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Demonization of Patients continues: Nature Blog

Ecoclimber

Senior Member
Messages
1,011
http://www.nature.com/news/research-integrity-don-t-let-transparency-damage-science-1.19219

Research integrity: Don't let transparency damage science


Transparency has hit the headlines. In the wake of evidence that many research findings are not reproducible1, the scientific community has launched initiatives to increase data sharing, transparency and open critique. As with any new development, there are unintended consequences. Many measures that can improve science2 — shared data, post-publication peer review and public engagement on social media — can be turned against scientists.

Endless information requests, complaints to researchers' universities, online harassment, distortion of scientific findings and even threats of violence: these were all recurring experiences shared by researchers from a broad range of disciplines at a Royal Society-sponsored meeting last year that we organized to explore this topic. Orchestrated and well-funded harassment campaigns against researchers working in climate change and tobacco control are well documented3, 4. Some hard-line opponents to other research, such as that on nuclear fallout, vaccination, chronic fatigue syndrome or genetically modified organisms, although less resourced, have employed identical strategies.

I noticed three observation:
1. Most of the articles demonizing patinets are generated from the U.K. researchers and the news media.
2. Under previous Candanian PM Harper Tory Government, researchers and scientists were stifled, careers were threatened if they spoke out against any scientific research that was in opposition to the Tory govt 's policy.This leads to the assumption that UK Tory govt. policy is stifling anyone that speaks out against govt. policy and rewards those that speak in favor of govt. policy especially involving the UK. austerity program.

Does anyone want to comment on this?

 
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Old Bones

Senior Member
Messages
808
I noticed three observation:

2. Under previous Candanian PM Harper Tory Government, researchers and scientists were stifled, careers were threatened if they spoke out against any scientific research that was in opposition to the Tory govt 's policy.

I guess time will tell if the long-neglected needs of Canadian ME/CFS patients will be better addressed by our new Liberal government under "Young Justin". I'm not holding my breath.
 

Research 1st

Severe ME, POTS & MCAS.
Messages
768
Notice in the perpetual harrassment of the disabled (ME patients) we have not British, but Americans defending the British patients on Twitter, ironically, an expert in Psychology (Coyne).

As ever we have silence from the British psychologists, far too much bother standing up for ME patients as they're 'militant armed wing' (what they call ME patients so just repeating their phrase) is far too busy slagging the ME patients off and claiming they are victims themselves. Crazy but true.

Coyne is correct of course. Alter the word 'ME' in the press for a racial, or religious minority and people would be up in arms demanding resignations left right and centre.

I guess the lure of £100,000 a year income when employed by the NHS, and to be adored as a genius outweighs countless doctors victims forced to live in sheltered housing, who never will live to see the day they can have their first day at work as they too disabled to even dress themselves. Ultimately, it is their fault the patients have no treatment and no one believes the patients are deserving of treatment, or face a potential fatal disease. Due to this, no appropriate level of biomedical research funding is ever given.

What a corrupt country the UK appears to be, and God Bless America for having intellectuals like J Coyne to stand up for what he can see is wrong, and others only pretend is 'the problem' (the patients as the problem!). Imagine that, a world, in which the patients are the problem, not the infection and ensuing autoimmunity that keeps them crippled.

Rule Britannia!
 
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*GG*

senior member
Messages
6,389
Location
Concord, NH

Art Vandelay

Senior Member
Messages
470
Location
Australia
Ahh, I had to laugh when I saw that the article was co-authored by Stephan Lewandowsky. He's so incompetent that he makes Wessley, White, Crawley et al look like Nobel Prize winners.

Given Lewandowsky's problems with people debunking his 'studies' and having them retracted, I'm surprised that he supports (albeit limited) data sharing.

I'm ill and am a bit busy this afternoon, so I can only provide a few examples for the moment:

Stephan Lewandowsky ‘flees’ Australia in wake of investigations
... at least two, possibly more, professional complaints that are in progress against Lewdandowsy (and his sidekick, Skeptical Science’ s John Cook) at the University of Western Australia for his data fabrication and his questionable science

Update: Lewandowsky et al paper on conspiracist ideation “provisionally removed” due to complaints
He may talk the talk, but he doesn't walk the walk when it comes to data sharing:

Ask Stephan Lewandowsky anything, except “please can I have that data”.
Richard Tol asked Stephan Lewandowsky how he felt about data. Stephan Lewandowsky replied with exactly the right answer, saying it’s crucial, and “I release all relevant data immediately”. Then Barry Woods quoted the Vice Chancellor of UWA refusing to provide Lewandowsky’s data (after many requests). Apparently it is UWA practice not to release data, no matter how many times researchers politely enquire. How unfortunate for Stephan to have worked at such a backward institution?​

and my favourite:


I'm happy for anyone to pass this information onto James Coyne if you think he might be interested.


 
Messages
3,263
@Art Vandelay, thanks for posting. Just wanted to point out that these controversies you mention are all in relation to papers Lewandowsy has written on the Psychology of climate change denial. Those who are sceptical of the evidence for climate change feel his work portrays them as deficient in some way, and are very angry.

I just want to point that out. Whatever your views on climate change, associating ourselves with the issue in any way could do us untold harm. Best to stay away from this, I think.
 

jimells

Senior Member
Messages
2,009
Location
northern Maine
I just want to point that out. Whatever your views on climate change, associating ourselves with the issue in any way could do us untold harm. Best to stay away from this, I think.

Yes, it's a funny thing about the Global Warming story - if one actually looks at the evidence for Global Warming, it looks a lot like the evidence from the psychobabblers...
 

SilverbladeTE

Senior Member
Messages
3,043
Location
Somewhere near Glasgow, Scotland
Yes, it's a funny thing about the Global Warming story - if one actually looks at the evidence for Global Warming, it looks a lot like the evidence from the psychobabblers...

uh, no
it comes down to rather basic science and easily demonstrable in the home.
The question is though: how big and how fast are we altering the climate?
Not *IF* we are changing it.

My entire country was once covered in forest and swamps
Removing those, and doing so *across much of the globe* as our ancestors changed from hunter gatherers, to farmers, damn well would have changed the world's climate as the scope is so vast.
But, they were not also burning incredible amounts of fossil fuel at the same time

nowadays were clearing much of the remaining great forests/rainforests

we have dammed colossal quantities of fresh water, more than flows in ALL the great rivers actually (which means that many rivers now debouche less or not at all to the ocean, look at the Colorado!)
lakes, natural or artificial have big effect on local climate, so enough of them worldwide have global effect.

the run offs of our sewers and farming are creating are creating enormous algal blooms (and very worryingly, many millions of tons of floating plastic garbage are acting as bases for such)

we now know permafrost is melting and methane is escaping from it
clathrate deposits are destabilizing

so it is NOT the same as the "psychs"
sure there are corrupt gits who want to make profit off "Global Warming" and they need stopped (Carbon credits, pfft! another big scam!)
but the basic reality of it is unavoidable.
 

Asa

Senior Member
Messages
179

"Drapetomania was a supposed mental illness described by American physician Samuel A. Cartwright in 1851 that caused black slaves to flee captivity. Today, drapetomania is considered an example of pseudoscience... Cartwright prescribed a remedy. His feeling was that with 'proper medical advice, strictly followed, this troublesome practice that many Negroes have of running away can be almost entirely prevented.'" - Wiki

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"The book [The Protest Psychosis] focuses on exposing the trend of this hospital [1960s Ionia State Hospital] to diagnose African Americans with schizophrenia because of their civil rights ideas." -- Wiki

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(Sarcasm) Obviously through mass hysteria, such false equality beliefs have spread to peoples "with ME" as well.
 
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