I received a rather nasty email from someone yesterday and they implicitly accused me of being a carpet bagger. The writer opens up by saying, “it is easy enough for you to sit up there in no.va. and tell us here in southside what we should do”.
It would have naive of me to think these types of attacks weren’t going to happen. Guess I should have explained myself when I first started writing my blog.
The truth is: I am passionate about politics and really believe in nuclear energy. I’m blogging about this issue because I really want to help advocate for a source of energy that is cheap and could provide our country with thousands of jobs. Why shouldn’t I gain political experience with an issue that I believe in?
Also, I’m not profiting from the mining venture. Neither Virginia Uranium nor nuclear interests have approached me to write this blog. I’m not being compensated for writing it. This blog is a night time hobby.
The author of the email also implores me to, “come and visit” in order to talk to the people of Southside Virginia. Really wish I could do that; I’d love to engage the Southside community and find out what they want to know about uranium mining.
Unfortunately, I’m not some trust fund kid that’s independently wealthy enough to work for free. Wish I could work on this issue full time, but I’m not in a position to do that right now. Having to work in Alexandria prevents me from coming down. Plus, my girlfriend would kill me if I spent all my time in Southside.
The email’s author also goes on to warn me about the dangers of mining, but like many bloggers opposed to uranium, they don’t back up their claims with facts. How can you make a statement of fact and not back it up with some proof that you’re right? This person isn’t going to convince me to advocate against uranium if they don’t provide me with facts.
You know, when I started this blog, I very well could’ve lumped uranium opponents into the not-in-my-backyard crowd. I chose to not do this because attacking a person's character is a dirty tactic. I didn’t reply to the email and accuse this person of being a n.i.m.b.y. because attacking a person’s character is out of line.
The email’s author was out of line. In the future, when we discuss uranium mining, let’s have a civil conversation.
It would have naive of me to think these types of attacks weren’t going to happen. Guess I should have explained myself when I first started writing my blog.
The truth is: I am passionate about politics and really believe in nuclear energy. I’m blogging about this issue because I really want to help advocate for a source of energy that is cheap and could provide our country with thousands of jobs. Why shouldn’t I gain political experience with an issue that I believe in?
Also, I’m not profiting from the mining venture. Neither Virginia Uranium nor nuclear interests have approached me to write this blog. I’m not being compensated for writing it. This blog is a night time hobby.
The author of the email also implores me to, “come and visit” in order to talk to the people of Southside Virginia. Really wish I could do that; I’d love to engage the Southside community and find out what they want to know about uranium mining.
Unfortunately, I’m not some trust fund kid that’s independently wealthy enough to work for free. Wish I could work on this issue full time, but I’m not in a position to do that right now. Having to work in Alexandria prevents me from coming down. Plus, my girlfriend would kill me if I spent all my time in Southside.
The email’s author also goes on to warn me about the dangers of mining, but like many bloggers opposed to uranium, they don’t back up their claims with facts. How can you make a statement of fact and not back it up with some proof that you’re right? This person isn’t going to convince me to advocate against uranium if they don’t provide me with facts.
You know, when I started this blog, I very well could’ve lumped uranium opponents into the not-in-my-backyard crowd. I chose to not do this because attacking a person's character is a dirty tactic. I didn’t reply to the email and accuse this person of being a n.i.m.b.y. because attacking a person’s character is out of line.
The email’s author was out of line. In the future, when we discuss uranium mining, let’s have a civil conversation.
6 comments:
I'm sorry you received such an email ; It's obviously a very personal, emotional issue for residents living near the proposed mine but taking swipes at someone never furthers the conversation in an intelligent manner.
Since you are seeking some more factual details with regard to concerns being raised, I thought you would like to have the address to the link to a very thorough report presented at Friday's committee meeting (the amount of work that must've gone into it is unarguably impressive):
http://www.halifaxchamber.net/images/docs/Uranium%20Mining%20in%20Virginia.pdf
I'm still reading through it myself because it's not a quick read by any means (nor should it be considering the issue at hand).
Thanks for sending the report. I'm going to print the report and try to read it tonight.
Sigh. Welcome to the party, Mr. Olson. As I have said before, the most vocal opponents of uranium mining can be the loudest (and sometimes the rudest). One day we will have to compare hate mail. Unfortunately you are correct that many times these inflamed hissy fits are little more than that. Every once in a while I get a thoughtful email with genuine concerns, but more often I get personally attacked and bombarded with links to information that is over 20 years old. It's a shame.
Chin up, though. You are doing a great thing. (Oh, and thanks to Cavalier for linking to the report!)
P.S. You will always be considered a carpetbagger if you do not placate the vocal opposition around here (I was born and raised here and I've been called as much). I have learned that the hard way... it's one of those "if you're not with us, you are with the terrorists" situations. Lots of black and white talk on an issue that is
truly gray. Again, chin up. You are doing a good thing.
Thanks for the words of encouragement VaRockStar. I won't let the email get me down.
I hate black and white thinking. Most issues have a gray area and this is one of them.
Rockstar is a truly evil person but I like what you are doing, Chris! Keep it up!
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