Published on 12, July, 2020
Since the Palestine/Israel conflict began, I've stopped reading the news (I don't watch TV or listen to the radio, anyway).
This is to protect my mental health as my responses to the various conflicts in the world tend to either be anger or distress.
I've never done this before but for several decades of my life news wasn't so readily available.
The internet changed all that.
I don't know how long I will be able to isolate myself in this way, but I had become rather addicted to the BBC news website, constantly updating it to see the latest.
Does this resonate with anyone?
When back in 1986 I became by accident one of a handful of people who were knowledgeable that our Background count in Birmingham had doubled due to a venting of 30 tonnnes of core coolant from Trawsfynnydd NPP I became what is now known as a "conspiracy theorist".
When as part of my Job a decade later I found myself READING THE FILE in the offices of the place that maintained that NPP, (of course I was not entitled to, but it was open on the desk I was working on!!) the "conspiracy theory" became documented FACT and I abruptly lost the last of my naivete as regards those who we regards as "authority" and started to take a REAL interest in CT.
The reason I'm telling you this, is because I learned REAL FAST that it is hard on ones peace of mind and sense of "balance".
With C.T. (which is after all a subset of current affairs, and in some cases historical journalism, but sourced from alternative sources or perspectives) unless you want to start believing that the world is flat and the royal family are shape shifting lizard people or some other tosh, YOU NEED TO TAKE BREAKS FROM IT.
Both the "news" and C.T. are full of manipulation and some deceit because (and we Autists more than most should know this) lying and manipulation is what humans DO to each other.
Even this site can make your head swim at times, and I notice that many of the posters do indeed "take a break" in order to recover.
I wrote a lot more, then cut it. I need to think long and hard before teaching a group of Autists how to get macro results from micro actions..
You have reminded me of 2 things from the 1980s when I was involved in CND:
The murder of Hilda Murrell:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilda_Murrell
and the brilliant TV series Edge of Darkness:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edge_of_Darkness
Wow. I've been following current affairs for most of my 41 years and had never heard of the Murrell case.
I've probably just DOUBLED the number of people who know about the Trawsfynnd AGR venting...
(It was a deliberate venting according to the file, NOT an accident).
What I didn't mention, is the amusing tale about the radioactive welsh sheep that for economic reasons involving the man from the ministry not paying enough to keep the farmers happy or solvent if their sheep failed the testing, so the farmers found it made business sense to take them to Aylesbury and trade them for other sheep that would test OK and not be culled...
Chernobyl happened soon after trawsfynydd and I detected NOTHING.
Post Fukushima on one memorable day my background count was indicated to be 45 TIMES higher than baseline...
And we trust nuclear power is being operated safely. Anyone who's stirred to action and can afford such a thing can buy a networkable geiger counter and join the civilian network and both contribute to and benefit from accurate local to global information about radiation levels and help try and hold this industry a bit more accountable than they were in the eighties.
It's quite low at the moment.. https://gmcmap.com/