George Monbiot on ME/CFS, PACE, BPS and Long Covid

Just needs the addition of “and NOW no evidence-based ways of being made more disabled”

 

Did he know it would appear next to theirs ? Is he associated with them does anyone know?

 

Interesting. I'm getting a wholly back-and-forth picture which seems to vary hugely depending on the subject

For example on the immigration, human right type front/side of his interests, then this article 'seems' to show an openness to learning (although the points made are specifically in relation to advocacy, narrative, traction, not pathologising or 'making into heroes' when it's the system and the people are just people): Keeping it neutral: conducting research on immigration detention | BPS

I was quite surprised by this, although note it is strongly itself talking about the enlightenment of the influence of another. And it's got some good advice we might find useful on some points made.

And this one. The shaping of moral injury among UK military veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq - Hollis - 2023 - Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice - Wiley Online Library

 

I would assume they got a batch of letters and picked two. That's perfectly standard. I wouldn't make any assumptions about connections between the PACE authors and this guy unless someone knows that there is in fact a connection. That the Guardian published both letters is not in any remote way evidence of that connection.

 

Trial By Error: PACE Authors Respond to Monbiot Column with Tired Arguments

https://virology.ws/2024/10/24/tria...spond-to-monbiot-column-with-tired-arguments/

 

I wrote something with the intent of sending it to the Guardian, but now I'm looking at their Corrections and Complaints I'm not sure where it would fit. It's not precise enough for a letter and I don't think I'd want to expose myself to these people with no organisation for cover. So while I think about it, I'll post it here -

Letter from Professors Peter White, Michael Sharpe and Trudie Chalder
https://www.theguardian.com/society...view-of-illness-doesnt-help-those-with-me-cfs

I suppose the PACE authors, Professors White, Chalder and Sharpe are entitled to right-of-reply to George Monbiot's excellent article -

https://www.theguardian.com/comment...eve-bothby-oneill-me-chronic-fatigue-syndrome
but was it necessary to add a letter expressing the same point of view from a therapist trying to drum up business? I think not, just as it wasn't necessary to publish a piece by Alastair Miller during the Maeve Boothby O'Neill inquest calling for a "compromise", i.e. sticking to the paradigm that led to her death.

As George Monbiot explains in this interview with actor and ME sufferer Jennie Jacques, his article took a long time to write because it involved a lot of research and fact checking -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpLMB9I4kGI

but the biopsychosocial proponents don't provide any facts, just continue to reiterate that their theories are evidence-based without engaging with the substantial flaws in their work exposed by the NICE Technical Committee, academics and other commentators.

White, Sharpe and Chalder say But this new Nice guidance is contested, being based on a flawed review and interpretation of the evidence, as shown by an analysis by us and 48 other international experts.

This, https://jnnp.bmj.com/content/94/12/1056 wasn't an analysis, just a letter with numerous signatories restating their position. That they haven't withdrawn or revised their flawed work, nor have the journals on whose editorial boards they or their colleagues sit or have sat only underlines the power imbalance revealed in George Monbiot's article. We patients hope the day is coming soon when no publications feel the need to defer to the opinions of flat earthers.

 

Really good @tornandfrayed

 

https://twitter.com/user/status/1849525426671992834




George Monbiot tweets:

'In fact the "silencing" story has been a highly effective form of silencing, shutting down the voices of both patients subject to harmful treatments and scientists challenging the discredited claims still pushed by
@PaulGarnerWoof
et al.
@IndexCensorship
should investigate it.'

And:

'Thanks to this narrative, there's been an almost perfect inversion of victims and perpetrators.'

.

 

As many are aware, this is a common strategy employed by narcissists, DARVO: deny, attack, and reverse victim & offender.

 

I assume it's the main goal. It's been very effective. We see it all the time, in bits and pieces of rumor framing everything, including research proposals. They succeed as long as it's a maligned topic, hence why they stick entirely to politics and maligning.

It's not as if they'd reasonably expect that they'll come up with anything new in the next few decades. They keep doing the same thing in a loop. The whole strategy is flooding the space with bullshit and to block legitimate efforts as long as possible. It doesn't work, but it's effective at preventing real work from happening, and to them that's the same as winning the game. All they need is a stalemate, they win when there is no winner.

 

https://twitter.com/user/status/1849806775932825864

 

George M and I discussed his latest column and the SMC cultists yesterday.

https://virology.ws/2024/10/25/tria...biot-on-the-bizarre-cult-at-the-london-based/

 

mentioned this
Invasion of the Entryists – George Monbiot