My current house is approximately 8 miles north west as a bird flies from Dresden Generating Station, a nuclear power plant with two active reactors. Occasionally we’ll get an item in the mail from Dresden with instructions of what to do in case of an emergency. It’s not something I worry about every day, but it’s something to keep in the back of the mind to remember should the unthinkable happen.
There was a part of me that didn’t want to watch the HBO miniseries Chernobyl because it looked too real in portraying one of the most horrific events in my lifetime. But more chilling than any of the visual depictions of the disaster itself was the opening words spoken by Jared Harris’ character Valery Legasov about how the Soviet government handled the disaster:
What is the cost of lies? It’s not that we’ll mistake them for the truth. The real danger is that if we hear enough lies then we no longer recognize the truth at all.
Valery Legasov, HBO’S Chernobyl
What frightens me on a daily basis more than a nuclear core explosion and meltdown is how the man who currently holds the highest office in our government, as of this writing, has told 10,796 false or misleading claims in the 869 days he’s been in office. He of course would dismiss this as “fake news” and thus practically proving the point Legasov was making in the quote above. I have friends, coworkers, and family that support the man currently acting as President. When asked about how they can support a man that lies so much, they reply with either indifference or even worse ignorance as they either don’t think he’s lying or refuse to acknowledge it.
Pointing out a national newspaper reporting might not be enough to convince them. Nor would a study by the Annenburg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania or even a study from a non-profit organization. They just don’t want to hear it, or come back with a “both sides do it” as if that’s some kind of defense for the indefensible.
While watching this portrayal of the 80s Soviet disaster and how it was handled by those in the government, it’s not hard to imagine that this administration would have a similar response when it comes to presenting facts. Even to this day, there is a Russian movement to counter HBO’s version with a version of their own. How do you say “fake news” in Russian? The man occupying the Oval Office probably knows. Or at least has heard it before.
The man is a liar. He is a pompous, conceited, arrogant, narcissistic, egotistical, uneducated, xenophobic, demagogic, racist, homophobic, misogynistic, greedy liar. He is who he is. He’ll be out of office eventually. But the people who support this man despite all that he is aren’t going anywhere.
And this is what I fear more than Dresden blowing its top.
