What is YOUR opinion?

Everyone has opinions, some are accurate while others are just unfounded (or misinformed) information. Currently many in our world are stating their opposition to nuclear power due to the situation in Japan - telling anyone who will listen about the dangers of that form of power generation over any and all others. How did they (or you) arrive at this opinion?

When you actually research the facts (http://nextbigfuture.com/2011/03/deaths-per-twh-by-energy-source.html) you discover that actually nuclear power is one of the safest methods of generating power. Now the question is: Did you know about this chart before you acquired your opinion or point of view? If so, how do the facts resonate with you? This chart really upsets many people, and they start to believe something MUST be wrong with it, because the nightly news media certainly point the exact opposite direction. I suggest that this information gives proof at how easy it is to fear the unknown and accept our current status quo.

In my opinion, anytime reality doesn't match your expectations, it means that marketing was involved. Perhaps it was advertising, or perhaps even story telling by an industry. We seem to hear various stories daily in our lives that we allow to pass as truth without questioning. It never ceases to amaze me how much marketing colors the way we see things in the world - or our reactions (either way) to what is being presented.

As so often happens to me, this reminds me of a quote I like: One's first step in wisdom is to question things - the next step is to come to terms with those things. This also brings me to something my grandfather taught me years ago as a child - "There is a limit to how smart someone can be, but no limits on how stupid." I believe it was Forrest Gump that coined the phrase "Stupid is as stupid does." and that goes for not questioning data when we receive it.

These are my thoughts, what are yours?
Steve