Point/Counterpoint: Japan's Nuclear Plants

Point: There is no cause for alarm

by Jethro van Goterhoffeschen, Doctor of Nuclear Science and Other Smart-Sounding Stuff

While the news of a release of radioactive material may sound alarming, I assure you there is no reason for concern. It is true that after the earthquake in Japan, a small amount of radioactive material was released into the air. This is mostly only a problem for those in the immediate vicinity, who are rightly being treated for potential exposure.

The prevailing winds in the jet stream are indeed blowing eastward, towards the west coast of the United States, but the cloud of radioactive particles has not reached that high altitude. Instead, it seems to be caught in the low pressure zone formed over the north pacific.

For this reason, it is highly unlikely that any radioactivity will reach the west coast. And even if it did, the radiation dosage you get from eating one banana would be greater than that from the Japanese nuclear reactors. 6000 miles is simply too great a distance for the radiation to maintain any significant concentration.

While the reactor meltdown is a concern, this incident is nowhere near as bad as the Chernobyl incident, which poisoned the surrounding area with nuclear fallout and caused the deaths of at least 50 people. We should not allow emotion and fear to lead us into rash behavior and abandon our successful nuclear program.

Counterpoint: Oh God, oh God, we're all gonna die!

by Hugh Jass, Professional panic-stirrer and New York Times correspondent

Did you hear that? There's a giant cloud of nuclear waste heading towards the United States! It was caused by a catastrophic nuclear explosion--think mushroom cloud--which is due to the total meltdown of several nuclear reactors in Japan.

The radioactivity is being carried by winds to the west coast of the US, which will sometime today be completely enveloped in the noxious cloud! Everyone run for the hills! Shortly after, the cloud will creep over the rest of the states, and people in New York will be dropping dead in the streets by next week!

Quick, everyone buy up all the Potassium Iodide tablets you can! Only that can save you from the fallout which will likely cause a nuclear winter!

This is the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl! Everyone abandon nuclear power--wait, that isn't enough. We should abandon electricity altogether, since it was the melting of the polar ice caps caused by global warming that caused the tectonic shift that started the earthquake to begin with! This is all the fault of Big Oil! Come get your pitchforks, torches,and Potassium Iodide!

And run for the hills!

Point/Counter-Point.
FU-News 4 years/500 posts.

November 20th marks F.U. News' 4th anniversary, and with more than 495 posts already, the coming 500th post marks another milestone. We asked two leading experts what they think.

Point: Four years is quite a near-accomplishment.
By Leeroy Jenkins.
Wow. Four years, huh. That's, like, twenty years in internet time. Seems pretty incredible that Joe's been able to stick with anything that long. I mean, that's longer than he's been married. That's as long as he was in college. That's as long as some presidential terms. Who'd have thought Joe would have had an attention span that long? I mean, I figured he'd just get bored and forget the whole thing after a year or so. But to come up with consistently mediocre ideas and half-baked articles for four years? That takes... what's the word? Not skill, no. No, not talent either. Um. Averageness?

Counter-point: Psh. Four years is nothing. Now 500 posts, that's almost something.
By Gordon Frohman.
Whoopdie-freaking-do. Four years. That means... what? The Earth has crossed the same point four times since he made his first post? Big deal. Now 500 posts, that's almost an accomplishment. Being able to pull 500 nearly-coherent thoughts from that empty skull of his is nothing short of incredible. I mean, that's like one thought for every mile in the Indy 500. Can you imagine a driver going around the track and every time he crosses the finish line, he makes a blog post? I didn't think so. Joe can. Because he's had 500 thoughts in his life time. Now that's just shy of impressive.

Rebuttal:
LJ: Yay. 500 posts. Who freaking cares. It's only significant in base ten. No one cares about 1F4h posts, now, do they? And he's only done what, half of them? Three quarters at best. And the last couple hundred have been nothing but pictures of his cats and links to sites BBspot linked to first. Wow. Such originality. You'll pardon me if I don't swoon with excitement. Now four years. That's quite the, um, quite the thing.

Counter-rebuttal:
GF: Go soak your head. No one cares how long he's been doing it. All that matters is that the number is BIG and ROUND. Four is neither. And who uses base sixteen anyways?

At this point, the debate degenerated into a cartoon-style swirling ball of limbs.

Point/Counterpoint

Point: We Need to Stop Judging People and Embrace Alternative Lifestyles.
By Lance McGay, Alternativist.

I'm writing about an issue that is very important to me and close to my heart. That may be why I feel so passionately about this, but I ask you to be patient with me, because this is important to you too. The issue of which I speak is that of judgementalism and life choices.

Now, society as a whole has made much progress in this matter, but we still have a long, long way to go. There are certain segments of society which refuse to grow up. They refuse to embrace the reality of the world in which we live. They fear those who are different and judge them to be inferior. Now, this kind of thought is dangerous on its own, but some feel compelled to take it further. They try to make their ideas into law. They force their antiquated beliefs onto others. They enforce conformity to their misbegotten values.

I say we need to change this dangerous and destructive thought. We should embrace those who differ from us. We should not judge those who are different as wrong. Just because we don't agree with something someone says or does doesn't mean we should treat that person as a half-person or force them to agree with our opinions.

Now, I'm not trying to change anyone's own personal values. It is your secular humanism-given right to believe whatever you want. But you need to keep in mind that it is everyone else's right as well. Just as you have the right to think and do what you think is good, so do others have the right to think and do what they believe is good, even if it differs from your personal values of the universe. Likewise, even if you are personally opposed to something and believe it is wrong that doesn't mean that you should force someone else to hold your same belief and keep them from doing it.

In conclusion, we need to realize that each and every person should be the master of his own destiny and no one should be forced to conform to an idea that is not his own.


Counterpoint: Sure, Sure. That's What They All Say until They Find Out I'm a Serial Killer.
By Jack D. Manson, Serial Killer.

Let me start by saying I agree whole-heartedly with what my esteemed colleague just said. Every word of it. However, I don't believe he does.

More and more, I'm encountering people like him in this day and age. People who talk about how open they are and how accepting they are of people who are different from themselves. But you know what? They're all the same. They all talk about how enlightened they are, but they're biased against those who don't hold their beliefs, just like everyone else.

People like me have always been looked down upon and judged as evil by the rest of society. Just because we conduct our lives differently and make choices about how we live that they don't think are good choices, we are shunned and made to be outcasts. Do you know that those like me, who choose not to lie to ourselves about who we are and live life as we think is right are actually thrown in jail for it? Even in some of the most "progressive" countries in Europe, we're treated as blights upon society. And devil forbid that you should try to exercise your lifestyle choices in the "good old" USA. Most likely, they'll kill you for it.

For a while, I thought that with the changing cultural tides, people would finally accept me for who I was instead of trying to force me to be someone I'm not. I began to hear the call to "embrace diversity" and welcome people of different backgrounds. But I slowly learned that it was all a lie. Just a feel-good tactic so people could convince themselves that they weren't narrow-minded and ease their consciences. In the end, it left me more disheartened than ever. I question if society will ever be able to accept me for who I am.

In conclusion, look around you. Try to get past your own cultural-instilled biases and accept and love each person around you, no matter who they are or what they choose to do in their lives, even if they are slaughtering babies and dining on the flesh. Because you wouldn't want that person to judge you, would you?