Sunday 1 February 2009

Cybertiger is a loser

Cybertiger - Dr Mark Struthers - is an evil bastard. He doesn't really believe that MMR causes autism. He doesn't really believe that preservatives in vaccines cause harm. He doesn't even really believe that HIV doesn't cause AIDS. However, he wants to have the loonies at JABS on his side for his personal mission, which is to attack anyone in the medical establishment who's been more successful than him.

You see, Dr Struthers is a salaried GP (not even a partner) in a local practice in Flitwick. For those of you who aren't aware of Flitwick, it's a small town on the outskirts of Luton.

He hates Roy Meadow, not because of his cock-ups, but because he's more successful than him. He can't stand Simon Baron-Cohen, because he's more successful than he's ever been.

You see, Dr Mark isn't even as successful as his Mum, Joyce. Joyce at least made it onto some sort of enquiry board - although its findings were rapidly dismissed - but she at least got that far. No-one's ever asked Dr Mark to be on any kind of panel, board or even pub quiz team. Possibly because he's mental, or, more likely, because he's not that bright, and doesn't have an original, or interesting thought in his head.

However, on the JABS forum, he likes to think that he's some kind of intellectual, and, given that the level of intelligence there hardly challenges that of most shellfish, he's probably right.

Here's his latest rant:

Spreading fear in a gullible populace drove the American taxpayer to fund the ugly wars on Serbia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon and Gaza. The American military-industrial-complex were thrilled.

Spreading fear of measles, mumps, rubella and the HPV has driven the British taxpayer to spend collosal sums of money on the 'wars on innocuous contagion'

What the FUCK does this have to do with vaccines? Um - nothing whatsoever. However, Dr Struthers knows full well that the critical thinking ability of the average JABS subscriber is roughly equivalent to that of a pipe cleaner, and so likening five wholly unconnected military conflicts with perfectly reasonable fears of disease is likely to gain him some more support from cretins.

However, because Dr Mark has never done anything in his life worth mentioning, and is still little more than a fill in doctor - not being deemed bright enough to be offered a partnership, that support does little for him. The man is an idiot - as judged by those who read his internet rantings, and seemingly by those who he's worked with. There are no papers with Dr Struthers' name on, there's nothing he's ever done that will advance the cause of medicine - he's a nobody, a nothing. Zilch. Zip. Fuck all.

If, in order to make himself feel more popular he has to argue that measles, mumps and rubella are diseases that shouldn't be fought, borders on criminal. Dr Mark Struthers should be struck off.

16 comments:

Unknown said...

You are only at risk of being struck off if you kill your patients or sleep with them. If Dr. Struthers is as obnoxious as his Cybertiddles alter ego then I don't imagine any of his patients want to sleep with him.

I suspect he is probably a fairly conservative middle of the road doctor-so he probably doesn't kill any more than the usual number of patients.

I'd say the chances of him being struck off are pretty low.

Becky said...

Indeed. It'd be very interesting to know what he actually says to his patients about M, M and R... Or AIDS, or child abuse, or anything else he has, shall we say, less than conventional views on...

John H said...

Whenever I hear mental medicos spouting some right wing rubbish I am always reminded that the most enthusiastic membership uptake of the Nazi party in the early 30's was amongst the German medical profession.

How about that for use of Godwins law. Managed to slur an entire profession at one go.

Unknown said...

John H
I think Dr.Tiddles is a left winger.

He is also careful enough to be agnostic about controversial medical subjects. He appears to be an AIDS denier but when questioned, he simply says he doesn't know.

Same with controverial alt-med treatments, he won't recommend them but then allows that maybe they work and medicine doesn't know everything.

John H said...

Becky

Two whole days without a wallow in the cesspit of jabbophobia.

Must be a record.



Many Legged One

I never got the impression that Tiddles was even vaguely left wing. I might be wrong (about him that is - not my impressions).

There is a curious tendency for wooists, jabbophobes and quackophiles to embrace right wing politics. I put it down to an absence of critical thought.

Of course Hitler was pretty woo-oriented - vegetablist, mystical etc.

(Two Godwins in less than five posts - Result).

Unknown said...

Dr. Mark Struthers in the BMJ

http://www.bmj.com/cgi/eletters/327/7420/889-c#40265

http://www.bmj.com/cgi/eletters/329/7474/1110#83974

http://www.bmj.com/cgi/eletters/325/7371/1026#26696

Certainly not right wing.

Unknown said...

If you are going to say that woosters are right wing you should provide some evidence. A lot of the alt-med types are hippy lefties-whether they could actually find their way to the polling station to vote is another matter.

In the US the anti-vaxers seem to be an unholy alliance of right wing libertarian types that see mass vaccination as a plot by big government and the loony left who see it as a profit making venture for Big Pharma. Personally I don't see it as having any particular political orientation.

Becky said...

It's an odd mix. On JABS there have been several outbreaks of racism, homophobia etc, that I'd usually associate with the far right - but then there's the usual "oh, natural is far better, I hug trees" that I'd associate with the liberal left... Where the conspiracy theorists lie is beyond me. Frankly, I'd put most of them down as card carrying Monster Raving Loonies.

DT said...

The "natural ig good" mantra is extending to even more silly heights on the Jabbers forum.

One poster alerted them to an article linking echinacea with autism. Now there appears to be no evidence for this (echinacea can alter bowel flora, so maybe that just might alter permeability, so maybe the jabbers should be worried.....?).

But instead of countering the hypothesis with a bit of science based critical analysis and common sense, the jabbers have taken the line of:

1) Echinacea is natural! So it is obviously harmless! (Suba)
2) North American Indians use echinacea and I haven't heard they have rates of autism of 1:150 (Suba again, Lola and Aasa)
3) No-one would give kids echinacea (John Stone, ignoring the fact that plenty would, and the OP specifically talked of the transmissability in breast milk)
4) I never gave my son echinacea, so it cannot have caused his autism (John Stone again)
5) Remember that it is only vaccines that cause autism, nothing else could possibly do it! (actually that's not in this particular thread, but that's what they think)
6) But herbs harm people less than conventional treatments which kill millions of people (Truthseeker)

The fallacious and mind-numbingly stupid and predictable arguments they are trotting out has quite put me off my lunch. All we need now is for Cyberpussy to tell us how Roy Meadows is embroiled in all of this.

Becky said...

I saw that and was going to do a post on it... It's the bleating when they hear "here's your argument, but with MMR replaced with Echinacea - look how ridiculous you actually sound" that makes it funny...

John H said...

Good post DT.

You could argue that:

1) so is hemlock but it will kill you. To paraphrase a lady contributor "Suba is a twat"
2) so there is a causal relationship between taking echinacea and alcoholism is there because there is certainly a correlation in the US Indian population
3) maybe the kids got homeopathic doses of echinacea - the less they got the more it would affect them (err maybe)
4) ditto. As that lady constantly says "John Stone is a twat" as well.
5)words fail me - but you are perfectly right.
6) ask Truthseeker to name the millions who died from conventional medicine (OK a tough task, just name what they died from then). As a certain lady says "TruthSeeker is a twat

Lucky for me I could just paste "twat" in otherwise I would have been typing for hours.

Becky said...

John H & DT - would you mind if I incorporated your comments into a post over the weekend?

John H said...

Becky

I only just picked this up (Monday morning). Feel free to do what you want with it if you think it is useful in any way.

I was going to suggest that you might have gone into hibernation !

Especially given the Sunday Times article yesterday.

John H said...

I just dipped my toes into the cesspool of stupidity that constitutes JABS. (This is a rare occurrence as I normally have you to do this for me !).

Not a dicky bird about the STs article on Wakefield.

(Apart from the open letter on the front page referring to Wakefield as an "excellent doctor". Ho ho ho. Methinks perhaps not.).

One wonders at their reluctance to embrace the facts that their hero invented it all in pursuit of his personal agenda.

John H said...

Back on the JABS site under a new name (Sandford).

Let's see how long my post stays up.

http://www.jabs.org.uk/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=3656

I am so wise said...

Spreading fear in a gullible populace drove the American taxpayer to fund the ugly wars on Serbia, [.,.] The American military-industrial-complex were thrilled.

Just focusing on Serbia, but ask the Croatians, the Bosnians, or the Albanians who lived through the 1990s and you'll meet many thrilled people.