Thread by @GeorgeMonbiot

1. Abuse and harassment are never acceptable. But this is not the first time I’ve seen an emphasis on abuse and harassment shielding bad science. This is a short thread on how it works.
theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

2. It happened with climate science deniers a lot. In the 2000s, they would claim to have received abuse and threats, and almost invariably get national news coverage. Sometimes they would produce no evidence of such threats. They were just taken at their word.

3. They used this story to deflect attention from their poor methodology and portray themselves as victims, standing up for science against an intolerant mob. A similar thing appears to have happened with the bad science surrounding ME/CFS.

4. This is not to say that no abuse or harassment occurred. It did, and that is never right. But reading some of the examples given, for example in this article, I thought “you should see my feeds. I get worse than this every day.”
reuters.com/investigates/s…

5. Genuine abuse and harassment were also conflated with entirely legitimate criticism and requests for data. The story of beleaguered scientists fighting for the truth provided cover for some truly appalling science.

6. This story, recited and recited in the media, has, I believe, delayed the proper scrutiny of bad methodology and unreleased data, and has therefore delayed improved treatment of ME/CFS patients.

7. It has also further stigmatised people with ME/CFS. It was a tiny minority who abused and harassed scientists, yet the whole community has been tarred with this brush. As if they didn’t have enough to deal with already.

8. If you asked yourself "what's the big story here? Is it psychologising and minimising a devastating condition suffered by 00s of 000s of people in the UK, mistreating and gaslighting them, or is it some scientists getting nasty emails?", the answer should be bloody obvious.

9. All journalists, all the time, should ask themselves:
“Why is this the angle?”
“What aren’t we seeing?”
“What aren’t we saying?”.
The story I tell in the article at the top of this thread is a story of suggestibility. Let’s not be dupes.