Japanese govt admit to lying about seriousness and risk

[An Inspector Calls]

Just possibly I'm having a little more difficulty than you in concluding that the Japanese government willfully deceived their people? That bit of semantics, if you will, does seem important to me.

Are you making any point other than your 'lie' accusation?

It appears to me that the Japanese have actually taken adequate precautions - there is an evacuation zone in place, and it was established very early on. I've yet to see the blood.

[Ludwig]

In times of civil emergency it is even more important that citizens can trust their elected representatives to give them correct information, at the very least not directly lie to them. Surely in the long term a lying government will foster mistrust and people are less likely to follow their instructions in future situations?

In times of civil emergency, as in war, the first casualty is the truth. The British Government lied through its teeth through World War Two - and it was right to do so, because national morale was of utmost importance.

I'm not saying the Japanese Government was unambiguously "right" to lie about the scale of the nuclear problem. However, a principal job of a government is to keep order. The Japanese government understandably feared panic if it revealed how disastrous things really were; it was probably hoping that things could be put right in good time, and social chaos would have been avoided. Now, it looks as though they've given up on the possibility that it might die down, and feel they have no option but to tell the truth. Rather than condemn their lying, we might admire them for finally telling the truth - better late than never. After all, that's more than the Soviet government did regarding Chernobyl.

[Ludwig]

The fundamental role of government should be to protect all the citizens, not protect the interests of the nuclear industry while hoping for the best.

That's not necessarily the case. It depends on the form of government. In a democracy, the job of a government is to give the people who voted for it what they think they want. If that proves the people's undoing, tough shit to them - and tough shit, needless to say, for the people who didn't vote for it.

Given that most people are stupid, selfish and deluded, the only system of government that could ever really work is benign dictatorship. But that's a theoretical system, because the only people who ever seek absolute power are those least suited to exercising it.

In some ways, a system of inherited government might work well. It's probably the only system in which good people are forced to lead. This makes me think of the Dalai Lama: he never had any choice in his vocation, but that very fact means he takes his vocation seriously.

[biffvernon]

The fundamental role of government should be to protect all the citizens, not protect the interests of the nuclear industry while hoping for the best.

That's not necessarily the case.

I said should

The previous King of Bhutan is another good one to add to the list.

[LostAndFound]

Just look at our own DoE and how they refuse to accept that Thorium is a much better, safer, cleaner and more efficient fuel source than Uranium or Plutonium. American nuclear policy is based on military preferences not scientific knowledge.