re: #62 HappyWarrior

Yeah it must be really personal for you since you mentioned that the radiation was literally near you growing up. It makes me think about what happens when you let an ideology whether that’s communism, capitalism or whatever be your sole deciding factor about the best course of action to a problem.

Kids not being allowed outside to play or even have breaks between lessons didn’t just occur in Germany, but in Sweden as well. I was one of them. As I recall, it was especially when we had rains coming from the wrong direction. I remember being told to not step in puddles of water unless you had to. And I lived in one of the lesser hit areas! Gävleborg County and parts of Northen Sweden had it worse. It still happens in parts of Norway, Finland and Sweden that meat has to be destroyed and discarded because it has too many Bq/kg…

Monitoring of among other things reindeer meat will probably last past the lifetime of any children I might have. The public siren system signal “VMA” (Viktigt Meddelande till Allmänheten (Important Message to the Public)) was rolled out in 1986, and the Chernobyl disaster was one of the major factors behind it. It’s why it gives me the chills when I hear it the first non-holiday monday in each quarter (Dec, Mar, Jun, Sep) at 3 pm local. And why I was on the floor (I sleep in a loft bed) by the second or third 7-second burst of the siren when a silent test went loud as hell 2017-07-09 at 22:00. From being sound asleep.
Because I remember all too well why they created it.

And yeah, it has taught me the utter idiocy of letting ideology be the sole deciding factor when deciding the best way to deal with a problem, or even admitting the problem exists. Reality does not give a single fuck about your ideology or beliefs. It does not make any difference how beautiful your ideology or belief is. It does not make any difference how smart you are, who made the policy, or what his or her name is - if it isn’t reacting to reality, it is wrong and only luck will dictate how hard reality paddles your ass. Because it is a question of when it will be paddled, not if.