I am stunned. I learned of some news yesterday and it’s taken this long to even be able to put my thoughts down in coherent sentences. Here’s the news: a group of Italian scientists were put on trial for not correctly predicting a 2009 earthquake that killed 309 people. Yesterday they were found guilty. And what were they convicted of? Manslaughter.
Manslaughter, for not correctly predicting whether a big earthquake would happen.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/italian-scientists-guilty-manslaughter-2009-earthquake-153939393.html
Are you f-ing kidding me? (That’s pretty much the only coherent sentence I’ve been able to come up with these past 24 hours.)
So let’s set out some facts here. Firstly, the “perps” in this case are highly respected and experienced experts in seismology and geology. Second, the seismology community is unanimous in stating that no technology exists anywhere in the world which can accurately predict earthquakes. And third, these guys didn’t make the earthquake happen!
What’s next? Are we going to jail the weatherman every time someone dies in a blizzard? Are we going to send in the SWAT team to take down those scumbags at the hurricane watch centre the next time a Cat 5 swerves off its predicted course? And who’s responsible for not knowing beforehand about the Mount St. Helens eruption back in 1980 – is there a statute of limitations on charging scientists with manslaughter?
Or maybe we should inject a dose of common sense into these proceedings, and recognize that the 2009 earthquake, while tragic, was nobody’s fault. The scientists were aware of the seismic activity and were watching it, but there was no hint of the looming disaster before the disaster itself struck. There are absolutely no grounds for these charges, and a very dangerous precedent has been set. I implore the Italian justice system to summarily overturn this lunacy before every predictive science in the world shuts itself down for fear of jail time.
It’s bad enough that an Alberta teacher was fired for having the audacity to give his students zeroes for not doing work. Now we have innocent, hardworking and very smart people serving time just to try and ease the grief from an event they could neither predict nor affect.
If there are any other extenuating circumstances to this case, please let me know. As it is, I’m starting to see this nasty pattern of blame being targeted at innocents whenever somebody’s upset, and it’s clear that the justice system isn’t going to protect us.
Photo Credits
Mount St. Helens – Wikipedia Public Domain
L’Aquila Photo copyright New York Daily News
Recent Bennett R. Coles Articles:
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I think facts are important and their seems to be a few in the link to the article.
Quote:Italian prosecutors say that the scientists gave inaccurate and incomplete information about whether smaller tremors before the April 2009 quake should have been grounds for an official warning.
If the scientists were incompetent then yes I believe they should be convicted because as reponsible adults we should be held accountable for our actions. Scientists are no different nor do they deserve special treatment when they make bad descisions which could directly effect the lives of others.
I mean no offense but I am an Engineer, a professional, and I work with scientists on a daily basis , they are very human and subject to all our flaws. A few are alcoholics and show up to work hung over, the other was talking about smokin dope and getting all screwed up one weekend and others I have no doubt have major psychological issues.
It would seem to me everyone is judging the book by it’s cover and if you actually had any understanding of what actually happens in reality behind doors which are closed to the general public you would think very differently before jumping to conclusions.
Regards
Thanks for your comment. I agree with you 100% that facts are important and that jumping on a lynch mob bandwagon is destructive behaviour.
However, in the case of this trial I think your comments are misplaced. Earthquake prediction is not an exact science – in fact, any geologist will tell you that it’s impossible to predict exactly when an earthquake will happen or how strong it is. It doesn’t matter whether the scientists involved were a bunch of drunks or the most dedicated and brilliant geologists ever: they cannot be held legally accountable for the deaths caused by an earthquake.
If it turns out that there was some sort of professional incompetence then I agree that there should be professional repercussions, but not charges of manslaughter.
I’d also like to point out that your quote comes from the prosecution in the trial: hardly an unbiased source of facts.
I really wish to understand how the verdict was reached. There has to be some internal logic to it. There are innumerable examples of things being done throughout time which seemed clear and reasonable at the time and are now viewed as ludicrous, stupid, wrong, immoral etc… The preverbal Spanish inquisition made perfect sense to many people at the time yet is typically judged as an abomination today and still colours the reputation of the institution which instigated it.
Everything changes and everything stays the same.
It is amazing in this world today that those considered as reputable legal minds, judges and lawyers alike, can come to this level of conclusion. Sure the possibility the scientists could have predicted the earthquake and screamed ‘wolf’ but Mother Nature is Mother Nature. Nature is not a fine predictable science at any time! To blame someone for this is incredulous! Now what happens in future events – tsunamis, volcano eruptions, blizzards, and earthquakes – will anyone wish to project their occurrence with the threat of jail time? Shit happens in life everyday. Is the right response to blame someone? NO … we pick up our socks and move forward … life goes on! This decision needs to be changed.
RIDICULOUS!
Has “Common Sense” really left us to that extent?
This decision MUST be reversed on appeal!
Sadly a sign of the times; meaning just one more indicator that extremism of all kinds has once again invaded the body politic. Not just in Italy or Europe in general but around the globe. Europe in particular though is most definitely on the road to fascism yet again. Witness the ‘Golden Dawn’ in Greece happening right now. Spain will soon be next (Franco redux?) if/when Catalan secedes, and Italy will almost certainly collapse financially in 2013. Can the ‘black shirts’ marching in the streets of Rome be far behind? Will a Germanic strong man then once again be called upon to be the ‘savior’ of this time the EU? (which in truth is just greater Germany) This story of the volcano is yes reprehensible; sadly it represents a problem much deeper than scientific freedom. Freedom itself is once again in peril. History does not necessarily repeat; but it almost always rhymes.
There is NO sense to this entire debacle. The Italian people should be horrified and should be trying to fight for real justice here. These scientists are trying to help and yet they are thrown to the wolves. Sickening, reprehensible and I am embarrassed to be the same species as those that laid out this laughable verdict.
Passionate enough? 😉 Sorry but I just can’t stand stupid.
I’m with George – victim mentality. That & the sad fact that we seem to have come to a place where someone is always to blame.
Given the lunacy of the Italian political system, one suspects now that the judiciary is equally off the wall. We can only hope that saner heads in the scientific world and beyond will exert enough pressure to get the judges to reverse this awful decision.
I can’t formulate words. This is just sooo wrong.
This is appalling! You are right Bennett, we have become a global society of blamers. The Italian judicial system should be ashamed of itself. These men were only doing their jobs–I don’t believe being charged with murder if they erred was a clause in their contracts. Correct me if I am wrong.
Please let me know if a petition goes around. I want to sign it.
Well done Bennett for picking up on this rather extraordinary story. Let’s hope common sense does prevail and an Appeal overturns the conviction of these innocent Italian scientists.
But by the time that happens, what impact will the experience and resultant publicity have had on their professional and family lives?
As a journalist, I understand the need to hold official bodies to account if they fail to fulfil their responsibilities to the public, but as has already been said: earthquake prediction, like the study of meteorology, is not an exacting science.
It seems more likely that these hapless Italian scientists have fallen foul of the Blame Society and the legal profession’s willingness to pursue damages for the individual, whatever the impact on broader social justice.
I don’t know about Canada, but it is a trend which seems to have emerged in the United States and has spread to many Western countries, including unfortunately, Australia.
The most concerning aspect of this earthquake witchhunt is that it has the potential to open a legal Pandora’s Box.
Even if the verdict is overturned on Appeal, a legal precendent has been set and a guilty verdict handed down on “mortal men” found culpable in an event that was previously considered by the courts as “An Act of God”.
Forget about the potential money lawyers make taking up such cases, it will be a pittance compared to the impact this could have on the insurance industry worldwide.
If the legal system can jail “mortal men” for “An Act of God”, where does that place the Catholic Church, or indeed the Pope, who is God’s emissary on Earth? Is the Pope culpable?
I wonder if the Vatican has enough money to cover any such eventuality?
Probably.
When victim mentality is rife, as it is in today’s society, then one must have victimizers. If none exist then we manufacture them. When infallibility is the standard to which we hold others then scapegoats inevitably follow.
Looks like it’s back to 17th Century Salem, Massachusetts, folks.
I am at a loss for words. These folks have the wrong end of the stick when it comes to common sense.
Hopefully, higher courts overturns this travesty and gets a grip on some common sense
Unbelievable – those poor scientists sitting there in jail for not predicting something that could never have been predicted in the first place – is this somehow connected to the Vatican? Religion vs science? And what about carbon dating and the church – according to the church we are only 6,000 years old. My prayers are with those unfortunate men.
A bunch of politicians who need to show they are doing something. They won’t provide adequate infrastructure for emergency response, don’t provide adequate emergency response system and won’t adopt and enforce earthquake zone building codes. So, blame the scientists! Isn’t this the country who burned scientists at the stake for saying the earth is round, stars are suns, the moon orbits the earth? Yeah names change yet story remains the same.
What I don’t understand is where is the public outcry. Surely, the Italian public know it had nothing to do with them. And the justice system – are they not comprised of educated people? I just don’t understand how the case even “got legs”. I am at a loss. Very scary precedent indeed.
This stinks to high heaven! Perhaps they pissed off the Mafia? Nothing else makes sense.
This sounds an awful lot like the very dark days of centuries past. I thought we had taken steps forward?
Four hundred years ago, Italian philosopher and astronomer Giordano Bruno proposed that the stars were in fact distant suns like our own and suggested that planets orbited most of these distant suns. Outraged by these heresies, the Catholic Church had Giordano burned at the stake.
The word … incredulous … somehow seems insufficient. Lunacy is right Ben.
Here’s hoping they overturn this!
Thanks for your voice in this!
Cheers,
Gil