{"id":29050,"date":"2014-05-05T16:34:39","date_gmt":"2014-05-05T20:34:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/static\/?p=29050"},"modified":"2014-05-05T18:08:00","modified_gmt":"2014-05-05T22:08:00","slug":"the-banality-of-evil-is-alive-and-well-on-cape-cod","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/2014\/the-banality-of-evil-is-alive-and-well-on-cape-cod\/","title":{"rendered":"The banality of evil is alive and well on Cape Cod"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"evil\"<\/p>\n

.<\/span>
\n\u2014 Curt Devlin<\/a>, Guest Editor<\/p>\n

.<\/span>
\nMy local newspaper recently published one of the ugliest, most mean-spirited op-eds I’ve ever read. \u00a0According to its author, Melody Affonce, anyone whose health is harmed by wind turbines must furnish unassailable proof before we take action to prevent further harm. \u00a0She compares these victims to those seeking workers compensation, welfare, or disability benefits. \u00a0(The fact that, so far, no one in Little Bay, Mass., is asking for compensation didn\u2019t cross Affonce\u2019s luminous mind.)<\/span><\/p>\n

At the moment, the only thing the turbine neighbors are actually asking for is relief. \u00a0They just want to be free from the misery of headaches, dizziness, nausea and sleeplessness that they or their families experience whenever the turbines are spinning. \u00a0Affonce would deny them the same protections enjoyed by every other law-abiding citizen, and ignore their legal right to the peaceful enjoyment of their homes. \u00a0By her tortured logic, if people are beating you, you should have to prove that it hurts before you are justified in asking them to stop.<\/p>\n

How far does Affonce\u2019s evident endorsement of undeserved brutality and neglect go? \u00a0Perhaps we should deny medical treatment to seniors until they prove with certainty that they actually need it. \u00a0It is well known that care for the elderly absorbs a disproportionate amount our society\u2019s healthcare resources through Medicare. \u00a0In the Affonce-care approach, we could dramatically decrease the cost of healthcare\u2014not to mention the elderly population. \u00a0As long as we vote on this, it\u2019s fair and just, right?<\/p>\n

After the Vietnam War, we ignored the obvious suffering of vets with PTSD for over thirty years. \u00a0They couldn\u2019t prove they were actually wounded\u2014or that it was caused by combat. \u00a0The neurological damage of PTSD isn\u2019t as obvious as the wounds caused by bullets and shrapnel\u2014even though it is sometimes more debilitating. \u00a0According to Affonce\u2019s line of reasoning, we should continue to deny all vets any mental health care or intervention until they prove they have sustained neurological injuries in battle.<\/p>\n

No doubt, Affonce can tell us how to furnish proof of pain or suffering. \u00a0(How does one prove a headache, dizziness, or nausea? \u00a0The obvious fact that one cannot demonstrate somatic experiences, whether pleasant or painful, also escapes her gleaming intellect.)<\/p>\n

To satisfy Affonce\u2019s quest for absolute certainty, I modestly propose that we begin vivisecting one turbine neighbor each month until her hunger for \u201cknowledge\u201d is completely satisfied. \u00a0Sound reasonable?<\/p>\n

When a doctor takes an x-ray, she does so to find the cause of pain. \u00a0She begins by assuming that your complaint is valid because she has an ethical obligation, known as duty of care, to take her patients complaint seriously. \u00a0We have a similar ethical duty to care for one another \u2014 called humanity. \u00a0You may know it as the Golden Rule. \u00a0Apparently, Affonce doesn\u2019t feel bound by it. \u00a0Some people don\u2019t mind cruelty as long as they aren\u2019t disturbed by screaming.<\/p>\n

For two years now, we have concentrated people in an infrasound ghetto against their will, subjected them to incessant low frequency pressure waves, and forced them to live in amplification chambers (which they once called home). \u00a0We are depriving them of their health, their livelihoods, and their basic human rights. \u00a0We are subjecting them to unwarranted experimentation.<\/p>\n

Under these circumstances, Affonce\u2019s demands aren\u2019t just morally depraved\u2014they are dangerous. At the Wind Forum in 2012, I described the siting of these turbines as an ominous social experiment and warned where it leads. \u00a0It may surprise you to learn that two of the diabolical experiments conducted at Dachau were designed to test the limits of human endurance to extreme pressure conditions and chronic sleep deprivation. \u00a0At Nuremburg, those who conducted them argued that the experiments were for \u201cthe greater good.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the forum, I asked: \u00a0Aren\u2019t we better than this? \u00a0My question was rhetorical because I believed the answer was yes. \u00a0But when opinions like Affonce\u2019s go unchallenged, I\u2019m not so sure anymore.<\/p>\n

When the silent majority watches impassively while wind zealots blame their victims, ignore human anguish, and applaud the trampling of basic human rights for the sake of some bankrupt ideological delusion disguised as the greater good, we inch ever closer to exactly the kind of unwarranted experimentation the Nuremburg Code was intended to prohibit.<\/p>\n

Many have stood by, while officials make public apologies to their victims on public access television, like some circus sideshow, and hypocritically proclaim that \u201ceveryone deserves a good night\u2019s sleep.\u201d \u00a0Yet, none of these officials demands action to ensure that everyone gets one. \u00a0They personify what Hannah Arendt so aptly referred to as the banality of evil.<\/p>\n

When the obvious truth is fully acknowledged, people like Affonce will be the first to claim, \u201cWe didn\u2019t know!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

. \u2014 Curt Devlin, Guest Editor . My local newspaper recently published one of the ugliest, most mean-spirited op-eds I’ve ever read. \u00a0According to its author, Melody Affonce, anyone whose health is harmed by wind turbines must furnish unassailable proof before we take action to prevent further harm. \u00a0She compares these victims to those seeking workers compensation, welfare, or disability benefits. \u00a0(The fact that, so far, no one in Little Bay, Mass., is asking for compensation didn\u2019t cross Affonce\u2019s luminous mind.) At the moment, the only thing the turbine neighbors are actually asking for is relief. \u00a0They just want to be free from the misery of headaches, dizziness, nausea and sleeplessness that they or their families experience whenever the turbines are spinning. \u00a0Affonce would deny them the same protections enjoyed by every other law-abiding citizen, and ignore their legal right to the peaceful enjoyment of their homes. \u00a0By her tortured logic, if people are beating you, you should have to prove that it hurts before you are justified in asking them to stop. How far does Affonce\u2019s evident endorsement of undeserved brutality and neglect go? \u00a0Perhaps we should deny medical treatment to seniors until they prove with certainty that they actually need it. \u00a0It is well known that care for the elderly absorbs a disproportionate amount our society\u2019s healthcare resources through Medicare. \u00a0In the Affonce-care approach, we could dramatically decrease the cost of healthcare\u2014not to mention the elderly population. \u00a0As long as we vote on this, it\u2019s fair and just, right? After the Vietnam War, we ignored the obvious suffering of vets with PTSD for over thirty years. \u00a0They couldn\u2019t prove they were actually wounded\u2014or that it was caused by combat. \u00a0The neurological damage of PTSD isn\u2019t as obvious as the wounds caused by bullets and shrapnel\u2014even though it isRead More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[171,157,175,16],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29050"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29050\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}