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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1986-10-08, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1986. Editorials Now that's community spirit They’ve done it again up in Belgrave. They’ve shown that the old pioneer spirit of co-operation for community betterment is alive and well. Between downpours in the last few weeks the volunteers of the Belgrave community have managed to remove the old arena roof and install a new one in time for tonight’s (Wednesday’s) annual turkey supper. In a larger community not only would this job have cost more because it had to be hired out, but it would have taken longer because of all the red tape needed for tendering and soon. Chances are the diners at the turkey supper would have been ducking rain drops at the event. Experts, from economists to planners to professors of geography or whatever, would probably tell you there is no reason Belgrave should exist at all. It has no real industry. It doesn’t have a significant commercial district. Itisn’teven near a large urban centre to act as a bedroom community. But because of the stubborn community spirit of the people of Belgrave the community continues to, if not thrive, at least continue not only to exist but also to grow. And that community spirit itself becomes a reason for growth because people are attracted by the “heart” the community has. All ofour smaller villages and hamlets have that kind of spirit to some extent. It’s what makes life in Huron county so enjoyable. It takes hard work to keep our communities going but it’s worth it. You can't believe what you read Don’t believe everything you read in the papers, we’re often told and it especially holds true when what we read has something to do with “national interests.” That seems to have been proven again with the revelations last week that the stories coming out in August about Col. Moammar Gadhafi stirring up trouble again and the U.S. preparing to intervene again were all just part of a plot of disinformation by the United States government. Bob Woodward, who sniffed out the Watergate story, got access to memos that showed this whole minor crisis was part of a plan by U.S. officials to scare off Col. Gadhafi from getting involved in more terrorism and if possible, encourage his enemies inside Libya to rise up against him. The U.S. press played the whole thing as if it were fact. President Ronald Reagan agreed last week that there had been a plan of deception for Gadhafi but denied that deceiving the U.S. press was part of the plan. Whether it was or not, the American press was quite willing to swallow the misinformation. It isn’t the first time. The American press, for instance, went along with the information delivered by the U.S. government and the armed forces about what was supposed to be happening in Vietnam even when it was a totally false picture of reality. Before that, there was massive propaganda in the Second World War, abetted by the press of all countries, including our own. The right of the people of a country to know the truth is most in danger when the feeling of patriotism becomes too high in the country and in the journalists covering national events. When the press seems most united in its viewpoint of something is the time to most watch out for being manipulated. The U nited States is in such a patriotic fervour these days that truth is constantly in danger. How much of the truth did we get recently for instance in the great spy debate. It was disturbing tosee the unquestioning belief in the U.S. media that the American “spy” Nicholas Daniloff was framed by the Russians while the Russian “spy” Gennadi Zakharov was guilty. There was none of the “innocent until proven guilty” attitude toward the Soviet and there wasn ’t any question that the American was just a bargaining chip in a Moscow vs. Washington poker game. In this case, not only was American patriotism at play with newsmen but the fact the American involved was a journalist, made objectivity that much scarcer a commodity in news reports. It is entirely possible that things were just as portrayed in the Daniloff case. Certainly the Soviets are not above faking a spy arrest and certainly we can’t count on getting real justice in the U.S.S.R. But the Americans have been known to have spies before and known to have lied outright about it (remember Gary Powers and the U2?) And the Libyan misinformation showed again that the U.S. government feels it has the right to use any tactics it wants to achieve its ends. The patriotic American press is only too ready to swallow such deception. The problem for the rest of us in the world is that too often our only access to American news is through the red-white-and- blue-tinted glasses of the American media. It is a poor way for us to decide how to react to events precipitated in the U.S. that affect us all. And what the U.S. nationalists don’t seem to realize is that they do so much harm to their own country with such tactics. For one thing, if American citizens can’t believe their own press and government, how much freer are they than the citizens of the Soviet Union are with Pravda? For another, if the credibility of the U.S. government and press is undermined, then the enemies of the U.S. gain. In the long run, honesty really is the best policy. The International Scene The costs of atomic power BY RAYMOND CANON About once a month I take a trip from London to Wiarton and as often as not I pass by the atomic energy plant at Douglas Point. It sits there quite silently churning out electricity for the residents and factories of Ontario and some of the electricity that you are using right now may come from this plant. What gave me some food for thought when I got back from my latest trip was a report on the Russian revelations at Vienna when they came to confess all at the International Atomic Energy Agency meeting in that city. The first interesting thing about the meeting was that the Soviets, after months of their typical stonewalling, were candid in their evaluation of the disaster which did nothing less than terrify much of the world last April when news started leaking out about Cher­ nobyl, a place that nobody in the western world had ever heard of before. For a while it seemed as if we were getting more news about the intensity of the accident from neighbouring countries than the Soviet Union. Indeed, the Swedes initially thought that it was one of their own reactors that was causing such high readings until they realized that all theirs were functioning normally; the radio­ activity was being brought in from the south. At any rate Russian secrecy has given way to Soviet candor. They blame human error for the disas­ ter; the engineers at Chernobyl were guilty, it seems, of violating no less than six safety procedures, a sort of chain reaction as it were, instead of admitting that some­ thing was going terribly wrong and then shutting down the operation. For one thing these engineers were in a hurry; they wanted to take advantage of a situation that would not occur for another year and for this reason a number of initial safety rules were either broken or ignored. I don’t want to go into all the details of the errors; it would serve no useful purpose since much of it is technical in nature and I’m not even sure that I understand the ramifications of all that was done. However it needs to be pointed out at this time that human error is not all that the Russians confessed to at Vienna; they admitted that their reactors were not as safe as they might be. As a result of this “discovery” the designer of these reactors has been fired and half of the 18 currently in operation have been shut down for a detailed inspection. At the same time it is intersting to note that a further 27 engineers and the like have been fired for “cowardice” in the wake of the explosion. As the old saying goes, heads will roll and they certainly did. However, if the Russians were busy with their “mea maxima culpas’ ’ at Vienna, they also left no doubtthatthe Kremlin is deter­ mined to press on with additional reactors since, for economic rea­ sons, they are the most logical way to produce electricity. This brings me to the nub of the whole question. Is atomic energy really safe enough for us to continue with it? The Ontario government ob­ viously thinks so since it has, since the Chernobyl accident, stated that it is prepared to spend billions of dollars finishing our reactor at Darlington although it has indicat­ ed that this will be the last to be built. The Swedes, on the other hand, have stated that they are going to close down all of theirs by the turn of the century although I must admit that this statement had something less than a definitive ring about it. What are the advantages of nuclear power? Well, for one thing the Russians are right. In the long run it is undoubtedly the cheapest way to produce electricity so economics does enter into the picture. However, there are oth­ ers. As the world switches from coal to atomic energy, it will mean that the number of fatalities in the former industry will diminish over the years. In addition there will be a reduction in the amount of acid rain since coal burning power plants are currently the worst offenders. In fact, pollution in general will be down if the world switches more to atomic power. On the other hand nobody is now quite sure if the same reactors are safe enough. I’m sure that you have all heard the sentiment expressed that Chernobyl could not happen here and so far it has not in spite of the near miss at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania. It probably could not since there is every evidence that we are more safety-conscious than the Rus­ sians, or at least were. The Kremlin has certainly made great efforts to clean up its act and this has rubbed off on the west. As a pilot and one who has no hesitation in flying, I can vouch for the fact that the most likely cause of any crash is not mechanical but human error; yet many of you fly just as readily as I do. In short we take a risk just by stepping into a plane and we take a much bigger risk just by driving a car to the airport. Life is filled with risk-tak­ ing and what we have to do is decide right now whether the risks inherent with atomic energy are worth taking. As the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency remarked, perhaps we have already passed the point of not return. Write us We get lonely [640523Ontariolnc.] Serving Brussels, Blyth, Auburn, Belgrave, Ethel, Londesborough, Walton and surrounding townships. Published weekly in Brussels, Ontario P.O.Box 152 P.O. Box429, Brussels, Oht. Blyth, Ont. NOG 1 HO N0M1H0 887-9114 523-4792 Subscription price: $15.00; $35.00foreign. 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