no-one else.
A worst-case situation seems to be that radiation would be sent across the Pacific. Does anyone else the irony that decades after the USA dropped their atomic bombs, atomic radiation from Japan becomes inflicted upon the USA?

I'm sure you know then that I'm pro-nuclear energy but also, things have been a bit dull on here recently (particularly since the master of debate is taking an extended holiday) so I thought I'd get some debate going.

[Sheik Yir Erse]

Govangirl - I think (perhaps as the lack of response to this thread has highlighted) people are just numb to it. Everyone watched in awe at the power of the tsunami as it struck. The devastation afterwards however, tragically that's now quite a common site. We've seen it in Haiti, New Orleans (after Katrina), Banda Aceh, Pakistan, Sichuan, etc. It was simply another scene of total devastation that our world has become weary too.

However the unfolding potential for a nuclear disaster was an altogether rarer event and therefore something for the media to concentrate on. Possibly stoked up by the fact that it could have an impact far beyond the immediate locale. The media knows there's only so many hours you can look at pictures of devastation before you stop watching (and seeing their adverts) however you'll tune in to an "unfolding story" for much longer.

Is it simply the media trying to stage manage our disaster fatigue?

[Govangirl]

Sheik, I take on everything you've said and agree that these are probably the reasons for nil response but . . . I think the shock factor came from learning that this rich advanced country had suffered such devastating tragedy and believe this was, by far, enough for the media. I haven't heard or read anything to counter balance to some of the hysterical tabloid scaremongering of which the mass media have been guilty. I have read descriptions like 'apocalypse' and 'catastrophe' about the situation which is blatantly ridiculous. I also feel that this false reporting has shadowed the real concerns: the plight of the refugees.
So yes, I guess it IS the media trying to stage manage - not our disaster fatigue, however, but fear and panic.