You should see what antivaxxers and cancer quacks routinely do and have done to me (and fellow science communicators) over the last 16 years. A recap: 1.) I've had many complaints sent to my cancer center director, department chair, and dean more times than I can remember. 1/https://twitter.com/mccormick_ted/status/1362380340518658051 …
-
Show this thread
-
2. I've had antivaxxers deluge the board of governors of my uni with complaints about a nonexistent "COI" trying to get me fired, disciplined, or at least silenced. 3. I've had a believer in a cancer quack complain about my blog and me to the state medical board. 2/
1 reply 4 retweets 27 likesShow this thread -
4. I've had a cancer quack send emails complaining about me to every faculty member in my department whose email address he could find. 5. Six years later, that same cancer quack still occasionally surprises me with such an email to everyone. in the deparment. 3/
1 reply 4 retweets 25 likesShow this thread -
6. Most recently (last week), I was on the receiving end of abusive, threatening, angry rants left on voicemail at my cancer center office by believers in chronic Lyme disease. 7. A few years ago I and every other
@ScienceBasedMed blogger were sued by a "Lyme-literate" doc. 4/1 reply 5 retweets 26 likesShow this thread -
The bottom line is this. Harassing critics and defenders of science-based medicine at their place of work is a feature, not a bug, of the strategies used by science-denying cranks and quacks. It's happened to me so many times over the last 16 years I can't remember how many. 5/
2 replies 6 retweets 46 likesShow this thread -
Fortunately, in academia, these tactics *rarely* work, because of the ethos of academic freedom. Indeed, one of my bosses routinely jokes when he sees me that he hasn't had any complaints about me recently. My response is usually to say that I must be falling down on the job. 6/
1 reply 3 retweets 30 likesShow this thread -
However, if you're working for a private company, quite often these techniques will be effective because management doesn't want to deal with the hassles of cranks bothering them about an employee's social media activity. Also, they can just fire you if you don't stop. 7/
1 reply 3 retweets 33 likesShow this thread -
Similarly, another technique of cranks to silence an employee is to flood the social media pages of the university or company with abusive messages. If the critic is a physician, posting fake negative reviews on physician review sites is another favorite tactic. 8/
2 replies 4 retweets 28 likesShow this thread -
And people wonder why so many of us on social media who stand up for science like to remain pseudonymous. Of course, your pseudonym has to be bulletproof, because the cranks are VERY good at doxxing. 9/
2 replies 5 retweets 42 likesShow this thread
This is the reality for those who would push back against pseudoscience, quackery, misinformation, and disinformation. 10/10
-
-
Replying to @gorskon
And there seems to be an infinite number of these anti people.
0 replies 0 retweets 0 likesThanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
-
-
-
Thanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
-
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.