Blog 3- The Rhetoric of Risk

This week while reading Romancing the Atom, the professor of rhetoric and technical communications, Robert R. Johnson, discusses the power that the atom presents over all people, and has presented over people for decades.  Johnson writes on xi, “whatever the case, we are all held in some fashion to this common bond of infatuation with the atom.” Through this statement, Johnson uses a play on words when discussing atoms. “Bonds” are often associated with atoms, atoms form bonds to become something bigger and more powerful. Throughout the piece Johnson discusses how people’s infatuation with atoms and what can be created from them, poses an extreme risk. By choosing the word “bond” while discussing all people, he attempts to exemplify the magnitude of the issue if all people are attempting to make the atom something big and destructive.

In reading The Rhetoric of Risk, Beverly Sauer, a senior chemical engineer and director of life cycle studies for energy discusses the “responsibility of writers within agencies about the nature of expertise and experience as grounds for judgements about risk” and specifically in the mines.  The entirety of Sauer’s argument attempts to criticize reporters for not using the correct types of rhetoric when discussing topics that present risks. She outlines the “expert model,” that would attempt to solve this big issue of ambiguity about risks.  Sauer is an extremely credible source, as she is a senior chemical engineer, and conducted her own research in the mines and about how people reported and spoke about risk. 

Personally, I found the podcast extremely interesting. The reporters interviewed, Harold L. Herring, a former missile officer. Herring found it very odd that there didn’t seem to be a checks and balance system on the possibility of starting a nuclear war and ending the world.  Herring asked his teacher if there was a safety net in place if the president were to be making an irrational decision in wanting Harold to set off the bomb.  If there were no checks on the president, and he were making an irrational decision, Harold believed it would be a “conflict of conscience.” After questioning the authority of the president’s decision, Harold was forced to retire from the military. This interview exemplifies how dangerous the entire nuclear system works and how popular culture becoming fascinated with nuclear weapons only makes the risk greater for the possibility of nuclear war. The reporter also mentioned the dropping of the bombs by Truman, on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  This outlined how the seemingly missing checks and balances of the nuclear game came into play. By including how the military overstepped without fully informing Truman of the full effects, it set a precedent that maybe the president holding all the power is the best thing for the country. 

Overall, the readings and listening this week exemplified how people speak and act upon atoms has a huge effect on popular culture and how there needs to be more emphasis on the discussion of these things to prevent disaster.