The Wellness Warrior Responds

One day after my previous post was published Jess Ainscough responded, to clarify some things and call me (and her other critics) bullies. Kudos to her for coming out and explicitly stating that she is not in remission or cured and stating that she needs to be more transparent with her ‘tribe’.  Not quite an admission that the cancer in her arm has been worsening all along, but it’s something. It’s a shame she then went on to muddy the waters with a bunch of nonsense about how she is thriving with cancer, the cancer doesn’t need to be eradicated, she is as healthy as she has ever been, she has seen many miraculous recoveries occur as a result of Gerson Therapy, and her body will completely heal when the time is right. The fact remains that Gerson Therapy is expensive, life restricting nonsense. It has not been proven to work and the National Cancer Institute has this to say about it:

“The data that are available are not sufficient to warrant claims that the Gerson therapy is effective as an adjuvant to other cancer therapies or as a cure. At this time, the use of the Gerson therapy in the treatment of cancer patients cannot be recommended outside the context of well-designed clinical trials.”

Interestingly, in her blog post she tries to take the moral high ground. She writes a ‘loving message’ to her critics and adds a positive affirmation at the end that reads:

“I replace judgement with kindness and compassion”

The ironic thing about that affirmation is that the moment she published her blog post she publicly labeled her critics ‘bullies’ and instigated a flood of comments from her followers judging us. A few examples:

‘they are not worth your time’

‘I bet they don’t have room in their lives to do anything good for others’

‘they are not worthy to comment on your life’

‘they are afraid of things they don’t understand’

‘they must have deep wounds they need to heal’

‘those who delight in trying to tear down others’

‘don’t let these nasties get you down’

‘they are clearly very sick people who need help’

‘how sad their life must be’

‘how spiteful some people can be’

The vast majority of these people have not read my original post, did not see comments on Facebook questioning her and have no idea what was said, except that she was criticised. They don’t even know what they are commenting on, a perfect example of the nature of the Wellness Warrior’s  ‘tribe’. Why didn’t she link to the criticism she was responding to and let the people judge for themselves? If it is a matter of not wanting to send internet traffic my way there is always http://www.donotlink.com/ as a method of directing people to a website without their visit counting. Or is it a matter of not wanting followers to see the ugly truth? So much for the new found  transparency.

Now to the content of the blog post.

Jess made several points in her post which I will address. I’m going to paraphrase but you can see the original by clicking here.

1. She is concerned that her target audience are being presented with a false account of the state of her health. She is often misquoted and other people make false conclusions about her condition. 

The people she accuses of misquoting her, or making false conclusions are doing so based on what she tells them and the impression she gives them.  There has never been a clarification sighted on any of her own outlets when she  has been ‘misquoted’, or a  retraction/correction ever published where these ‘misquotes’ or ‘false accounts’ have appeared. She allows people to believe she has cured her cancer every time she doesn’t correct misquotes. Every time she doesn’t correct false conclusions. Every time she says there is something other than cancer wrong with her arm rather than ‘in addition to’. Every time she uses vague phrases like ‘I healed my body’. She has misrepresented her  true situation by inference and lies of omission and is now blaming others for that.

Jess has created a very public, profitable image and as such she needs to take responsibility for the clarity of her message. She needs to accept the fact that the public have the right to scrutinise her statements, claims and actions. In fact when it comes to the topic of health and cancer treatments the public has a responsibility to scrutinise. Crying foul on being called out in these circumstances is ridiculous.

2. She has faith that her body will completely heal once she has completely learnt the lesson that her cancer is here to teach. 

That is a lovely, comforting way to think and I’m sure it helps her sleep at night. But that is all it is, comforting thoughts. Nonsense. Cancer is a disease. A horrible, nasty disease that attacks indiscriminately, can sometimes be treated or cured and sometimes not. It takes people’s lives leaving  their loved ones behind to grieve. It doesn’t want to teach lessons, it wants to kill. Sure, people can find lessons in their cancer experience but life lessons are not the purpose of cancer, nor will it magically go away if the right ones are learned.

3. She doesn’t claim Gerson Therapy cured her. 

See my response to point one. The words “Gerson Therapy cured me” may have never passed her lips, but she is complicit in allowing people to believe that it did. Take this statement in Dolly magazine, January 2012 for instance:

“I am ecstatic to report that it has worked for me. I have had no cancer spread, no more lumps pop up (they were popping up rapidly before) and I can actually see some of my tumours coming out through my skin and disappearing.”

What reasonable person would not think that meant she thought she was cured? And here, some examples of people who, due to the lack of clarity in her message thought she was cured. These people are her own fans and followers yet they didn’t realise she still has cancer. That isn’t the fault of anyone else but the messenger.

                      “Love this chick! I actually didn’t know she still has cancer.”

“You’re living proof that cancer can be cured using natural means and good disposition”

4. She doesn’t make money peddling a “cancer cure”.

I’m not going to spend much time on this because I didn’t say it. Must have been one of the other bullies critics. What I did say was:  “None of this has stopped Jess from turning her circumstances into a career.”

5. She is not anti-doctors or anti-conventional medicine.

Like number 4, I didn’t say this either, I’ll have to attribute that one to the other bullies critics as well. I’ll just add this without comment and you can come to your own conclusion about her attitude to doctors and conventional medicine:

“As regulars of this blog know, I am currently using the Gerson Therapy to recover from cancer. Dr. Max Gerson was far ahead of his time when it came to natural healing therapies. Known as the father of natural cancer cures, Dr. Gerson has given many tens of thousands of people the tools to cure their own cancers. I hate to think where patients like me would be if it hadn’t been for his knowledge, understanding and determination to make a difference to the poor state of the cancer industry. It’s kind of shocking to think that even though Dr. Gerson discovered his cure way back in the 1930s, many people have still never even heard of him – let alone know that his legacy holds the answers to curing cancer. After Dr. Gerson’s death, his daughter Charlotte made it her life’s purpose to keep her father’s dream alive.
In this series of interviews, Mike Adams (aka the Health Ranger) of NaturalNews.com speaks to Charlotte Gerson about why the medical and drug industry do not want to find a cure for cancer and the history of mainstream oppression against cancer cures and leading anti-cancer doctors. This goes all the way back to the Nazis, IG Farben and the history of pharmaceutical companies like Bayer, which were implicated in the chemical torture of concentration camp prisoners.
This is a fascinating, must-listen interview for anyone suffering from cancer. If you know of someone who you think may benefit, please send them the link to this page. It is criminal to keep this information from the public.”

6. Her beliefs and opinions have evolved over the years, so paying attention to anything she said in the past is being inaccurate. 

I think everyone’s beliefs and opinions evolve over time as they make their way through life, I know mine have. However, facts don’t change and Jess’ arm is still getting worse, no matter what she believes. This doesn’t absolve her from any responsibility for things she has said or claims she has made up to now. Or maybe it does? Given the quote pictured above in point 5 was from 2010, we better ignore it then. Right.

As for ‘a loving note to my critics’, words like ‘onslaught’, ‘bullying’ and ‘attacks’ aren’t really loving, nor is suggesting all critics want to do was ‘condemn’ and are ‘disappointed not to find a conspiracy’. To say ‘ Try having a little compassion and kindness’ is to suggest that simply because someone questions, or disagrees with what she is doing that they lack compassion and kindness. I suggest that the only thing Jess knows about her critics is that they have criticised her. Thats a whole lot of negative judgement on a whole group of people for one loving note. Especially from someone affirming to replace judgement with kindness and compassion. Most of her critics simply want more transparency, which she admits she needs to increase.

And finally, a blog post like that is exactly the reason people are scared to call her out. She took no time at all to play the victim card. Jess is responsible for the things she is being called out on and she needs to own that. I am truly sorry about her illness and the loss of her mum, but that doesn’t get her a free pass.

You are not a victim here Jess, and out of respect and empathy for all those who have actually experienced bullying I refuse to let you apply the label ‘bully’ to me or any of your other critics. Save it for anyone who actually bullies you, the person, not those who criticise your message, your claims or your behaviour. That is not bullying, not even close.