Stockholm Syndrome Victim or Judas Goat...?

The Lesser-known Judatos Goat

So, a few weeks ago, I read a puff piece which begged for a rebuttal, and you can find it here, as well as the link to the original story:

Reply to Simon Stevens, author of "Atos Declares Coma Patients Fit' and Other Disability Related Welfare Urban Myths"

I am no hypocrite, and I didn't know Mr Stevens, so I set to educate him, in the hope that he would take on board what I had written, I sent him the link to my blog in the reply section of the Huff, and that was that.

Little could I guess that Mr Stevens would immediately take to his keyboard to write back. I can't say he answered my post, because you would be hard pressed to see the link between my post and his response. I hesitated long and hard before publishing his reply, which he'd sent on G+, because I was ashamed on his behalf, that he could spew such mindless vitriol, and I honestly thought that he may be suffering from some serious mental health issues, so I didn't rush in. If I am being completely honest, I also didn't want to give him the oxygen of publicity. Hey, I have never pretended to be a saint!

Sadly, far from being a one-off, it would appear that Mr Stevens makes a habit of expressing himself in such a reprehensible manner, and after reading his latest outpouring:

Why should disabled people who terrorise ATOS get support?

I have decided that there is no reason why I should stop the man from damning himself in his own words, so here is a copy of his reply to me. (I took a screenshot of it straight away in case he decided to delete it or deny these were his words, so there can be no doubt)

Simon Stevens

9 Aug 2013

Reply

 

You really hate disabled people, don't you?  You want real disabled people locked away and I guess you NEVER met a disabled people considering your ignorant stupid lies. You think pretendng to be disabled means you acan be a total bitch and hate crime as you harass anyone you dared upset your tiny tiny world. What do you want? Shall I kill myself so you can have my money? Have you ever been positive in your like. You rant and rant with  no facts because you are too arrogant in your utter hatred of disabled people to need to. If you represent disabled people, which i guess you never lifted a finger in your life, we should be killed, Hilter must be so proud of what you done to raise hate crime against us. Personal attack is fine as it shows how bitter and twisted and very unhappy are you and how jealious you are on so unimportant you wasted your time demonstrating how nasty you are and you prejudiced you are who think we are unemployable scum.. I hope you achieve your goal to have everyone around you as unhappy as you are.

Well, as you may expect, I was somewhat taken aback by his reply, not least because it seemed so, I don't know, random. But then, I got angry. It seemed to me that there was someone who would stop at nothing to portray himself as the victim even when he was in fact the attacker.

I saw earlier someone commenting on his latest hate piece, wondering he may be suffering from Stockholm Syndrome, where the subject ingratiates himself to his captors in the hope that by creating a bond they will spare him, and even in some case, developing feelings of affection or love for them. It is of course a possibility, but I am inclined to believe that this is too generous a description. I think Mr Stevens is more a Judas Goat, happy to sacrifice everyone like him to his masters as long as he himself is spared.

I replied to Mr Stevens' hateful little rant on G+ and I am posting my response here in the interest of transparency:

Marie Pace

12 Aug 2013

Edit

 

Dear Simon,

Why so much misplaced anger?

Not that it really is any of your business, but I am disabled. I'm also the carer for my 16 year old autistic son. I run a support group for parents and carers of people on the Autistic Spectrum, out of my own pocket. I am a lay-advocate for people who need help with their DLA claims. And I live my life as much to the full as I can under the circumstances.

If you didn't want to appear you were launching a random attack on me, you could have asked, I would have told you this. As it goes, you are now looking really daft, because you see, I am as far away from the stereotype you portrayed in your spiteful little attack above as can be.

You can present yourself as a victim of disabled hate all you like, no-one is going to believe you. You wanted someone to give you facts to counteract the horrible piece of Tory propaganda you got published, I gave you either the facts or the ways to go get the facts. Are you even interested in those facts in the first place, or were you happy to be the token mouthpiece for your employers, I wonder?

One more thing: You can play the disabled card as much as you like, because that is so obviously what you are doing here, but here's a final fact for you - I had no idea you were disabled until you said so in your reply (not that it excuses your petulant behaviour, by the way). 

To date, I haven't had a reply, nor do I expect one. I think Mr Stevens knows he has found me to be someone he can't bully with his hateful words, and therefore prefers to move on to easier victims. I don't care, his opinion has no worth whatsoever and his rhetoric comes straight from DWP/Atos standard narratives, with not an iota of original thinking.


If being at the opposite complete end of the spectrum of Mr Stevens' rationale makes me an extremist, then I shall wear this badge with pride and honour, long may I continue to gather the opprobrium of his ilk.