Just Ignore It, They Said…
This article was published August 23, 2020. An update was added to the end of this article on July 13, 2021
There are times when it’s appropriate to just walk away. This is not one of them.
The first week back from vacation is always difficult, but this past week was absolutely non-stop. Trying to catch up on several projects, it was a week filled with late nights and early mornings. I missed a couple of workouts and struggled to keep my nutrition plan on track. But fortunately, I’ve learned enough from a growing list of mentors I’ve found on Twitter over the past two years, that I’ve been able to manage to get through without too many problems.
Many of those mentors (practitioners, authors, and researchers) are featured presenters at the LowCarbUSA Virtual San Diego Metabolic Health Conference to be held August 27–30. I’ve got my registration, and I’ve been looking forward to this conference since before the coronavirus forced the organizers to take it virtual.
But I have to confess I’ve been preoccupied over the past couple of days by a “nutrition quack list” compiled by Kevin Bass, an aspiring medical doctor and PhD student with a huge chip on his shoulder. Six of the 21 featured presenters at the LowCarbUSA event — Gary Taubes; Dave Feldman; Tim Noakes, MD, PhD; Paul Mason, MD; Tro Kalayjian, DO; and Shawn Baker, MD — are on this list.
There are also many other well-known and highly respected individuals listed as quacks as part of this crowd-sourced smear campaign designed to undermine the careers of people who have rubbed Kevin the wrong way. The truth is that anyone could be listed at the whim of this medical student with more than 40,000 Twitter followers and a history of making troubling posts, most notably one in which he expressed his pleasure at the house fire that destroyed low-carb proponent Dr. Ken Berry’s home.
I’ve been doing a pretty good job of ignoring Kevin’s tweets over the past several months, but when I saw the responses to this list (and its companion lists of “not quacks”) I decided I could no longer remain silent.
Many of the individuals on the quack list have shared valuable information that has literally changed the course of my life. You can learn more in Episode 107 of the LowCarbMD Podcast, or read my story here, here, or here.
There are also individuals on the “quack list” who I am not fond of — including Neal Barnard, MD; Joel Kahn, MD; and Michael Gregor, MD — yet I find their inclusion on such a list no less troubling.
Kevin’s biggest criticism with many of the practitioners on his list is that they engage in excessive hype, or that they make claims that are not backed by science. This list is 100 percent hype, and its creation, and the way he promoted it, goes against all the principles of good science.
I was deeply troubled when I saw some of those listed on the “not quacks” list engaging and actually condoning this unprofessional behavior. Anyone who supports or condones this list has some soul searching to do.
I was also disappointed to see some of those listed as quacks asking Kevin for an explanation, as if they were appealing to be taken off the list. This entire list is wrong, and needs to be taken down. It will be no better if a few names are moved around.
If there is no rule at Kevin’s medical school prohibiting this kind of behavior, there ought to be. I am going to write my letter tonight. I hope you do the same.
Update, July 13, 2021: In an apparent effort to drum up engagement for his project, Kevin, who has more than 40K Twitter followers, recently unblocked my Twitter account and tagged me in several posts. He has repeatedly asserted I sent “spam emails” to professors at his school, which is factually incorrect.
I’m unsure whether this is a malicious lie, or just extremely sloppy and lazy fact gathering, but for someone who is determined to be the arbiter of which practitioners are legit, and which ones are not, it’s extremely troubling.
On August 23, 2020 (as I publicly said I would), I sent a single short email (clearly not spam) to an administrator at Kevin’s school, in which I said the following:
I just wanted to let you know what a poor reflection Kevin’s “quack list” is making on your institution. I hope you have a policy on behavior like this from your medical students, and look forward to hearing that you’ve asked Kevin to take down the list and apologize to those it has demeaned.
For your reference:
https://link.medium.com/GNNvqemDc9
https://twitter.com/biggestcomeback/status/1296508995268640769?s=21
I look forward to to learning that you’ve taken the appropriate actions in this matter.
Sincerely,
Chris
Chris S. Cornell
In his recent tweet storm, Kevin admitted his “quack list” was an “an amateurish project” but he spoke of taking steps since last August to make his project more professional, and he “thanked” me for causing him to defend himself and his claims.
In the past week, Kevin has also started sharing a link to a slanderous YouTube video, published in February, that suggests my fitness gains have been due to something other than hard work in my basement gym and out on the trail (for the record, in my 57 years, I have never used any sort of performance enhancing substance, unless you count caffeine).
I have avoided interacting with Kevin on Twitter because I really don’t want to bring additional attention to his project, but I felt the need to set the record straight.
For the record, I do not support “health misinformation”, and I work quite hard to ensure my own communications are factual and helpful.
It continues to concern me, however, when it appears there are people who are comfortable delegating this massive responsibility to those who have shown themselves to be error-prone, malicious, and vindictive on a public stage.
