[Insight & Opinion] Nonsense "Rumors" Are Not "Science"

Published 28 Jun.2023 14:16(KST)

The government has changed its strategy to overcome the Fukushima contaminated water issue. This is because it judged that difficult and unfamiliar scientific terms like ‘tritium’ and ‘becquerel’ cannot overcome the indiscriminate agitation by the opposition party, which uses provocative slogans such as ‘nuclear wastewater’ and ‘you drink it yourself.’ Ultimately, it decided to focus on the familiar ‘mukbang’ instead of the uncomfortable ‘science.’ The idea is that if political leaders willingly show themselves ‘eating and drinking,’ the public, who were swayed by the opposition’s baseless agitation, will feel reassured. This choice strongly evokes the atmosphere of an authoritarian era.

It is true that the government’s effort to resolve the public confusion over the discharge of Fukushima contaminated water through the power of ‘science’ has not been sufficiently persuasive. The excuse that scientific explanations are difficult and unfamiliar is premature. It is insulting to suggest that our people, who have the world’s highest university entrance rates, cannot understand simple scientific terms.

The reason why ‘science’ fails to be persuasive in our society lies elsewhere. False ‘rumors, baseless claims, and incoherent talk’ that do not even meet middle school-level scientific common sense have been disguised as genuine ‘science.’ A representative example is the claim that the strong Kuroshio Current in front of Fukushima ‘transports’ radioactive contaminants.

In fact, ocean currents play a role in dispersing harmful contaminants into the vast waters of the Pacific Ocean, diluting them. This is something understandable with elementary school knowledge. Therefore, the claim that tritium from the discharged water will ‘flow’ to Jeju Island after a few months is nothing but a ridiculous assertion that even a cow would laugh at.

All the false baseless claims and rumors related to Fukushima contaminated water were created by an honorary professor at our country’s top prestigious university. Politicians and political commentators who actually use such rumors for political agitation invariably emphasize the authority of the ‘honorary professor of nuclear engineering at a prestigious university.’

It is not only politics and the media that are confused. The reality of humanities and social science scholars who lack even the minimum scientific common sense is also absurd. In fact, there are historians who do not hesitate to make embarrassing statements such as ‘I don’t know which science is correct between the “conservative science” that trusts the safety verification of international organizations and the “progressive science” that insists on protecting our seas at all costs.’ However, such historians are not exceptions. Most humanities and social science scholars are unable to find their bearings amid confusing media reports.

Of course, modern science, established through objective verification in nature, is never divided into ‘conservative’ and ‘progressive.’ Rather, people mistakenly regard the false baseless claims and rumors of an honorary professor, who deliberately ignores middle school-level scientific common sense and lightly reverses his own statements, as progressive science. The honorary professor from Oxford who conveyed real science has been reduced to a ‘quack.’

Those fraudulent experts who commit self-harming acts by tormenting fishermen and fishery workers with baseless claims and rumors that contradict common sense and science must be held fully accountable. The political responsibility of the opposition party, which confused the public with baseless agitation, is also not light. Of course, the government and ruling party’s pitiful appearance of giving up on science under pressure from baseless agitation and ultimately clinging to outdated authoritarian-era mukbang promotions is also lamentable.