http://xkcd.com/462/ Reading the article, I couldn't help but hearing it in Alec Baldwin's voice.

Okay, maybe I understated the potential risk (I would say only a bit, they were still only exposed to levels that are still considered not to have any significant long term effects) of 3 people. Touche. I am sure those 3 are going through some mental anguish because of that potential risk to develop cancer, no matter how slight. They were working hard and taking risks so that I can be safe. I admit it is not the most sensitive thing I could say to someone I am indebted to. However: I don't think my overall message was that, and in the American tradition I take offense to your being offended at me. Rather, my main point was that those 3 will be living much longer than the 20,000 tsunami victims who are either dead or missing now, and I wish that the media would be able to remember that rather the radiation issue.

Thank you all for the sympathy. Despite my complaints, the response from around the world has been overwhelmingly great. As for above, I understand exactly what you mean and I many (me included) are guilty of that. All too soon we forget, like the deadly earthquake in Christchurch just months ago or the horrible tsunami on boxing day. But the fact is, no one outside of Japan is going to be affected by this radiation, but the hysteria around it is overblown and is probably hurting Japan more than helping. The mass exodus of foreign expatriates from Japan spurred on by some foreign governments such as France telling their citizens to leave the country is not helping the local situation at all.

I appreciate the sympathy, however misplaced it is. I get a bit angry when everyone focuses on the nuclear stuff going on. The whole nuclear thing will affect some people in Fukushima prefecture (mostly economically) and maybe some of the neighboring prefectures. Still let's look at things in perspective: 3 hospitalized (they are fine apart from some 'sunburn') from the Fukushima plant issue; over 20,000 missing or dead from the tsunami plus a multitude more homeless and hospitalized. We aren't suffering from nuclear fallout, people, we are suffering from one of the worst natural disasters to hit Japan in over 20 years. Still that is the nature of the beast, 20,000 is just too large a number for people to internalize and sympathize with. However, we can all imagine our gruesome death at the hand of deadly radiation. We all know that these episodes aren't being censored out of sympathy. I just hope they don't replace the episodes with a tsunami episode.