Tonight Dr Brian Martin of the University of Wollongong sent me his latest publication: Dealing with dilemmas in health campaigning. You would remember Brian Martin as the supervisor of Judy Wilyman. Yes, that Judy Wilyman. Included in his article is a paragraph (the content of which has been addressed before), which needs addressing (again). If we keep addressing the claims made by Martin, he might eventually need to recognise that a wave of the hand will not make the tenuousness of his claims go away. Here is the paragraph in full. I’ll address it further, below:
We’ve seen these before. And, yes, he actually cites Meryl Dorey in a published article.
Claim 1: making unsupported claims about the AVN believing in a global conspiracy to implant mind control chips
I never really gave much thought about the claims, as they did appear on the original Stop the AVN Facebook info page. The wording of that info page has since been altered to provide a more accurate account of the links between the AVN, and those nasty Illuminati beliefs, and the microchips. Frankly, I had been really sidetracked (yes, for three years), so I thought I should have a good look, again. This has been thoroughly addressed on Losing in the Lucky Country, in this post: Through the anti-vaccination looking glass: responding to Brian Martin Pt. 2.
So, where on Earth did anyone get the idea that Meryl Dorey and the AVN have links to these wild beliefs? From Meryl Dorey, of course.
In a previous post I quickly covered a claim which Meryl Dorey is still making to this day: denying that an article, an excerpt of which she posted on her blog, and linked to the full article, did not contain any mention of the Illuminati, microchips, or a human cull, linked to influenza vaccination.
In a recent Dorey blog post, it is claimed: “Ms Dorey was unaware of the connection between this article and Mr Icke and in fact, the article did not mention any of these beliefs”. Is this true? Well, see for yourself. Last week I uploaded this document to Scribd: Meryl Dorey, David Icke, the Pakistan Daily, Microchips, and the Human Cull. The document contains: the original Pakistan Daily article, as copied from the , then, live link; Dorey’s old blog post, containing the excerpt, and linking to the Pakistan Daily article; and, Dorey’s latest reiteration of her denial that the article contained what it contained (ie: all of the above claims).
In 2000, Meryl Dorey published this strange piece: Australia’s Big Brother Card: Coming your way! By Meryl Dorey. It contains this bizarre piece of conspiratorial rubbish (seriously, how is a microchip even going to fit into an immunisation-size gauged needle?):
Injected Chips?
To me, the scariest thing about the health smart card, is that it is only the beginning. The next and most logical step is the use of microchips which will contain all of the same information contained on smart cards but which will be injected into us and read and updated from a distance.Now, before you start to think that this would never happen and that it’s all a bit too much like science fiction,be aware that as of January 1999, the NSW State Government has mandated that all domestic animals be injected with a microchip which would identify them. Pet owners don’t have a choice – they must do this by law or face fines. And how are these chips being put into the family dog or cat? Why, through their vaccines, of course. These microscopic chips are nothing more than contactless health smart cards.
How long will it be before you or your child receive this “gift” from the government? They will sell it to us as a gift too. You will no longer have to worry about robbery because nobody will be carrying cash – this chip will contain your bank details so you can pass your hand over a reader and have the amount of your purchase automatically deducted from your account. Your child will never have to worry about getting lost because they will have an indelible identification mark which would have been inserted at birth. It’s all so exciting, don’t you think?
Yes…really.
So, are Martin’s assertions accurate? Are there “unsupported claims” made against Dorey and her followers? No. The claims are made in reference to Dorey’s own publications. Of course, Dorey strongly denies that she believes any of the above. She has to.
Claim 2: making derogatory comments about AVN members
This is undeniable. Sometimes in an online, heated debate derogatory comments are made about people who lie about evidence-based medicine, and seek to gain access to the private health records of deceased babies. Derogatory comments are made about people who blame parents of deceased children, that they are the ones at fault for not breastfeeding, or for immunising their child (when there is no evidence of any of the accusations being true).
But, the use of the term derogatory is so misused by the likes of defenders of anti-vaccination liars, one needs to see a broad investigation of the public debate, on all of the fora, not just the cherry-picked incidents of abuse upon which Martin himself has previously admitted to relying.
I always find it astonishing that this obvious Special pleading is never addressed when mentioned.
Claim 3: making dozens of complaints to government bodies such as the Health Care Complaints Commission
So what? These are legitimate complaints, of demonstrable seriousness, submitted by citizens who have every right to use legislation in the manner for which the legislation was intended. I don’t see the problem. Martin’s intent is to attempt to sully the complainants with the vexatious tag, thereby devaluing the very people who he is claiming to be the devaluers. There is nothing vexatious about legitimate complaints, surrounding serious misinformation which parades under the guise of health education. Now, if you want vexatious, and fraudulent, intended to SLAPP, then: The fraudulent DMCA filing, free speech hypocrite: Meryl Dorey. Strangely, Martin has never addressed this when pressed.
Claim 4: posting online the names and contact details of advertisers in the AVN’s magazine Living Wisdom (inviting harassment) (Dorey, 2011).
Wait just a cotton picking minute, here. Meryl Dorey publishes the complete list of her AVN Professional Members, right here. Martin seems to forget this tidbit. Also, the harassment of which he speaks turns out to be: informing the public as to who supports an anti-vaccination organisation (the public has a right to know, and one would think that the head of Whistle Blowers Australia would be in full accord with this point); and, contacting advertisers to see if they are aware of who they are supporting (some were not, and were disgusted to know that Living Wisdom is published by an anti-vaccination organisation. They withdrew their support in shame and anger).
So, is the paragraph about Stop the Australian Vaccination Network accurate? Only with a sleight of hand it is.
Of special note, I didn’t happen to see any COI stated by Brian Martin, in his publication. Brian Martin has been a financial supporter of the AVN since September 2010, having taken out a subscription for the Living Wisdom magazine, in which he was published (J.LivWis). Why he could not have simply been given magazines for his research is not addressed by Martin. Brian Martin is still a financial member of the Australian Vaccination Network, having been transferred to full membership once the AVN was again allowed to enlist members. Maybe the eds would have liked to have known that?
What would Judy Wilyman say at this non disclosure? To be a fly on that wall.
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