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Article by Fiona Fox (SMC) for the Revolutionary Communist Party (c. 1996)

Discussion in 'General ME/CFS news' started by Robert 1973, Apr 8, 2018.

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  1. Robert 1973

    Robert 1973 Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    Following the publication of the Forward-ME group letter to the Science Media Centre (SMC) to (http://www.meassociation.org.uk/201...place-your-factsheet-on-cfs-me-05-april-2018/) @JohnTheJack helped me to track down an old article written by the SMC director, Fiona Fox, which seemed to have gone missing from the Web archives.

    The article, entitled "Contribution to OTAM" (Our Tasks and Methods), was originally published in an internal publication for the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP) circa 1996. Written under the pseudonym Fiona Foster, it offers a fascinating insight into the mindset of Ms Fox, including her belief that Oxfam is a bigger threat to world peace than Iraq, and that her involvement with the RCP inoculates her against myalgic encephalomyelitis.

    IFM stands for Irish Freedom Movement: http://powerbase.info/index.php/Irish_Freedom_Movement

    PDF of the article:
    https://www.dropbox.com/s/1hxmo6muypcwkfx/fiona_fox_ME_RCP.pdf?dl=0

    PDF with article + extra information and links to further reading:
    https://www.dropbox.com/s/jroffc18kizqzzn/fiona_fox_ME_RCP_with_links.pdf?dl=0

    If anyone is able to update MEpedia, Wikipedia etc. to replace the old dead links to this article on SCRIBD that would be helpful.

    [Edited to add link to S4ME thread on Forward-ME letter to SMC: https://www.s4me.info/threads/forward-me-group-letter-to-the-science-media-centre-april-2018.3365/]
     

    Attached Files:

    Last edited: Apr 8, 2018
    Robert 1973, Apr 8, 2018
    #1
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  2. Esther12

    Esther12 Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    I knew I'd read her or Clare claim this, but then wasn't able to find it to cite. Thanks to both of you for posting.

    I've always wondered if that was really a reference to her sister, who there are repeated references to having CFS, eg:

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3492714/
     
    Esther12, Apr 8, 2018
    #2
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  3. Jonathan Edwards

    Jonathan Edwards Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    I really love the end bit:

    I do feel that being one of the few people in the world who can really understand imposes a certain burden and definite isolation. (I often feel that, yes.) ... quite frankly if it is a choice between carrying the burden of RCP politics and ending up like my old friend Carol there's no choice involved.

    I guess there was no choice for Carol either!

    The notebook is getting a bit full.
     
    Jonathan Edwards, Apr 8, 2018
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  4. Adrian

    Adrian Administrator Staff Member

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    It reads as an early attempt at post truth politics. Basically saying that they need to create a framework for thinking that people will believe. Then dismiss everything that doesn't fit this 'framework' as wrong. But the framework needs to be attractive to pull in the punters.

    There is no notion of examining evidence just a certainty in their beliefs.
     
    Adrian, Apr 8, 2018
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  5. Adrian

    Adrian Administrator Staff Member

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    I think there is a worrying tone of someone who knows they are right in the face of all evidence and arguments and who intends to continue to preach their rightness to the world. I noticed another phrase used 'there but for the grace of RCP' that is replacing god with the RCP and I suspect in her mind she and her views are the RCP. Its basically an alternative form of religion,
     
    Adrian, Apr 8, 2018
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  6. Adrian

    Adrian Administrator Staff Member

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    is that that the same sister that is involved in sense about science?
     
    Adrian, Apr 8, 2018
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  7. Luther Blissett

    Luther Blissett Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    The RCP is/was a (in my opinion) cult of personality.

    They were funny in a pathetic way once.
     
    Luther Blissett, Apr 8, 2018
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  8. Invisible Woman

    Invisible Woman Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    So she stood in Covent Garden every Saturday for a year talking to people and thinks she may have given some people something to think about.

    If she had conversations with that many people without any one of them giving her something to think about she must have a very closed mind indeed.

    Breathtakingly arrogant.
     
    Invisible Woman, Apr 8, 2018
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  9. Esther12

    Esther12 Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    No, it must be some unfamous third sister.

    Tracey Brown is not a sister, but was a part of RCP/LM before moving to Sense About Science. Clare Fox is the famous sister: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claire_Fox
     
    Last edited: Apr 9, 2018
    Esther12, Apr 8, 2018
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  10. Jonathan Edwards

    Jonathan Edwards Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    So that's why they like the BPS model?
     
    Jonathan Edwards, Apr 8, 2018
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  11. Adrian

    Adrian Administrator Staff Member

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    I think I had got confused there.

    There is a mention of Gemma Fox on the wiki page as a sister.
     
    Adrian, Apr 8, 2018
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  12. Adrian

    Adrian Administrator Staff Member

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    It does seem to fall into their line of thinking.

    I think some people are very attracted to the mind over body (and hence matter?) message behind the BPS model. It seems to be a kind of moral belief (I'm a good person so not ill or my mind is strong so I'm not ill).
     
    Adrian, Apr 8, 2018
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  13. Trish

    Trish Moderator Staff Member

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    What a bizarre article. How on earth did someone with such odd, inflexible and arrogant views manage to get herself in such a powerful position. Does she still believe herself to be infallible I wonder?
     
    Trish, Apr 8, 2018
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  14. Adrian

    Adrian Administrator Staff Member

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    Sometimes people with absolute certainty do very well. Until they run across people who know they are wrong or their certainty contradicts their usefulness.
     
    Adrian, Apr 8, 2018
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  15. Hoopoe

    Hoopoe Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    What is/was Oxfam and why was it a threat to world peace?

    Edit: nevermind. It's a group of charities that want to reduce famine and poverty.
     
    Hoopoe, Apr 8, 2018
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  16. Barry

    Barry Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    And I guess in striving to expose truths about the world, posed a threat to those peddling pseudo-truths.
     
    Barry, Apr 8, 2018
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  17. JemPD

    JemPD Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    Wow... that is... well.... disturbing

    Eww

    The article reads like an Amway rally without the saccharin & ra-ra.

    The more i discover about the SMC the more disturbing it becomes.
     
    JemPD, Apr 8, 2018
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  18. TiredSam

    TiredSam Committee Member

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    The last time I read something by someone who was so unashamedly and heroically struggling with the burden of being completely right about everything it was Ayn Rand. Despite being at opposite ends of the political spectrum the two authors have so much in common. Wouldn't it be great to put them in a room together so they can decide which one of them is really right?
     
    TiredSam, Apr 8, 2018
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  19. Luther Blissett

    Luther Blissett Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    In the end, they ended up at the same end of the political spectrum :p

    Save us from enlightened vanguards who hold the truth and must lead the ignorant whole into the glorious future. Commiserations on having read Rand. :hug:
     
    Luther Blissett, Apr 9, 2018
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  20. Luther Blissett

    Luther Blissett Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    *RCP voice*

    Oxfam is a perfect example of the Bourgeois authoritarian paternalism manifestested in the colonialist hegemony of the post colonial project visited upon the working classes disguised as saving poor people.

    duh

    *end RCP voice*
     
    Luther Blissett, Apr 9, 2018
    #20
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