I have long regarded "sayonara" as the most melodious way to say goodbye. It is also the most emotionally satisfying to me.
More than 40 years ago (1952) I first encountered the Japanese culture. "Sayonara" was one of the first words I learned. I also learned that it literally means "so long -- for a while -- we will meet again." The reason it has that meaning, I was told, is so that you not give offense or "pain" to the other person by implying that you do not want to see him/her again. It is always assumed that you will meet again. Thus, I learned that it is a cardinal "sin" in the Japanese culture to give offense or "pain" through what you say, however well meaning you may be..... (Often a source of much "confusion" with the "direct" Americans.) That is only the first of many aspects of the Japanese culture I find commendable.....
So ... this is "sayonara." My decision to end EMF-L is necessitated by a number of business/family matters that have languished for too long with too little attention. EMF-L has proved to be a very demanding and time consuming activity. I find that I now must turn my attention and energies to matters closer at home.......
Looking back to the beginning of EMF-L (22 months ago), while I can take some satisfaction that "much good" has been done, I must admit that I consider that I have NOT accomplished my main goal.
I have not succeeded in "shining the light" on the EMF issue to such an extent that the government has decided to take this task out of my hands .. and begun to inform the American people, honestly and authoritatively, what the REAL facts are.....
That was, frankly, my hope. That THEY would take over and do the job....
I was naive, wasn't I! The U.S. government CANNOT be *shamed* into doing its job: putting the PUBLIC interests ahead of the "special interests" ... of the BIG spenders who now own and control our government....
Whatever that may turn out to be, you can be sure that the Chinese Communist's efforts to buy influence in Washington during the last two national elections (which I do not doubt) ... were amateurish and "small potatoes" when compared to the influence buying that is done EVERY DAY in Washington by the "real pros" at influence buying......
The really BIG influence buying ... and thus the 'cruelly damaging' exploitation ... of the American people ... is being done by Americans, not foreigners!!!.....
If you doubt that, I ask you to investigate the facts about the Telecommunications Bill of 1996!!! Remember that? That's the law that promised to bring "competition" to the telecommunications industry ... and thus lower TV cable and telephone rates.
Already the opposite is swiftly occurring. Rates are going UP not "down" as merger upon merger is building the industry into a more monopolistic market (which is what the industry intended all along) rather than more competitive. And a monstrous "giveaway" of a major national resource -- the airways -- is slowly coming to light......
I don't know the answer! I am most perplexed, indeed, at the behavior the "press" is showing on this EMF matter. But, in the discussion that follows, I should like to attempt an explanation. [Note, for our purpose here: "press" and "media" can be used interchangeably.]
In the 1950s, the University of Missouri (guru's alma mater) School of Journalism (which he did not attend) had the reputation for producing the kind of "fearless" reporters who lived up to what was then called the "William Allen White tradition of journalism."
It was the kind of journalism that had made White, the editor of a small town (Emporia) Kansas newspaper, a national symbol for fearlessly crusading against the "rich and powerful" establishment that ruled America in the early part of this century. (Much like what we are seeing today!)
As a small town newspaper editor on what was than the western frontier, William Allen White "wrote the book" on independent and fearless reporting and editorial writing against the exploitation he saw of the American west by a "robber baron" class that had no concept of the public good. As a value system, they were guided only by their own enrichment. It was the time when the "laissez-faire" notion of "political economics" held sway in America....
What has happened to the journalists/reporters/editors (Woodward and Bernsteins) of the U.S. news media today? "Fearless" no longer describes them. Is it that the Missouri School of Journalism along with the nation's other journalism schools are now teaching "establishmentarianism?" (Rather than "crusading reporting?")
No doubt about it ... establishmentarianism ... that's where the money is! Which is to say -- that's how you get a job (or keep it!) in the journalism industry today. Our newspapers/TV and other "mainline" news institutions are now controlled by a few huge "establishment" conglomerate corporations.
....."Just a few facts about the concentration of ownership of the media in this country. Although the country had long known newspaper barons like Hearst and Scripps, at the end of World War II, the great majority of media outlets were still independently owned. By 1982, 50 corporations controlled almost all of the major media outlets in the United States. 1,787 daily newspapers, 11,000 magazines, 9,000 radio stations, 1,000 television stations, 2,500 book publishers and seven major movie studios. ..... Five years later, that was down to 29 corporations. *Today, it is fewer than 20.*" [Italics by guru.]
Guru says, consider further: of America's THREE major television networks, each owning or controlling more than 100 stations *throughout the nation* -- two of those networks are owned by THE ELECTRIC INDUSTRY, General Electric and Westinghouse......
.....And the third is owned by an "entertainment" company. Their business is Mickey Mouse, not news..... (Nor can it be said ... arguably .. that their business is "the public good."...... The Disney company is now being boycotted by a number of different groups within the U.S. on the grounds that they have put "profit" ahead of public morals and values.......)
There are no William Allen Whites today, simply because the 'structure' of the industry does not allow a place for them. Today, he (and his EMPORIA GAZETTE) would be owned by the Gannett Company ... which also owns USA TODAY -- the national newspaper that did such a shallow job of reporting about the recently released study produced by the National Cancer Institute (NCI)...... I'm sure you all remember the "P.R." circus of a few weeks back at which the media "swallowed whole" the spin doctor press release -- as well as the "out of date" study -- trumpeted by the NCI, one of America's RICH health bureaucracies.
Much has been said on EMF-L disputing the claims of the NCI study by reputable researchers who know of what they speak. So I will say nothing more on that here. But let the record show -- that when ALL the facts of that study are understood by the public ... and when those facts are weighed-in with the other (more valid) research already known --- the public will recognize that they were deliberately misled!
It took an awful lot of *gall* for the NCI to trumpet its findings as a total refutation of all other research that had gone before, particularly when a closer inspection of their data showed that they had (in fact!) generally CONFIRMED previous research results where the magnetic field metric was considered alone!
The whole episode was very much like the National Academy of Science (NAS) study eight months earlier. In that instance, also, the "spin" given to the media (designed to protect industry interests) was misleading, did not correctly represent the study results and clearly was disdainful of the PUBLIC'S interest......
Those of you who are also readers of the EMR Alliance NETWORK NEWS may remember that guru predicted such "P.R." volleys (on behalf of and largely financed by "industry") would occur about every six months:
"......It can almost be predicted with certainty that some prestigious scientist or "science" group will respond to industry blandishments and step forth about every six months with a big public "splash" to show that EMF is harmless. Get used to it! It is their strategy. And the industry's financial and "P.R." capacity in that regard is truly inexhaustible. Regrettably, so is their source of potential spokesmen or endorsers of their dissembled "truth." It is a pattern well established by the tobacco industry and it now seems that the utility industry is determined to play the same self-serving game." [Fall/winter 1996 issue, NETWORK NEWS, p. 7.]
It is simply too easy for "industry" to get away with that kind of "dissembled" "P.R." information control when America is being (dis)served by an "establishment" media that is afraid to report against the powerful industry interests.......
The final judgment is pretty clear. The vaunted "free press" of America's mythical (?) traditions is no longer "free" ... and it certainly is not fearless!!!
While I am gone ... please don't let it drop out of sight! I appreciate all the "good words of encouragement" I have received since announcing my plans to shut it down from here.....
With Cathy's assistance, we will return in the fall ... and what I am really COUNTING ON is for ALL of you to carry EMF-L forward ... with Cathy! Keep in touch with her!!! When EMF-L comes back in some four to six weeks.... it will be better than the original!
Our responsibility to be accurate and truthful about the EMF hazard as we go forward from here is historic in its proportions. This message is not for the purpose of reviewing the *abundance* of evidence that now supports the "EMF health hazard" case. That has been well developed throughout the EMF-L reporting, to which many of you have contributed GREATLY!!! It is on the record.....
You ... the loyal and longtime members of EMF-L ... you know about the *dozens* of solid epidemiological studies that consistently track an association with EMF exposure and illnesses of various kinds -- on the job and at home....
*** Don't forget that those studies are likely showing LOWER than "real world" risk factor results ... because of the difficulty of finding "control groups" that have not been exposed ... in a world where exposure is everywhere!!!
*** AND ... don't forget that the LATENCY PERIOD of most of the serious illnesses we are talking about ... runs from about 5 to 30 or 40 years! We won't know about the damage that is occurring TODAY until well into the future!!!
*** You know that EMF research is now WORLDWIDE in its scope of activity. I'm *really* pleased about that! And I hope EMF-L has contributed to the expansion of that activity!..... Most recently we have had an interesting research report from Taiwan.
*** You know about the growing number of laboratory experiments that are slowly providing insight into "how" the damage (we see in our epidemiological studies) is probably being caused.
Guru says: the melatonin laboratory experiments (now clearly identified as one of the "mechanisms" that help explain the mystery) are likely to be joined by other hormone effects ... once the research is properly pursued!! .....(Up to this point, it certainly has NOT been pursued!) And there are more research results "over the horizon" concerning the calcium effect, the immune system effects AND genetic effects..... AND others......
Our task is to repeat this information and repeat it and repeat it! And insist that others repeat it. THE PUBLIC HAS A RIGHT TO KNOW!!! It's for *damn* sure that the guys who are building the power lines ... and the cell towers, etc. ... THEY know about it!!!
That's all that is required, folks -- get the facts out into the public record!!! The facts speak for themselves. We do not need to embellish them or *certainly not* misrepresent them.
As guru has described the situation a number of times: the facts present a picture that is NOT "black and white." It is gray.... And it continues to get grayer ... the more we learn!!!! The facts -- NOW -- are certainly "gray" enough for us to say, "We've got a problem."
.....And the longer we postpone action to deal with that problem, the more difficult and more costly it will become. And, of course, the "more bodies will fall"......
Industry is afraid of those facts. They are afraid of the "profit" consequences. Government is afraid of the economic consequences. And ... it seems ... the press is just afraid.
(NOBODY BUT US ... it seems ... is thinking about the victims.....)
We -- on EMF-L -- cannot be afraid...... We must persevere...
Sayonara...