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SMC: Advice for Researchers Experiencing Harassment

Discussion in 'General ME/CFS news' started by Three Chord Monty, Oct 3, 2019.

  1. Three Chord Monty

    Three Chord Monty Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    https://www.sciencemediacentre.org/...-Researchers-Experiencing-Harrasment-2019.pdf

    "All researchers should expect their work to be scrutinised by the public, policy makers and campaigners. However, some researchers working on high-profile subjects that attract controversy, such as radiation, climate change, animal research, chronic fatigue syndrome/ME, or gender studies, have also found themselves targeted by people who have extreme views about their research."
     
  2. Dolphin

    Dolphin Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    :sick:
     
  3. Snowdrop

    Snowdrop Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    That link seems to be broken for me.
     
    DokaGirl likes this.
  4. rvallee

    rvallee Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    Not a good look this close after the SMC does a thing about fake news. Because this is fake news. Being slapped in the face by a tribunal was not enough I guess. As a public charity, isn't there a way to have them put up or shut up? And demand records? This is false and libelous.
    Lying liars telling lies just because they can. Weak.

    I am looking forward to the inevitable investigation of Wessely for gross abuse of his position on the board of a charity to promote his personal self-interest and make wild accusations about a vulnerable population. Will probably be long after his retirement but whatever.

    I guess "you're wrong and it's harming millions" is an extreme position now. Alongside classics like "please don't hurt me", "do not lie about me" and "this is massive injustice". So extreme.
     
  5. Three Chord Monty

    Three Chord Monty Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    I don't like these people.

    However, I find it mildly amusing that they couldn't spell the URL properly.
     
  6. duncan

    duncan Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    Functional harassment.
     
  7. Andy

    Andy Committee Member

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    In case it disappears again.

    Should we perhaps write a guide ourselves? Advice for Patients Experiencing Harassment and Lies Spread by the SMC?
     

    Attached Files:

  8. Andy

    Andy Committee Member

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    @dave30th , even if they don't name you there must be a section to do with writers who ask awkward questions.
     
  9. RuthT

    RuthT Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    Interesting that it comes out following Cochrane news ...
     
  10. Trish

    Trish Moderator Staff Member

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    And following Bristol University giving FFox an honorary doctorate.
     
  11. Wonko

    Wonko Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    Advice for Researchers Experiencing Harassment

    Try doing your jobs properly and you may find the criticism of your 'research' stops.

    If you don't know how to do your job properly then there are many occupations that pay well that don't require rigorous adherence to the scientific method, or ethics - such as plumbing.

    ETA - Someone saying something you don't want to hear, that you find annoying or embarrassing, that makes you feel ashamed, this is not harassment, despite the way the words been used, as an attempt to deflect
    criticism.

    Public 'peer' review and comment is not harassment.
     
    Last edited: Oct 3, 2019
  12. Seven

    Seven Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    Which news ???
     
  13. Sean

    Sean Moderator Staff Member

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    Being held to account, especially via formal mechanisms, is not harassment.

    News is what somebody in power doesn't want the rest of the world to know about.
     
  14. James Morris-Lent

    James Morris-Lent Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    I would say, too, that if it gets to the point where people really are doing bad things to you - e.g. threatening and harassing - it does not mean you are the good guy. I'm not sure it's indicative either way.

    ____

    To me the biggest problem with this document is that it effectively discourages researchers from reflecting on the validity and ethics of their actions. I think we just discussed a paper on this:

    "CFS patients [researchers] did not show core cognitive features of depression [introspection], such as guilt or self blame. We wondered if this was a reflection of their different pattern of attribution (blaming an external cause, namely a virus [all critics and criticism], rather than an internal cause, as the depressed patients [competent researchers] did).
     
  15. WillowJ

    WillowJ Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    These guys might want to look up "Abuse of Authority" and see if anything there sounds familiar or looks out of their own mirror.
     
  16. RuthT

    RuthT Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    alktipping, Annamaria, Seven and 3 others like this.
  17. Hutan

    Hutan Moderator Staff Member

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    I think you are being rather unkind to plumbers, who generally achieve things that are useful and morally reasonable.

    Possible BPS approaches to a report of there being no hot water coming out of the tap:

    1. Publish an economic analysis showing how much money could be saved in power plant development if people realised that cold water coming out of the hot tap is perfectly fine.

    2. Suggest that the perceived coldness of the water is rooted in the customer's perfectionist personality, as they have unreasonably high expectations of the temperature of the water coming out of the hot tap.

    3. Get large government grants to offer cognitive behavioural therapy to help customers realise that cold water is actually hot compared to ice.

    4. Change the unit of measure of the temperature of the water; 10 degrees Celsius becomes 50 degrees Fahrenheit, which sounds positively toasty. Declare that the plumbing intervention has been a success.

    5. Accuse any customers dissatisfied with items above of hating plumbers or not following instructions sufficiently well.

    6. Write press releases that say that it would be safer to be in Afghanistan than deal with people wanting hot water to come out of their tap.

    7. Give fellow BPS plumbers bravery awards.

    The BPS approach to a blocked toilet doesn't bear thinking about. No, best to keep them away from anything important. Perhaps put them in a quiet room with some plastic shopping bags to play with?

    Edit for formatting
     
    Last edited: Oct 5, 2019
  18. James Morris-Lent

    James Morris-Lent Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    I agree. Mushroom Kingdom owes its freedom, happiness, and security to the repeated brave actions of two Italian plumbers.
     
  19. Trish

    Trish Moderator Staff Member

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    Seven and Hutan like this.
  20. Andy

    Andy Committee Member

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    Thought just occurred to me, I suppose it’s a backhanded compliment in a way, the named research subjects are presumably the ones where they don’t feel in control of the narrative.
     

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