{"id":252,"date":"2006-05-05T00:31:33","date_gmt":"2006-05-05T04:31:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/s265039441.onlinehome.us\/philpaine\/?p=252"},"modified":"2018-08-22T19:54:30","modified_gmt":"2018-08-22T23:54:30","slug":"14657-%c2%a0%c2%a0dan-o%e2%80%99-neill-the-firecracker-boys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=252","title":{"rendered":"14657. (Dan O\u2019 Neill) The Firecracker Boys"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"06-05-05<\/a>

Edward Teller in a Lawrence-Liv\u00ader\u00admore Labs pub\u00adlic\u00adi\u00adty photo.<\/p><\/div>\n

In 1958, the Atom\u00adic Ener\u00adgy Com\u00admis\u00adsion made a con\u00adcerted effort to con\u00advince the cit\u00adi\u00adzens of Alas\u00adka to allow them to explode a series of nuclear weapons on the north\u00adwest\u00adern coast of that state. The effort was direct\u00aded by Edward Teller, the \u201cfather of the hydro\u00adgen bomb\u201d, who trav\u00adelled to Alas\u00adka to pro\u00admote the idea. Teller was a for\u00admi\u00adda\u00adble oppo\u00adnent of the nuclear test ban treaty. Pres\u00adi\u00addent Eisen\u00adhower, already extreme\u00adly dis\u00adtrust\u00adful of what he was already begin\u00ading to think of as the \u201cmil\u00adi\u00adtary-indus\u00adtri\u00adal com\u00adplex\u201d and expe\u00adri\u00adenced in the real pol\u00adi\u00adtics of war, was not swayed against the treaty, but he was amenable to Teller\u2019s claims that nuclear weapons could be used for peace\u00adful pur\u00adposes. The Alas\u00adka project was at first dubbed \u201cPloughshare\u201d and then lat\u00ader changed to \u201cChar\u00adi\u00adot\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

The project was to use nuclear weapons to exca\u00advate a huge har\u00adbour in a place where it had no con\u00adceiv\u00adable eco\u00adnomic util\u00adity, and where it would wreak spec\u00adtac\u00adu\u00adlar destruc\u00adtion of both the ecosys\u00adtem and the human com\u00admu\u00adnity. It was pro\u00admoted to the Alaskans with raz\u00adzle-daz\u00adzle, con\u00adstantly chang\u00ading jus\u00adti\u00adfi\u00adca\u00adtion, and a land\u00adslide of bare-faced lies. Teller him\u00adself appears to have been an almost path\u00ade\u00adl\u00adog\u00adi\u00adcal liar. Alaskans were told the most fan\u00adtas\u00adtic and absurd things imag\u00adin\u00adable, any con\u00adcoc\u00adtion of untruths and half-truths that would pla\u00adcate doubts or shut up oppo\u00adsi\u00adtion. Pre\u00addictably, the local Cham\u00adber of Com\u00admerce types, the Press, and State leg\u00adis\u00adla\u00adtors jumped on the band\u00adwagon. Here is an exam\u00adple of the kind of think\u00ading dis\u00adplayed by the Anchor\u00adage Times<\/em>: \u201cAsk\u00ading Alaskans for a deci\u00adsion on this pro\u00adposed atom exper\u00adi\u00adment is like a doc\u00adtor ask\u00ading his patient whether he wants an oper\u00ada\u00adtion. The eas\u00adi\u00adest answer is \u2018no\u2019. The doc\u00adtor usu\u00adally tells the patient he must have one for his own good, and the patient does as the doc\u00adtor says. The atom sci\u00aden\u00adtists are the doc\u00adtor in this case. If they say that ade\u00adquate safe\u00adguards for life and prop\u00aderty have been pro\u00advided, how can lay\u00admen say oth\u00ader\u00adwise?<\/em>\u201d Wow, there\u2019s some rugged indi\u00advid\u00adu\u00adal\u00adism and crit\u00adi\u00adcal jour\u00adnal\u00adism for you.<\/span><\/p>\n

What Teller and his AEC<\/span> crowd didn\u2019t count on was that Alas\u00adka was full of real sci\u00aden\u00adtists, some of the most com\u00adpe\u00adtent in the world. Many were at first enthu\u00adsi\u00adas\u00adtic for the project. Remem\u00adber, this was still some time before the growth of a politi\u00adcized envi\u00adron\u00admen\u00adtal move\u00adment, and the biol\u00ado\u00adgists, chemists, geol\u00ado\u00adgists and nat\u00adu\u00adral\u00adists in Alas\u00adka assumed that the AEC<\/span> crowds were work\u00ading sci\u00aden\u00adtists, not ide\u00ado\u00adlog\u00adi\u00adcal cru\u00adsaders. At vary\u00ading speeds, how\u00adever, they were soon dis\u00adilu\u00adsioned. The more inter\u00adac\u00adtion they had, the more doubts devel\u00adoped, espe\u00adcially as they saw the AEC<\/span> men demon\u00adstrate their igno\u00adrance and ride roughshod over sci\u00aden\u00adtific method, until even\u00adtu\u00adally the most astute where denounc\u00ading AEC<\/span> men as out\u00adright charlatans.<\/span><\/p>\n

But the real inter\u00adest\u00ading sto\u00adry was among the native Inu\u00adpiat peo\u00adple of Point Hope, whose land was going to be nuked, and stood the most to lose. It was the Inu\u00adpiat who over\u00adcame and defeat\u00aded the Jug\u00adger\u00adnaut of State pow\u00ader and men\u00addac\u00adity. The sto\u00adry clear\u00adly demon\u00adstrates why real democ\u00adracy, and espe\u00adcially local democ\u00adrac\u00adtic com\u00adpe\u00adtence and expe\u00adri\u00adence, is the best defense peo\u00adple have against these pow\u00ader\u00adful forces.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"06-05-05<\/a>

An Inu\u00adpi\u00adaq fam\u00adi\u00adly. The pho\u00adto is undat\u00aded but I would guess that it dates from five or six years after Project Ploughshare.<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Teller and the AEC<\/span> expect\u00aded, of course, to be deal\u00ading with a hand\u00adful of prim\u00adi\u00adtive peo\u00adple, who could be eas\u00adily bam\u00adboo\u00adzled and swept aside. When Teller was asked by an econ\u00ado\u00admist what would hap\u00adpen to the native peo\u00adple, he answered: \u201cWell, they\u2019ll have to change their way of life\u2026 when we have the har\u00adbor, we can cre\u00adate coal mines in the Arc\u00adtic, and they can become coal min\u00aders.<\/em>\u201d This kind of cal\u00adlous, Com\u00admu\u00adnist-style arro\u00adgance was typ\u00adi\u00adcal of Teller and his gang.<\/span><\/p>\n

When the AEC<\/span> attempt\u00aded to stage meet\u00adings with the native Inu\u00adpiat, they were sur\u00adprised and hor\u00adri\u00adfied that they were not going to mere\u00adly give their song and dance and get the kind of naive sub\u00admis\u00adsion they had got\u00adten from the help\u00adless natives in Eni\u00adwotok, in the Mar\u00adshall Islands. The first thing they dis\u00adcov\u00adered was that the Inu\u00adpiat all had the new\u00adly invent\u00aded portable tape recorders. Most of the high arc\u00adtic peo\u00adple I\u2019ve known have been chron\u00adic \u201cgad\u00adgeteers\u201d. Tra\u00addi\u00adtional cul\u00adture empow\u00adered them with a fas\u00adci\u00adna\u00adtion for tech\u00adnol\u00adogy, because a prop\u00ader under\u00adstand\u00ading of tools, and a feel\u00ading for tech\u00adno\u00adlog\u00adi\u00adcal solu\u00adtions, is absolute\u00adly essen\u00adtial for sur\u00advival in the extreme north. The tape recorder had been eager\u00adly acquired by the major\u00adity of Inu\u00adit and relat\u00aded peo\u00adple, as it was prac\u00adti\u00adcal way to send per\u00adsonal mes\u00adsages back and forth to dis\u00adtant rel\u00ada\u00adtives in a land with\u00adout telephones.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Inu\u00adpiat were also far from unin\u00adformed or sci\u00aden\u00adtif\u00adi\u00adcally illit\u00ader\u00adate. To their frus\u00adtra\u00adtion, the AEC<\/span> pro\u00adpa\u00adgan\u00addists dis\u00adcov\u00adered that many Inu\u00adpiat in Point Hope were extreme\u00adly well read, and eas\u00adily saw through their illog\u00adi\u00adcal and mis\u00adlead\u00ading show-and-tell pre\u00adsen\u00adta\u00adtions. They found them\u00adselves sub\u00adjected to high\u00adly skep\u00adti\u00adcal and inci\u00adsive ques\u00adtion\u00ading. One man in par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar, Dan Lis\u00adbourne, an Inu\u00adpiaq whaler and Pres\u00adi\u00addent of the Point Hope Vil\u00adlage Coun\u00adcil, was \u201cas well-read as any good New-Eng\u00adlan\u00adder<\/em>\u201d accord\u00ading to one scientist.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Point Hope Vil\u00adlage coun\u00adcil were not polit\u00adi\u00adcal ama\u00adteurs. The vil\u00adlage was the cur\u00adrent incar\u00adna\u00adtion of an arc\u00adtic set\u00adtle\u00adment that had been in con\u00adtin\u00adu\u00adous exis\u00adtence since before the build\u00ading of the Pyra\u00admids, and in some peri\u00adods con\u00adtained more than 600 hous\u00ades. It was the largest con\u00adtin\u00adu\u00adously occu\u00adpied site in the entire arc\u00adtic, a tra\u00addi\u00adtional entre\u00adpot of arc\u00adtic trade, hunt\u00ading, fish\u00ading and whal\u00ading. Con\u00adver\u00adsion to the Epis\u00adco\u00adpal Church in the 1890s had been on con\u00addi\u00adtion of hav\u00ading self-gov\u00adern\u00ading coun\u00adcils in all church affairs. The mod\u00adern vil\u00adlage gov\u00adern\u00ading coun\u00adcil had been around since 1920, and its self-made con\u00adsti\u00adtu\u00adtion had been for\u00admally rec\u00adog\u00adnized by the U.S. Gov\u00adern\u00adment since 1940.<\/span><\/p>\n

I will leave to the read\u00ader to dis\u00adcover the inspir\u00ading, and some\u00adtimes amus\u00ading tac\u00adtics which the Inu\u00adpiat employed to pre\u00advent the AEC<\/span> from destroy\u00ading their homes and lives. When it became obvi\u00adous that Alaska\u2019s press was not doing its job, they found\u00aded the first State-wide native news\u00adpa\u00adper, the Tun\u00addra Times. Point Hope need\u00aded allies, and Inu\u00adpiaq coun\u00adcil orga\u00adnized larg\u00ader and larg\u00ader polit\u00adi\u00adcal efforts until most of naive Alas\u00adka was involved and onside, formed coher\u00adent alliances with respon\u00adsi\u00adble sci\u00aden\u00adtists, and built pub\u00adlic\u00adity net\u00adworks that reached into main\u00adstream Amer\u00adica. The dis\u00adas\u00adtrous project was even\u00adtu\u00adally shelved.<\/span><\/p>\n

All of this demon\u00adstrates why demo\u00adc\u00adra\u00adtic tech\u00adniques are so cru\u00adcially impor\u00adtant for the defense of ordi\u00adnary peo\u00adple against the pow\u00ader of the mighty.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 1958, the Atom\u00adic Ener\u00adgy Com\u00admis\u00adsion made a con\u00adcerted effort to con\u00advince the cit\u00adi\u00adzens of Alas\u00adka to allow them to explode a series of nuclear weapons on the north\u00adwest\u00adern coast of that state. The effort was direct\u00aded by Edward Teller, \u2026<\/p>\n

Read more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[946,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-b-reading","category-bu-reading-2006"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=252"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9610,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252\/revisions\/9610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}