The Draw

Cleochatra asked the following question on the Fascination with Kimmer thread yesterday:

“OK, so what is the draw to Kimkins today, May 12, 2008?

We now know that Kimmer did not have success with Kimkins because when the detective nabbed her she was morbidly obese.

We know that the plan is nearly impossible to maintain for any period of time, is based on plans which already exist and are meant for folks with metabolic resistance, and not as the means to long-term weight loss.

There is no maintenance plan.

Many have suffered frightening side effects.

The Better Business Bureau rated the plan/company an F.

The much-touted e-book ended up being an email.

This plan is so messed up that even though it originated at this board, these threads continue as documentation to the lunacy of Kimkins as a purported long-term, healthful diet and show it to be dangerous, lacking in nutrients, and as not necessary a successful plan, based on the plan's 'originator'.

In short: of it can't work for the person now in litigation, how can people realistically believe it will work for them? Even Dr. Atkins lost weight and kept it off!”


Clea, look at it through fresh eyes.

If you have never heard of Kimkins or Kimmer or Heidi Diaz, you stumble upon an advertisement and follow the link. You are met with a webpage that looks professional, has success stories, all the links lead to more success stories and a blog that is often full of good sounding information and encouraging words. You have tried every way you can think of to lose weight and it just doesn't happen. You are desperate for an answer, and here is this slick looking site. Why not? You've paid that much or more for stuff advertised on the midnight infomercial ... what's one more try?

What these people don't realize, and Dee doesn't consider, is that with the other things you've dumped your money into you haven't gotten the support you do with Kimkins. Well, Dee does realize that part. She’s repeated it over and over again. The problem is that support grounds you in this dangerous plan. While you may have been suckered before to buy stuff that is equally dangerous, you have never had the intense encouragement to actually implement it and keep at it REGARDLESS of the side effects, like SNATT. You start losing, your family and friends notice, you encourage your own mother and daughter to follow the plan, you ignore symptoms and you don't realize that all those "haters" were actually RIGHT until you are in SO deep. Now you have your ego in the mix.

Think about all the people who lost literally 30-60% of their hair and STILL kept (keep) at it! Consider the people who had (have) heart palpitations who were willing to still go back. Hmm ... I wonder where LauraLa is today and how she is eating now?

Anyway, Heidi managed to create an environment of acceptance and support that speaks far louder than common sense and self preservation. I guess that support IS self preservation in some cases. Many people have dealt with so much ridicule, judgment and discrimination for their weight – often at the hands of those who are supposed to love and accept them the most. Many more have hoisted upon themselves so much self-recrimination that they can hardly stand up under the weight of that anymore. Suddenly, they find a place where that isn’t allowed, at least initially. And not at the hands of the other paying members, certainly. It isn’t long, though, before the person they long to be accepted by (and her hired hands) uses that recrimination to keep them entrenched in the whole ordeal. People learn that if they behave, they are loved on. If they misbehave they are taken back to an uncomfortable place – the place where they are destined to stay fat, unloved and unacceptable. I honestly believe these folks who so adamantly defend her don’t picture her in their minds as the rest of us do. We see the woman depicted in the video from the deposition, smirking into the camera, asking if it is “too late to take that back”. Many of us play back in our minds the words she said over and over again about not wanting it bad enough, etc. only NOW, we see the words coming from the morbidly obese, smirking Heidi Diaz rather than the beautiful, svelte Kimmer. The woman saying she does not believe that her paying members are entitled to know that she has never lost the weight she proclaimed she did. The woman saying that lying about her program, her own weight loss, and the success of others on the program is all justified in the name of business. The Kimmer (or Kimmers, as DeeDLynn is so determined to call her) they picture and believe in is a fantasy – a character of Heidi’s own creation. How sad for them they day they actually come to grips with that fact. They spend their time on that board talking to a made up person. Someone who doesn’t exist in real life.

I’ve often wondered what Heidi gets from these folks once she has already gotten their money. The answer is POWER. Much like the power an abusive mother wields over her children, often well into their adulthood. She is a sick, warped Pied-Piper of sorts.

Such a pity that she didn’t use her gifts and talents for good, for the actual betterment of humankind.

Here You Go, Christin!

Kinda long, but I figured you might enjoy this!

(content might be too violent for kids)

The Devil's Advocate

Polemic
–noun
1. a controversial argument, as one against some opinion, doctrine, etc.
2. a person who argues in opposition to another; controversialist.

I have had reports of several people who have expressed concern that Sam Redman was somehow wresting control of the LCF Fascination with Kimmer threads away from the long time residents and making it his own personal soapbox. As a result people were retreating into their corners, vowing not to post so long as he darkens our doorstep.

Part of me finds that very funny and part of me simply shakes my head in disbelief. I am not shaking my finger at anyone here, so try not to take offense. I find this reaction quite amazing, though.

Sam stated his agenda very clearly early on. He told us exactly what he is about.

“So, there you have my musings. Realize that one of my hobbies is to launch polemics, such as this one, on internet forums... I do it for fun and I have posted on every subject imaginable and on multiple sides of the political spectrum (I'm often called an equal-opportunity offender). I love pursuing the the art and practice of disputation and debating in forums where controversy exists. So, either take what I have to say to heart, ignore it or respond if you like (and in any way you like). And yes, as one poster pointed out... I am the same Sam Redman, who is a writer of light (sometimes called "pulp"), hopefully entertaining, fiction (but, that doesn't mean everything I write is fictional). I'm honestly happy with any reaction anyone has... hey, I'm just doing it for the fun of internet conversation.”

His hobby is polemics. That is a controversialist - not a conversationalist. He seeks out emotionally charged topics and enters into the conversation with the express intent of stirring it up and creating lively debate.

Unfortunately for Sam, rather than find the well reasoned debate he was thirsting for, he was met with steadfast conviction that the case against Heidi Diaz is cut and dried, safely placed into the very trustworthy hands of the very capable John Tiedt. I doubt he realized he was walking into the gathering spot of the very people Heidi Diaz had defrauded. He has come face to face with the victims themselves. Who can debate the victims, if for no other reason than they are too emotionally involved to give him the type of debate required to satisfy his passion.

Thanks for responding to my earlier blog, Sam, and for answering the question. At this point in time I'm willing to accept that you are telling the truth about not being in contact with Heidi when I evaluate your comments in light of your stated objective. I also see where you can and do change with the wind - that transition was apparent when you started posting about her fraudulent business practices re: lifetime memberships and ongoing staff expenses. That trait is very consistent with your stated agenda. I recognize it because I do it myself, though not in this particular case. Nothing like a good fight to get the blood pumping, eh?

As much as you have been around, however, it is unlikely that you don’t get the interest in Sam Redman. You have to be aware that much of this case focuses on the fact that Heidi Diaz has assumed many different personalities, both male and female, over long periods of time. Many of her staff members and several forum members have been conclusively proven to be nothing more than creations of her twisted imagination. She certainly has the basic skills to be a writer herself, though in her drive to deceive she is sloppy and inconsistent. She has made appearances on the boards and blogs of all of us likely at one time or another. It is very conceivable that she would take on the persona of Sam Redman and make yet another grand appearance. (As a side note, one of her admins, known as SingingLass, appears to be her understudy. Unfortunately for her, it will likely be to her own detriment.) For the record, I do NOT think you are her - you are far too articulate and your writing belies the fact that you have likely penned those many articles you lay claim to, many of which I have read. You also stay on a very even keel emotionally - something she is simply not capable of doing for any sustained period of time.

Additionally, she has manipulated others into doing her bidding for her. She has proven herself capable of being very charming and credible sounding, as well as very persuasive even while that very writing is fraught with unbelievable claims. I could easily understand someone like yourself taking a literary interest in this ordeal, and can imagine her approaching someone to write "her story", if you will… or to act as editor of her own attempt to immortalize the Kimmer.

Sam, should you decide that the entertainment value of this particular exercise has waned for you and you move on, I’d like to say it has been stimulating. In another setting, you would make a most worthy opponent.