Flaws and weaknesses of my advocacy
Stewart Dent, Nats101
I
made several exaggerations in favor of my advocacy, and I ignored or minimized some negative aspects of
gamma rays. For example, I said there would be some minor adversity associated
with a nuclear war, but clearly such an event would impose tremendous hardship on tens of millions of
survivors even if they were
not directly affected by the blasts. When I said gamma rays are simply another form of electromagnetic radiation, I minimized their danger. Because they are very short wavelength radiation, they are highly energetic, penetrating, and ionizing radiation compared to other forms of EM
radiation with longer
wavelengths such as visible light. I
think my most egregious
spin was my assertion related to the constant background level of gamma radiation from Earth and
space, and the possibility that we
have evolved in response to it to minimize its impacts. I went overboard when I then stated that
because of this we are immunized
against any harmful effects of gamma radiation
and could probably work nude in a factory irradiating food with gamma radiation with no ill effects. This would actually be very dangerous.