Letters for Lyme: Ignorance Will Not Be Tolerated !!

Lyme s'infiltre dans les présidentielles américaines ?

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Letters for Lyme: Ignorance Will Not Be Tolerated!!

Intentions of kindness by presidential candidate Mitt Romney has turned quite ugly for the Lyme community over the past few days. In a misguided effort to detract from Romney’s campaign and/or simply ridicule him for his choice of outreach, the Lyme community has come under heavy fire with many different news outlets and blogs attacking us.

From calling Lyme Disease « Lying Disease », a fake epidemic, a made-up plague and a conspiracy theory to referring to activists as anti-science zealots and patients as being confused victims of « medical quackery », who likely are suffering from depression or another mental illness and being taken advantage of by greedy doctors and opportunistic politicians.

None of this is being based on the available science either or in typical fashion is simply repeating the usual IDSA rundown of the « facts » or as we all know them: the lies!

(For those of you who wish to confront these « journalists » with the mountain of scientific evidence available, please go HERE for a list of references from a variety of different studies dealing with Chronic Lyme or persistent Lyme infection. Thank you to Saby Mo for putting together and providing us with this list. Your work is overwhelmingly appreciated!)

This sentiment has spread like wildfire and needs to be dealt with posthaste. We need to contact every news outlet we find that is jabbering on in this manner and taking advantage of our community as pawns for their own benefit.

We need to contact the employers of these « journalists » who are spreading lies and demand apologies, corrections, investigations, and retractions. These self-minded individuals must be made to realize that they cannot publicly attack, demonize and ridicule an entire community of people and expect it to be overlooked. They must be held accountable for their actions. We did it with the Chicago Tribune and we can do it again!

Please keep your wits about you and try to stay as calm and collected as possible when you write your responses back to those on the list below. I know that is very hard, but please attempt to do so.

Below is a list of outlets that have jumped on this attack bandwagon with links to the articles they have written in regards to this issue and contact info. This list has been kindly provided by Lyme activist Lucretia  « Creda » Perilli.

:-) Si un membre de l'association ou autre veut bien participer
en traduisant en bon français pour les non anglophones,
merci de nous faire parvenir le texte par email ICI :D

Slate (two headlines/same story):
Chronic Lyme disease delusion: Romney campaign pushes medical nonsense
Why Is Romney Campaigning on Medical Quackery?
See Article Here
Contact: corrections@slate.com

The New Yorker:

Mitt Romney Versus Lyme Disease and Science

See Article Here

Contact:
http://www.newyorker.com/contact/contactus

US News & World Report:

Mitt Romney Targets the Lyme Disease Vote in Virginia

See Article Here

Contact:
http://www.usnews.com/info/features/contact

Mother Jones:Romney’s Plan to Win Virginia: Lyme Disease

See Article Here

Scroll down to form, select ‘Letter to the Editor’:
http://www.motherjones.com/about/contact

Washington Post:

Romney vows to take on Lyme disease ‘epidemic’
See Article Here

Lyme Disease redux
See Article HereUse Corrections Form:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/interactivity/corrections/

Washington Monthly:

Romney’s Lyme Disease Mailer: A Play for the Christian Right?
See Article Here

Contact: editors@washingtonmonthly.com

Huffington Post:

Mitt Romney Pledges To Control Lyme 

Disease Epidemic ‘Wreaking Havoc’ On Virginia In Mailer
See Article HereUse corrections Form:
Contact: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/contact/

The Daily Kos:

Romney campaign promises to fight Lyme Disease using ‘synergy’

See Article Here
Contact: http://www.dailykos.com/contactus
The Daily Beast (Newsweek):Mitt’s Bizarre Lyme Disease Offensive
See Article Here

Contact: contactletters@newsweek.com

Science Blogs:

Conspiracy-targeted Campaigning from Romney
See Article Here

Contact: editorial@scienceblogs.com

RealClearScience:

Romney Touts Lyme Disease Conspiracy Theory
See Article Here

Contact: sam@realclearpolitics.com

Little Green Footballs:

The Dangerous Conspiracy Theory Behind Romney’s Lyme Disease Mailers
See Article Here

Use Contact Form that is located on the left column of the homepage.

The Week:

Mitt Romney’s strategy to win Virginia: Lyme Disease?
See Article Here

Be sure to select ‘Website editors. »

YAHOO ran this very same story (see below).

Contact: http://theweek.com/home/info/contact

The Wall:

The Dangerous Conspiracy Theory Behind Mitt Romney’s Lyme Disease Mailers
See Article Here

The Wall ran the Think Progress article. Let them know that they should not be running articles that contain false information. Use their feedback link on the far left side of their homepage.

The Weekly Standard:

Campaign Mailer: Romney Vows to Fight the ‘Epidemic’ of Lyme
See Article Here

Contact: editor@weeklystandard.com

America Blog:

Romney’s secret weapon: Lyme disease!
See Article Here

Contact: contact@americablog.com

Yahoo:

Mitt Romney’s strategy to win Virginia: Lyme Disease?
See Article Here

Patch:

Romney Campaign Mailer Targets Lyme
See Article Here

Scroll down and click « Contact your local editor, Susan Larson »:
Contact:

http://fredericksburg.patch.com/contact-us

Health News Review:

The Silly Season – tick, tick, tick in the

 desperate countdown to Election Day, by Gary Schwitzer
See Article HereContact:

http://www.healthnewsreview.org/contact/

MEDIAite

Mitt Romney Can’t Even Get Specific 

When He’s Getting Overly-Specific On Lyme Disease
See Article HereContact: ads@mediaite.com OR tips@mediaite.com

Posted by Kenneth M. at 1:31 AM