I was an (uneducated) advocate of nuclear power as an engineering student in the 70s. I attended a lecture given by (I am straining my brain a bit remembering) Dr. Stanton Friedman and he went a tad too far on the safety precautions when he said that the shear cost of these plants ensured that they were designed to be safe.

When my turn in Q&A came, I referred to his safety statement and asked if he actually believed that was a good arguement. "Yes." and he talked briefly. Again, I found it silly. My follow-up was,"How much did the Ocean Ranger (an offshore oil rig) cost before it sank and killed all those Newfies?"

I was severely reprimanded after the lecture by the Dean of Graduate Studies in front of a number of my professor and peers. Not for my "rebuttal" but for my flippancy and my disrespect.

I called in to a radio talk show airing the good doctor the next day and made the same point but much more mannerly.

Too bad I really haven't learned to hold my tongue more even after many such instances. >;-)