Inquiry #5

Tempest Williams wrote about the history of cancer in her family and how it pertained to people being part of a obedient silence to the government that controls them. When I first started reading I did not know where she was going with the family history and was very suprised to find out what she thinks caused the pattern of breast cancer in ther community. What caught my eye the most was, "The fear and inability to quesiton authority that ultimately killed rural communities in Utah during atmospheric testing of atomic weapons was the same fear I saw being held in my mother's body. Sheep. Dead sheep. The evidence is buried." I think this is such a strong statement because sheep are just herded around and don't question where they are going or what their purpose is. It made me question whether or not the government planned to do this kind of testing in an area like this because they knew that a lot of peope that belonged to the Church of the Latter Day Saints lived there and did not think they would cause a problem or if this was just a coincidence. But it also shows that anyone, even people whose religion teaches them to be quietly obedient, would see that this is something that should be questioned. So, how far can things go and how bad can they get for people to question the authority that is supposed to be looking out for them? She even gives examples of how the government officials at the time denied that the tests were causing people problems or bad at all for the area. This shows that you cannot always settle for what people tell you and as part of a society in which the people in power are supposed to have your best interests in mind, it is never too late or not right to question what they are doing and ask for compensation when they come up short.