(When I saw Stockton Rush giving a tour of Titan I was struck by the similarities.)...
As far as I have seen, Garner seems to be similar since he found bps-religion
Hah! It is the same utter certainty that they are correct, and nobody has the right to hinder their glorious endeavours.
Maybe 20 years ago I saw a doco on cable TV about Charles Darwin and Wessely stuck his head up pontificating about the cause of Darwin's lifelong health problems. No prizes for guessing how Sir Simon viewed them.
The relevant bit is that he was utterly certain and definite, had absolutely no hesitation, left no margin of error. Not just the words, but the whole body language and tone of voice.
Remember that Darwin had been dead for over a century by this stage.
Same utter certainty that Garner has, and Stockton Rush had, and which I also saw in an interview with the problematic but influential psychologist Hans Eysenck near the end of his life. You won't be surprised to learn that Wessely has defended Eysenck's dodgy work.
Point of this is that I had the same visceral reaction to all of them, my blood ran cold. It is genuinely terrifying stuff. At least when you deal with a fraud you what they are after and that they are aware they are doing something wrong. But these guys were all something far worse, far more dangerous: people who believe absolutely that they are doing good and therefore have the right to impose their beliefs on others.
In the case of Rush it only hurt a small number. In the case of the other three, a lot more than that
As a general rule, and I have never once seen it fail, anyone bringing 'free speech' into scientific issues is not a serious person. Free speech is an entirely different issue, and in fact in the case of ME, there is a very real and systemic trampling of our right to free speech. It's exactly like religious fanatics who go on about 'freedom of religion'. Their religion, and only their. Claire Fox in the tweet above frames it as a free speech issue, about someone who has deliberately attacked the actual free speech of patients.
The twisted logic of people who have long standing and unfettered access to far more prominent and influential fora than we patients ever will, including mainstream media, and medico-legal and policy advisory roles, complaining that they are the ones being suppressed.
Irony really is dead.
The Brits were very upset about that and made angry noises to the US arm. Sharpe wrote to them directly complaining about the piece because they also ran an editorial slamming PACE.
And they endlessly portray us patients as snowflakes in denial, and in need of an Expert™ to help us get back in touch with the reality of own bodies.
Probably best they don't look too deeply into any nearby mirrors. Might not like what they see.