Fear is very unsatisfying feeling. It’s in all of us. It makes us do and think the unthinkable. It changes the way people behave in ways that can benefit or hurt us. Our class watched the movie “China syndrome” and the documentary “nuclear nightmare”. Both of these movies demonstrating the fear the public should have about about nuclear radiation, and the lengths they need to go to be safe against radiation.

The “China Syndrome” is a fictional movie based around a power plant in Los Angeles, California. The plant is run by a big greedy corporate company who puts money over the safety of their workers. The main characters is the Cameraman Richard, and the reporter Kimberly. The two go into the power plant for a story. But during their tour the plant goes through a malfunction. They were told to turn the camera off but secretly kept filming. The company went through great lengths to censor the tapes. During the movie a worker by the name of Jack realized the danger that happened during that malfunction, and that being in the plant was still dangerous. He tried to help the news team expose this information to the media but the plant claimed he was a crazy drunk. One worker who was a close friend of jacks was getting interviewed and decided to tell the truth and told the world that jack wasn’t a drunk lunatic and that he was right. This causing for a thorough investigation.

This movie makes the viewers question about nuclear power plants and just how safe they’re. It gives the viewer a sense of fear. Nuclear radiation became a very controversial topic at this point in time during the 1970s. A few years after this movie was released the Chernobyl disaster happened. The Chernobyl disaster was a catastrophic nuclear incident that resulted in a destructive steam explosion and a subsequent open-air graphite fire. This bringing a whole new level of fear to the topic of nuclear radiation.

“Nuclear nightmare” unlike the “China syndrome” was a documentary. The documentary is based on how the fear of radiation is too wide spread and not enough science based evidence. The movie is mostly based on the Chernobyl disaster. They show how the media tries to entice fear to the public by blowing stories out of proportion. According to news broadcast, Chernobyl claimed 400,000 lives, but in reality only 57 lives can be recorded directed or indirectly from the accident. The documentary shows how nuclear energy shouldn’t, but feared but taken safely, because nuclear energy is becoming a way of life in how certain things will run. Being scared of radiation has a new word for it, Radiophobia.

Many incidents have happened throughout the years. Many accidents make the public fear certain incidents. I’m gonna be focusing on the topic of the Fukushima Daiichi Disaster. On March 11, 2011, Japan faced one of the worst nuclear incidents since the Chernobyl disaster. An earthquake of 9.0 – 9.1 magnitude erupted off the Pacific coast of Tōhoku. Soon after, the earthquake triggered a tsunami, the tsunami disabled the emergency generators that would have provided power to control and operate the pumps necessary to cool the reactors. The insufficient cooling led to three nuclear meltdowns, chemical explosions, and the release of radioactive materials. Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) is a Japanese electric utility service. They have repeatedly assured the public that the problem is contained. TEPCO maintains that radiation levels have fallen dramatically at the disaster site. However, the company’s continual lies and coverups make confirming facts difficult. For instance, on March 11, 2011, when the the tsunami struck the plant, TEPCO knew that a multi-reactor nuclear meltdown was underway. the public wasn’t informed till April. Even writing this gives me the chills. Knowing that big corporate companies are hiding secrets from the public. Hiding secrets that could save lives and keep our environment safe. This company could still be keeping secrets from us that we still don’t know, that’s the scary thing about all this.

Fear is not only struck by radiation. There are many things going on now a days that is striking fear to everyone. One of the major controversial topics going on right now is WW3. This is being talked about around my friends and the media. Now a days all of the major news that goes around is through memes. Although I may get a laugh through these memes, when I look deeper to what is happening in the world with the US, Russia, North Korea, and Syria. All these threats and wars going on keeps me on edge. Seeing news reports of chemical warfare going on in Syria, and that the US is dropping the  mother of all bombs on Syria is all very frightening.

The media is a main source of fear in the world. Whether you’re watching the news about how the world is almost at break of war. Or if it’s a meme of WW3, or someone getting punched on an airline. All of this is the unsatisfying feeling of fear. Especially when it is something we don’t know much about, like radiation. When you don’t know much on a fearful topic it tends to be more frightening than something we already know.

I have created a newspaper called “The Daily Fear”. I filled the main section with Fukushima disaster, and how it is today. On the side is a bunch of side stories of all the scary stuff that is going on now a days.