Wednesday, August 29, 2018

Stigma and Radiation Contamination



Fukushima prefecture will remove a controversial statute of a child in a radiation suit after concern that the statute would be stigmatizing:
Fukushima to remove controversial statue of child in radiation protection suit. The Japan Times https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/08/28/national/fukushima-remove-controversial-statue-child-radiation-protection-suit/#.W4cqrs5Kj3g
FUKUSHIMA – Fukushima Mayor Hiroshi Kohata announced a decision on Tuesday to remove a controversial statue of a child in a radiation protection suit that has drawn waves of criticism since it was unveiled early this month. “It’s difficult to keep in place a divisive piece of work as a symbol of reconstruction,” Kohata told a news conference.
I can understand the conflict because no one wants to be stigmatized and the statute could promote that effect given documented cases of bullying of exposed children.

On the other hand, it is also disturbing that ongoing exposure is being erased symbolically as rains bring down contamination from the mountains and as the plant "leaks" into the ocean.

How can we demand justice for the exposed without stigmatization?

This is particularly challenging when it comes to contamination by ionizing radiation where victims are doubly victimized by their exposure.



 

8 comments:

  1. I am very familiar w Japanese culture. I sense that the statue, was a mixed message. I uderstand the Japanese fear and sense of loss at fukushima. Saving face, and covering up, will do nothing to move forward. THEY ARE WORKING ON RENEWABLES AND biodegradable plastics. They have to shutdown dangerous reactors and move away from nuclear,

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    1. Agreed on their push for renewables but Abe is committed to re-starting nuclear reactors despite all the torrential flooding and high earthquake activity. They must de-nuclearize as must all countries....

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    2. It is insane that Trump is deregulating all the delapidated reactors in the US with perry. It is insane that that they are opening reactors in japan with all the strorm and earthquakes. Taht they are not going out of their way to close rokkasho immediately!It is insane that trump supports abe in japan.

      Trump says nothing about fukushima . Trump says nothing, about japan exporting radioactive food all over the world. Trump opened uranium mining in the us. Is allowing dangerous nuclear waste to be transported and buries all over us. Trump is going along with fundimg of bill gates small modular reactor. Trump is going with giving nukes 38 billion to keep old reactors opened. Then there are the trillions for tactical nuke bombs, space nukes, upgrading old nuke bombs. What a liar and phoney.The altright was supposed to save us from israel and unending proxywars all over the world.

      Now trump wants to bring in erik prinze and escalate afganhistan. He is esacalating syria. He will probably help the saudis screw myanamar.Trump is sticking very close to the neoconservative playbook of George w Bush. The same playbook initiated by PNAC and arch neoconservatives Bolton, Wolfowitz, Rumsfield and Cheney. The playbook that allowed them to do.911 whichTrump.was privy to. The playbook that allowed them to illegally invade iraq. To desroy iraq along with most of the ancient antquities there.

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    3. WHAT DOES ALTRIGHT MEAN? Do you feel sickened by this cutesy meme that turned out to be such a grotesque lie?
      It means extreme right ie
      1. White suprememacy : white nationalism , whites are superior. Whites should have more rights than others more property more priviledge
      2. Dissolution of the Founding Fathers, lockian and, enlightenment philosophies of liberal democracies . The philosophies, that contain allowances for commons and, established rights and, protections for ordinary hard-working-people . Not just the priviledged. THE GREAT CIVIL LIBERTARIAN JOHN LOCKE WOULD BE ROLLING IN HIS GRAVE!
      Rights that eventally led to humanitarian ideals. Ideals of public education, libraries, national parks. Rights that came from hard fought battles for public health and consumer protectections. Frameworks for safe work environments. Habeas corpus. Making child labor and exploitation illegal. There is a big difference between John Lockes ideals and ayn rands fascism
      3. Following the KOCH BROTHERS philosophy of absolute domination of the country, by the corporate monopolies and billionaire class. The corporate interests. Mussolini put it this way, extreme corporatism.
      4. Dissolution of protections of the public, from corporate abuse and criminality. Corporate personhood. Citizens united. Like trumps proposal to abolish all epa laws, created to keep corporations from poisoning us to death. Trumps abandonment of regulations, even for nuclear power plants and nuclear waste. Such absurd irresponsibility and malevolance in the face of fukushima. Trump supports Abe and, his export of radioactive food. Abes reopening of dangerous reactors un Japan.
      5. Dissolution of protection of life support systems on the planet. Subsidizing and encouraging corporations, in the country to further pollute, with massive hydrocarbon burning. Quadrillions of gasoline yearly. They encourage and, subsidize the ongoing ubiquitous poisoning of our water with fracking and pesticides. They encourage fascist government over-reach in subsidizing coal, oil, nuclear, while regulating renewables out of existence.

      Abe and trump use same game plan. Farright politics blaming the victims and blaming everyons else. ABE BLAMES IT ON KOREAN AND OTHER IMMIGRANTS IN JAPAN ABE USES REFUGEES IN JAPAN AS FUKUSHIMA FODDER.
      In Murica we know we are a hugely ethnic diverse country and culture yet the altright which means farright has to play the racist card to keep lying cheating and stealing elections. There are a few kids in portland that like to dress up for some bs antifa meme . There is little or no antifa. By washington dca few altright strident white supremecists tried to march by charlottsville again an antiracist there was murdered by a neonazi a while back. Thousands of americans who are sickened by the altright devils that flaunt their evil racist nonsense showed up there a week ago. 20 of the pathetic trump racists showed up and ran away. The americans that went there were not antifa. They were part of the 90% majority of decent americans that are sickened by the ugly insanity of the sick altright racists that include nazis, neonazis, kkk, and other scum of the earth.

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    4. Partially from the JPRATT27 blog

      Rght wing nationalism is highly linked  to a rise in nuclearism as we see in america, sweden, japan. The Swedes wer growing rewables and cutting nuclear.

      Now since neonazis and rightwing nationalists are in power in sweden they are scrapping renewables and planning on keeping old reactors open . They are planning on opening new nuclear reactors. 

      Right-wing nationalism’s links to climate change denial are a relatively not new, but Environmental Sociology recently published an article where J Hultman and his research colleagues show the connections between conservatism, xenophobia, and climate change denial, through a study in Norway.

      Why is rightwing nationalism and their awful racism linked to fracking, more fossil fuel oil rigs and exploitattion, more nuclear reactors?

      It is because they have to manufacture the fake motivations and anger of racism to justify their corporate bosses and others, disconnection from reality. Also they have to have a rallying cause for their fake and amoral cult like with Trump in america and abe in Japan.The racism card fits the bill!

      Hultman an expert explains that many of the right-wing nationalist parties in Europe now have climate change denial as one of their most important issues.

      “These parties are increasing in significance.

      We see it in Denmark and Norway, in Britain with UKIP, and Front National in France. But also, in Sweden, with the Sweden Democrats’ suspicion towards SMHI (Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute), their dismissal of the Paris Agreement and of climate laws, and in their appraisal of climate change denier Václav Klaus as a freedom-fighting hero,” he says. Hultman also mentions the Trump administration in the USA as a prime example."



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  2. "How can we demand justice for the exposed without stigmatization?" It may not be possible. Children are very creative at finding things to tease and bully others about. However. . .

    Consider the fact tht almost everyone in the USA knows that radioactive material is dangerous. Or that was once the case. Yet there are nuclear waste sites all over the place. I just learned this week that there is one near Parachute CO where a rare M5 earthquake occurred. I am sure the folks in Parachute believe that the gov is keeping them safe.

    Glyphosate is said to be migrating into all sorts of foods and of course into mother's milk. How long before it gets banned?

    I think it is like learning what hot means. Societies in the West have not caught up with technology. Catching up will means all the bad things you have predicted. Genetic damage for example. People lived for thousands of years in societies where novelty was rare. Despite that people did poison themselves when the opportunity came along. Now we need lots of education to protect ourselves but the education is not easiy come by. For one thing a lot of it would not be PC. Can you tell children in school tht Antifa is not a friendly and good group? MS13 is not your pal? Radical Muslims bite? I doubt it. It would offend some parents. Nothing is worse than offending people, right?

    Unless we can tell the truth we will have a lot of suffering to do.

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  3. JAPAN IS NOW DOMINATED BY A THUG RIGHTWING NATIONALIST SHINZO ABE. His ilk embellishes and, worships Bullying, Racism, Ethnic and racial hatred, hatred of all korean and chinese immigrants. Hatred of refugees to the point of using them as slave labor, to be irradiated to death at Fukushima. His brand of exteme nationalistic chauvinism calls for the blaming of the victims of the Fukushima disaster created by him and the corporate overlords and nuclearist cabal in Japan.

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