It's Past Time to Oppose The Telecom Power Grab

On September 26, 2018, the FCC meets to discuss ways to expedite the installation of “small cells” required for the roll-out of the 5G network [1] on the basis of an immoral 30-year-old regulation that strips communities of the right to protect the environment. [2]

Meanwhile, a growing chorus of voices is calling for a course correction for a humanity that is drunk on wireless and deluded about nature’s ability to sustain itself in an artificially manipulated electromagnetic environment.

In 1960, Bruno Bettleheim was discussing the introduction of television in his work with psychotic children. He wrote:

The advantage of the machines are so obvious and so desirable, that we tend to become, small step by small step, seduced into ignoring the price we pay for their unthinking use. The emphasis here is on unthinking use, because they all have their good uses. But the most careful thinking and planning is needed to enjoy the good use of any technical contrivance without paying a price for it in human freedom. [3]

5G promises experiences of virtual reality so that we are not needing to think about where we are in the present moment, and autonomous vehicles so that we do not need to think about driving, and instantaneous purchases so that we don’t have to think about money, and increasing surveillance so that we can have increasing control over others. The emergency is that we have industries convincing us to think that it is reasonable to mount a millimeter wave antenna outside someone’s bedroom so that we are able to instantaneously download a video in a moving vehicle driven by transmission to even more antennas.

Two contemporary thought leaders exemplify the kind of careful thinking required when considering wireless technology’s impact on society. Regarding autism, Dr. Toryl Jelter asks:

We have very serious ethical questions we need to ask. Is my need to talk to anyone, anywhere, more important than a child’s need to talk at all in a lifetime?

Dr. Mallery-Blythe notes,

While reducing exposure [to RF-EMR] is a nice idea, to be honest, when it comes to children, it’s a bit like giving them a low-tar cigarette. I don’t think it’s legally defensible in terms of proper protection for a group who is often times non-consenting and not benefitting. …For that group, we should be looking at complete withdrawal from radiofrequency emissions and minimizing ELF emissions in the places they habituate – in schools and public places and empowering parents to do this at home.

No species in nature can survive distracted parenting.
No culture will survive that has lost its reverence for the laws of nature.
No society will survive that is comprised of addicted, distracted, dissociated citizens.
No planet can survive the unbridled demand for energy and resources that underlies the planned expansion of 5G telecommunications networks.

It is past time to confront the outdated and irrelevant pro-industry “science’ of the Federal Communications Commission. More importantly, it is time to confront the lies we are telling ourselves about unwitting bondage that has been created in the name of convenience. It is time to oppose the telecom power grab.

Notes:

[1] https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/fcc-votes-wednesday-to-force-5g-cell-transmitters-in-front-of-homes-despite-community-opposition-and-health-dangers-california-brain-tumor-association-reports-300717868.html
[2] https://mdsafetech.org/telecommunications-act-of-1996/
[3] The Informed Heart, Bruno Bettleheim, Avon Books, 1960, pp. 54-55.

Resources:

http://ourtownourchoice.org
https://www.5gspaceappeal.org/the-appeal/
https://www.telecompowergrab.org/science.html
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/09/19/fcc_5g_plan/
https://mdsafetech.org/environmental-and-wildlife-effects/
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/02/technology/5g-cellular-service.html
http://www.governing.com/topics/transportation-infrastructure/gov-fcc-5g-vote-internet-broadband-cities-states.html
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/09/fcc-angers-cities-and-towns-with-2-billion-giveaway-to-wireless-carriers/

Patricia Burke works with activists across the country and internationally calling for new biologically-based microwave radio frequency exposure limits. She is based in Massachusetts and can be reached at [email protected].