From 'Ooiknow' Nothing, NICE Judicial Review Claimant Kevin Short at
ooiknow@yahoo.co.uk

"A RESPONSE TO THE RECENT ACTIVITIES OF JOHN SAYER ET AL.

On this list and elsewhere, John Sayer has, in my view, repeatedly acted as a
cleverly-worded apologist for the One Click group. Most recently he has
effectively been lending support to their foul-mouthed public attacks upon
Margaret Williams, Professor Hooper, Douglas Fraser and I. On 3th & 4th August
2008 he also put out a public hit piece against me on this list and posted it to
Jane Bryant's and other websites along with my photograph. He did this whilst I
was right in the middle of fighting the NICE JR legal case (accusing me of
conducting a campaign against him with Greg Crowhurst when I had not even been
in contact with Greg for months and, conversely, it is Sayer who has conducted a
long-term drip, drip online baiting/trolling* campaign against me and EAME**).

I would ask all readers of this list to consider what kind of a chairman of a
Norfolk ME patient support group publishes a contrived attack against a
vulnerable ME patient on Bryant's and other websites, along with their
photograph, when that patient is sacrificing his health to fight NICE in the
High Court?

In spite of illness, I have spent years trying my utmost to fight for ME
patients, I have spent a small fortune doing it, I have harmed my ME prognosis
in the process yet, perversely, I have received a great deal of dis-informing
abuse for my efforts from a tiny minority WITHIN the ME community. I have seen
too many good people put off from ME campaigning*** and the campaign seriously
damaged by pointless, self-indulgent, dis-informing online in-fighting. I am not
saying that I or any activist should be beyond critical inquiry but, there is a
marked difference between constructive criticism and personal score settling
veiled behind clever words. The latter all too often undermines our cause.

I've really had enough of all this. I just cannot get my head around the fact
that such a minority seems to want to put so much energy into inter-activist
politics than real world ME campaigning. Just how bad do things have to get for
ME patients before we all direct our fire at the real enemy?

It is, I am sure, a very difficult job being an ME Yahoo list moderator.
Especially if you are ill or a heavily-burdened carer and a few of those you
have to monitor have an incongruous amount of energy with which they pursue
sometimes subtle and devious agendas. I think that mainstream ME campaign lists
such as this should be a responsible tool for real world campaigning and not a
platform for trolling. If they are to be the latter then I cannot continue
campaigning. I am not alone in seriously questioning wether or not to go on.

Kevin Short.


* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll_(Internet)

** For example, posting disinformation that the East Anglian ME patient
Partnership (EAME - which was labouring with Professor Hooper and Dr Terry
Mitchell to get an NHS biomedical ME clinic in our region) was without
representation from Cambridgeshire when he had just been in an EAME meeting
where the three Cambs reps formally introduced themselves. I have repeatedly
appealed to end such in-fighting between John and I and I have bent over
backwards to inform and include ME Support Norfolk in constructive local
campaigning but, sadly, he seems determined to persist and make mischief on the
internet.

*** Literally frightened into not participating Yahoo campaign lists etc because
of clever bully boy or bully girl tactics on the internet. This is a disgrace
and a tragedy - because we desperately need as many from the ME community to
become campaigners as possible.