The Lessons of Chernobyl Go Way Beyond Chernobyl

“When the truth offends, we lie and lie until we can no longer remember that it’s even there, but it is STILL there. Every lie we tell incurs a debt to the truth. Sooner or later, that debt is paid. That is how a [nuclear] reactor explodes. Lies.

“To be a scientist is to be naive. We are so focused on our search for the truth, we fail to consider how few actually want us to find it. But it is always there, whether we see it or not, whether we choose to or not. The truth doesn’t care about our needs, doesn’t care about our governments, our ideologies, our religions. It will lie in wait for all time. And this, at last, is the gift of Chernobyl. Where I once would fear the cost of truth, now I only ask: what is the cost of lies?”

Valery Legasov [left], the Soviet chemist who stood up to the Communists as portrayed on HBO’s “Chernobyl” is the author of these quotes. [Jared Harris, the actor who portrayed him, is on the right.]

Great show. Don’t miss it.

By the way, some are against watching this show because they see it as an attack on nuclear energy. The tragedy of Chernobyl does not tell us nuclear energy is bad. Chernobyl teaches us that Communists in charge of nuclear energy — like Communists in charge of ANYTHING — is bad.

 

 

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