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I think the problem here, is that all those environement protection groups fighting fission, would cease to be after they "won" and thus are desperat in search

I think the problem here, is that all those environement protection groups fighting fission, would cease to be after they "won" and thus are desperat in search of a new "evil". Has there ever been a activist group that stated loudly: "Yes, we pulled it off"- and then peacefully disolved, with the promise to reunite the day the defeated cause should return?

yodon 9y ago
As a freshman at MIT in the 1980’s, I was impressed to hear the announcement that the MIT Group Against Smoking had just disbanded. They had accomplished everything they set out to do and felt their were better places for them to invest their time. And yes, I vividly recall the only time in my tenure at MIT I saw a student light a cigarette. It was in 10-250, the person was sitting audience right side of the lecture hall, about 1/3 of the way back in the room. She did so once, on her first day of class as a transfer student. So yes, change can happen, and be recognized, and the activists move on.
- LifeLiverTransp 9y ago
  Well my hat off to that. I just have a very negative counter-example here though: It was a radio-interview with a green-peace activist on ITER. And they would go to great length, to put the nuclear waste problem of fusion into the same category as the nuclear waste dilema of fission- although the fusion byproducts decay down to zero in 300 years- which is near nothing next to fission. I really rooted for greenpeace once, but such intellectual dishonesty- with a fundamentalistic approach, expecting humanity to give up civilisation as we know it, instead of working with the humanity they got- lead to a deep distrust to everything they publish.
TheSpiceIsLife 9y ago
Steven Pinker put it better then I could have when he wrote: No one has ever recruited activists to a cause by announcing that things are getting better, and bearers of good news are often advised to keep their mouths shut lest they lull people into complacency. Also, a large swath of our intellectual culture is loath to admit that there could be anything good about civilization, modernity, and Western society. My favourite example is this that in Australia we have no nuclear electricity generation large as a result of the good intentions of Greenpeace and The Wilderness Society, the later of which is largely responsible for there being no new hydro electric power stations in Australia after they were success in blocking the Franklin River dam project. That and there being pretty much no good sites left. That realisation and my ensuing confusion resulted in me withdrawal from the whole debate with the hope that greater minds will work toward improving the situation.

yodon 9y ago

As a freshman at MIT in the 1980’s, I was impressed to hear the announcement that the MIT Group Against Smoking had just disbanded. They had accomplished everything they set out to do and felt their were better places for them to invest their time. And yes, I vividly recall the only time in my tenure at MIT I saw a student light a cigarette. It was in 10-250, the person was sitting audience right side of the lecture hall, about 1/3 of the way back in the room. She did so once, on her first day of class as a transfer student. So yes, change can happen, and be recognized, and the activists move on.

LifeLiverTransp 9y ago
Well my hat off to that. I just have a very negative counter-example here though: It was a radio-interview with a green-peace activist on ITER. And they would go to great length, to put the nuclear waste problem of fusion into the same category as the nuclear waste dilema of fission- although the fusion byproducts decay down to zero in 300 years- which is near nothing next to fission. I really rooted for greenpeace once, but such intellectual dishonesty- with a fundamentalistic approach, expecting humanity to give up civilisation as we know it, instead of working with the humanity they got- lead to a deep distrust to everything they publish.

TheSpiceIsLife 9y ago

Steven Pinker put it better then I could have when he wrote: No one has ever recruited activists to a cause by announcing that things are getting better, and bearers of good news are often advised to keep their mouths shut lest they lull people into complacency. Also, a large swath of our intellectual culture is loath to admit that there could be anything good about civilization, modernity, and Western society. My favourite example is this that in Australia we have no nuclear electricity generation large as a result of the good intentions of Greenpeace and The Wilderness Society, the later of which is largely responsible for there being no new hydro electric power stations in Australia after they were success in blocking the Franklin River dam project. That and there being pretty much no good sites left. That realisation and my ensuing confusion resulted in me withdrawal from the whole debate with the hope that greater minds will work toward improving the situation.