THANK YOU tdogg for putting it into perspective so well.
Of course it was bad, but not anywhere NEAR as bad as things happening daily in less developed countries. 30 000 people die every day from poverty. THIRTY THOUSAND! every day. Compared to a one off of forty. It embarrases me that just because we are rich enough to squeal loudly we demand world sympathy. Those thirty thousand people every day have no voice, no media coverage, no president demanding their basic human rights.
Did the dubs think armageddon was coming when chernobyl happened? Probably only in Chernobyl, but everywhere else, its just a bunch of poor russians. What about Union Carbide? All those poor indians still being born with the most horrendous deformaties. I dont suppose nuking a whole village with poisonous gas is big enough to start armageddon in the dubs book, cos, well its only indians, and they dont wear shoes and stuff so they dont hit the richter scale.
And Union Carbide still hasnt paid up. One worker there was a university graduate, he was killed by the gas, his son was deformed so couldnt work, and the grandson is now illiterate because no money was paid to this family so he couldnt be sent to school. From University to illiteracy in three generations - brilliant. Union Carbide still trading in the USA, still making profits, still employing graduates, still denying liability and saying its the responisibility of a subsidiary company, who are also denying responsibility.
Sorry about the rant, but I cant get excited about a rich country having a relatively small amount of suffering, compated to the overwhelming amount of human suffering going on in poor countries. Of course I shed a tear for those poor injured and killed people, before anyone thinks I have no heart.
