Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
March 19, 2024, 02:54:33 am

Login with username, password and session length


Members
Stats
  • Total Posts: 772784
  • Total Topics: 66296
  • Online Today: 267
  • Online Ever: 5484
  • (June 18, 2021, 11:15:29 pm)
Users Online
Users: 0
Guests: 214
Total: 214

Welcome


Welcome to the POZ Community Forums, a round-the-clock discussion area for people with HIV/AIDS, their friends/family/caregivers, and others concerned about HIV/AIDS.  Click on the links below to browse our various forums; scroll down for a glance at the most recent posts; or join in the conversation yourself by registering on the left side of this page.

Privacy Warning:  Please realize that these forums are open to all, and are fully searchable via Google and other search engines. If you are HIV positive and disclose this in our forums, then it is almost the same thing as telling the whole world (or at least the World Wide Web). If this concerns you, then do not use a username or avatar that are self-identifying in any way. We do not allow the deletion of anything you post in these forums, so think before you post.

  • The information shared in these forums, by moderators and members, is designed to complement, not replace, the relationship between an individual and his/her own physician.

  • All members of these forums are, by default, not considered to be licensed medical providers. If otherwise, users must clearly define themselves as such.

  • Forums members must behave at all times with respect and honesty. Posting guidelines, including time-out and banning policies, have been established by the moderators of these forums. Click here for “Do I Have HIV?” posting guidelines. Click here for posting guidelines pertaining to all other POZ community forums.

  • We ask all forums members to provide references for health/medical/scientific information they provide, when it is not a personal experience being discussed. Please provide hyperlinks with full URLs or full citations of published works not available via the Internet. Additionally, all forums members must post information which are true and correct to their knowledge.

  • Product advertisement—including links; banners; editorial content; and clinical trial, study or survey participation—is strictly prohibited by forums members unless permission has been secured from POZ.

To change forums navigation language settings, click here (members only), Register now

Para cambiar sus preferencias de los foros en español, haz clic aquí (sólo miembros), Regístrate ahora

Finished Reading This? You can collapse this or any other box on this page by clicking the symbol in each box.

Author Topic: AIDS Patient Feels Duped By $18K Promise To Cure  (Read 17942 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Inchlingblue

  • Member
  • Posts: 3,117
  • Chad Ochocinco PETA Ad
AIDS Patient Feels Duped By $18K Promise To Cure
« on: February 05, 2010, 10:17:44 am »
The link has a video. Hard to believe these things are happening.

AIDS Patient Feels Duped By $18K Promise To Cure
Posted: 5:33 pm EST February 4, 2010
Updated: 9:06 pm EST February 4, 2010

ATLANTA -- An HIV-positive man, desperate for a cure, says he spent more than $18,000 on a spiritual advisor who claimed she had religious healing powers.

The man, who didn't want to be identified, told Channel 2 Action News that the advisor, who calls herself "Mrs. Helen," promised that she could cure him, too.

He contacted Channel 2 to complain that the advisor had taken his money.
Over a period of several months, the man told Channel 2 that Mrs. Helen took cash and performed bizarre candlelight rituals with the money.
 
"She took nine $100 dollar bills, had me lay in the middle of the floor and she would put a candle on each $100 bill,” the man said. "She'd crack eggs on the table, and say look, there's the serpent that I just drew out of you,” he said.

The man said his diagnosis never changed. Broke and fed up, he called Channel 2 to expose Mrs. Helen with the help of a hidden camera and microphone. The man said he told her that he wanted to continue the healing process. Mrs. Helen said it would cost him another $10,000.
"Lord, I rebuke this sickness," she prayed with the man.

“I’m not going to worry about it, because I know the Holy Spirit is not going to leave us like this,” said Mrs. Helen.

The executive director of AIDS Atlanta expressed outrage.
"It's completely immoral obviously to take advantage of someone like this," said Tracey Elliot with AIDS Atlanta.

"Obviously if you were a spiritual person and cared about helping someone through a diseased state, you wouldn't take $18,000 of their money," said Elliot.

Channel 2 Action News reporter Tom Regan went to confront Mrs. Helen, whose real name is Helen Johnson.
"I'm Tom Regan from Channel 2 Action News. Did you tell this man you could cure his AIDS if he paid you $10,000? Did you tell him that?” Regan asked.

"You prey on a desperate man taking thousands of dollars. Why don't you say something to me?" Regan asked.

Mrs. Helen closed the door on Regan, but our hidden camera was still rolling inside.
“It's not very nice what you’re doing," said Mrs. Helen to the man.

“It's not nice what you did to me. You took my money you manipulated me,” the man said.

Atlanta police told Channel 2 Action News that Mrs. Helen did not break any laws. But the man who gave her $18,600 on the promise of being cured of AIDS, is now suing her in Fulton County court in hopes of getting his money back.



LINK:

http://www.wsbtv.com/2investigates/22467245/detail.html

Offline hotpuppy

  • Member
  • Posts: 555
Re: AIDS Patient Feels Duped By $18K Promise To Cure
« Reply #1 on: February 05, 2010, 10:25:10 am »
That is what I would call a very expensive lesson in the finality of HIV.  You get HIV, you don't get rid of it.  Unless MS. Helen has taken up bone marrow transplants.  Of course, $18,600 might get her some ads on cable tv.  She could be the next psycho friends network.  For $3.99 a minute they tell you what you want to hear.  Not unlike certain elected officials. 

Sadly, $18,600 would pay 3 years of insurance premiums for health insurance for someone with HIV through the Texas Risk Pool.  :(
Don't obsess over the wrong things.  Life isn't about your numbers, it isn't about this forum, it isn't about someone's opinion.  It's about getting out there and enjoying it.   I am a person with HIV - not the other way around.

Offline Matty the Damned

  • Member
  • Posts: 12,277
  • Antipodean in every sense of the word
Re: AIDS Patient Feels Duped By $18K Promise To Cure
« Reply #2 on: February 05, 2010, 10:25:37 am »
A fool and his money are soon parted.

MtD

Offline veritas

  • Member
  • Posts: 1,410
Re: AIDS Patient Feels Duped By $18K Promise To Cure
« Reply #3 on: February 05, 2010, 10:27:36 am »


I'm just shaking my head. Who's the idiot?

v

Offline Matty the Damned

  • Member
  • Posts: 12,277
  • Antipodean in every sense of the word
Re: AIDS Patient Feels Duped By $18K Promise To Cure
« Reply #4 on: February 05, 2010, 10:32:19 am »
The nudnik who consulted the faith "healer", that's who.

MtD

Offline leatherman

  • Global Moderator
  • Member
  • Posts: 8,583
  • Google and HIV meds are Your Friends
Re: AIDS Patient Feels Duped By $18K Promise To Cure
« Reply #5 on: February 05, 2010, 10:32:42 am »
Hard to believe these things are happening.
What? That people can be so stupid as to give away their money to a con artist?!?! That happens nearly every day with internet scams and that's why we're all spammed to death - because people are idiots and scams work.

We have people here all the time with tcells <100 and VL >100,000 who, against all medical data, think they don't need to take meds, so I'm not surprised some fool would continue throwing good money after bad to some "spiritualist" without seeing any results. I've never had any pity for idiots like the "victim" here (a fool and his money are soon departed). With the internet now, if you don't do the research and follow some lame excuse for a "cure", then losing your money like this is no one's fault but your own.
leatherman (aka Michael)

We were standing all alone
You were leaning in to speak to me
Acting like a mover shaker
Dancing to Madonna then you kissed me
And I think about it all the time
- Darren Hayes, "Chained to You"

Offline veritas

  • Member
  • Posts: 1,410
Re: AIDS Patient Feels Duped By $18K Promise To Cure
« Reply #6 on: February 05, 2010, 10:57:53 am »

matty,

That post was rhetorical. But your right.

v

Offline Matty the Damned

  • Member
  • Posts: 12,277
  • Antipodean in every sense of the word
Re: AIDS Patient Feels Duped By $18K Promise To Cure
« Reply #7 on: February 05, 2010, 11:03:39 am »
That post was rhetorical. But your right.


Ah.

I thought so. :)

MtD

Offline Rev. Moon

  • Member
  • Posts: 3,787
  • Smart ass faggot ©
Re: AIDS Patient Feels Duped By $18K Promise To Cure
« Reply #8 on: February 05, 2010, 11:08:35 am »
Aww nawww! And here I sat hoping to invest my returns from the money that I loaned to that Nigerian prince on Mrs. Helen's miracle cure.
"I have tried hard--but life is difficult, and I am a very useless person. I can hardly be said to have an independent existence. I was just a screw or a cog in the great machine I called life, and when I dropped out of it I found I was of no use anywhere else."

Offline Ann

  • Administrator
  • Member
  • Posts: 28,134
  • It just is, OK?
    • Num is sum qui mentiar tibi?
Re: AIDS Patient Feels Duped By $18K Promise To Cure
« Reply #9 on: February 05, 2010, 11:25:40 am »

Atlanta police told Channel 2 Action News that Mrs. Helen did not break any laws.


While I find the it hard to believe the "victim" was foolish enough to fall for such a ruse in this day and age, I find it even harder to believe the faith charlatan perpetrator was found to have committed no crime. Isn't misrepresenting services and charging money for such services a form of fraud? Isn't obtaining money by deception a crime? Sounds more like they can't be bothered to prosecute.

Ann
Condoms are a girl's best friend

Condom and Lube Info  

"...health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for." Kofi Annan

Nymphomaniac: a woman as obsessed with sex as an average man. Mignon McLaughlin

HIV is certainly character-building. It's made me see all of the shallow things we cling to, like ego and vanity. Of course, I'd rather have a few more T-cells and a little less character. Randy Shilts

Offline Matty the Damned

  • Member
  • Posts: 12,277
  • Antipodean in every sense of the word
Re: AIDS Patient Feels Duped By $18K Promise To Cure
« Reply #10 on: February 05, 2010, 11:36:03 am »
Isn't obtaining money by deception a crime? Sounds more like they can't be bothered to prosecute.

Meh. Benny Hinn has always managed to get away with it.

MtD

Offline GSOgymrat

  • Member
  • Posts: 5,122
  • HIV+ since 1993. Relentlessly gay.
Re: AIDS Patient Feels Duped By $18K Promise To Cure
« Reply #11 on: February 05, 2010, 12:09:19 pm »
Excuse me if I bruise anyone's religious sensibilties but how is this different from the Church of Scientology in which you pay thousands of dollars  to free yourself of "engrams" and become "an Operating Thetan, who is a spirit who can control matter, energy, space, time, thought, and life."

Offline mecch

  • Member
  • Posts: 13,455
  • red pill? or blue pill?
Re: AIDS Patient Feels Duped By $18K Promise To Cure
« Reply #12 on: February 05, 2010, 12:18:56 pm »
My thankfully exboyfriend told me a passionate steamy but temporary true love affaire would cure his AIDS, and even pressured me to take money from my dying father to support his "cure".  I was then negative, and hopelessly naive!  Thing is, I think he truly believed that crock of shit.  People with HIV can be quite desperate. This forum provides a good reality check so I just accept the facts and deal reasonably.  People get lost out there. I feel really bad for this person.  Easy to call him a fool, but what else led to this delusion?
“From each, according to his ability; to each, according to his need” 1875 K Marx

Offline Matty the Damned

  • Member
  • Posts: 12,277
  • Antipodean in every sense of the word
Re: AIDS Patient Feels Duped By $18K Promise To Cure
« Reply #13 on: February 05, 2010, 12:22:24 pm »
People get lost out there. I feel really bad for this person.  Easy to call him a fool, but what else led to this delusion?

What else led him to Channel 2 action news? He's living in the Continental US, not the highlands of Papua New Guinea.

He was ripped off because he chose to be.

MtD

Offline mecch

  • Member
  • Posts: 13,455
  • red pill? or blue pill?
Re: AIDS Patient Feels Duped By $18K Promise To Cure
« Reply #14 on: February 05, 2010, 12:27:09 pm »
I think that is a cynical view of human nature, not without some validity.
But can't you hold contradictory views in your head for a moment?   A victim doesn't always choose to be a victim.  We've seen some lost souls in this forum recently, deluded.  So, we should just say, "hey, deluded victim, get lost, loser!" 
“From each, according to his ability; to each, according to his need” 1875 K Marx

Offline Matty the Damned

  • Member
  • Posts: 12,277
  • Antipodean in every sense of the word
Re: AIDS Patient Feels Duped By $18K Promise To Cure
« Reply #15 on: February 05, 2010, 12:33:46 pm »

I think that is a cynical view of human nature, not without some validity.

Ok.

But can't you hold contradictory views in your head for a moment?

Not anymore than I can divide by zero.

A victim doesn't always choose to be a victim.

Sure, but I'm thinkin' Mr Action News may have been taken for a chump on more than this occasion.

We've seen some lost souls in this forum recently, deluded. 

The view from AMI must cloud my vision. :)

So, we should just say, "hey, deluded victim, get lost, loser!" 

In this case? Yup, pretty much.

MtD


Offline Dennis

  • Member
  • Posts: 781
Re: AIDS Patient Feels Duped By $18K Promise To Cure
« Reply #16 on: February 05, 2010, 12:37:02 pm »
People get lost out there. I feel really bad for this person.  Easy to call him a fool, but what else led to this delusion?

What else led him to Channel 2 action news? He's living in the Continental US, not the highlands of Papua New Guinea.

He was ripped off because he chose to be.

MtD

I'd have to disagree. Does anyone honestly "choose" or allow themselves to be ripped off? This subject is obviously not dealing with his dianosis in a rational way and dealing with a weakend psychological condition.

Offline mecch

  • Member
  • Posts: 13,455
  • red pill? or blue pill?
Re: AIDS Patient Feels Duped By $18K Promise To Cure
« Reply #17 on: February 05, 2010, 12:38:49 pm »
This post is in "living with hiv"
Its not in the comedic Off Topic.

Maybe:
1) He's boderline intelligence.
2) Or he is desperate, or mentally ill, and not in his right mind.
3) Voodoo or other creole faith could be part of his upbringing.
4) He didn't discuss this cure with anyone, nobody had a chance to knock some sense into him.
5) Public education in his community has failed.  Why in the USA would this be possible?

“From each, according to his ability; to each, according to his need” 1875 K Marx

Offline leatherman

  • Global Moderator
  • Member
  • Posts: 8,583
  • Google and HIV meds are Your Friends
Re: AIDS Patient Feels Duped By $18K Promise To Cure
« Reply #18 on: February 05, 2010, 12:39:17 pm »
He was ripped off because he chose to be.
ah, and that's the crux of the matter. it's his American right to spend his money where he wanted. ;)

Isn't obtaining money by deception a crime? Sounds more like they can't be bothered to prosecute.
the article only gives one quote from the police. Did the "victim" even go to the police, or straight to the TV news reported to get his "justice"?  (Once again, an incomplete sets of facts presented which makes our armchair observations not very accurate) He will probably have a hard time proving his case in court too, as he had ample time, and a doctor's advice (implied by his testing) that his HIV was NOT being cured, and yet he continued to return several more times and paid out more money, rather than file charges.

He's living in the Continental US, not the highlands of Papua New Guinea.
We've seen some lost souls in this forum recently, deluded.  So, we should just say, "hey, deluded victim, get lost, loser!"  
Leatherman agrees with Matty. This is 2010, this dude needs to spend some $$ on an internet connection and do some reading about HIV/AIDS rather than throwing money at a non-medical non-licensed fraud. If he had come by here, you know I would have chatted with the guy and laid some FACTS on him.
leatherman (aka Michael)

We were standing all alone
You were leaning in to speak to me
Acting like a mover shaker
Dancing to Madonna then you kissed me
And I think about it all the time
- Darren Hayes, "Chained to You"

Offline Cerrid

  • Member
  • Posts: 500
  • only as good as your last haircut
Re: AIDS Patient Feels Duped By $18K Promise To Cure
« Reply #19 on: February 05, 2010, 12:41:00 pm »
$ 18K? That's cheap. I learned on TV that a cure costs $ 180K...  :o
"Boredom is always counterrevolutionary. Always." (Guy Debord)

Offline Matty the Damned

  • Member
  • Posts: 12,277
  • Antipodean in every sense of the word
Re: AIDS Patient Feels Duped By $18K Promise To Cure
« Reply #20 on: February 05, 2010, 12:42:45 pm »
This post is in "living with hiv"
Its not in the comedic Off Topic.


Thanks for clearing that up, Mecch.  ::)

Maybe:
1) He's boderline intelligence.
2) Or he is desperate, or mentally ill, and not in his right mind.
3) Voodoo or other creole faith could be part of his upbringing.
4) He didn't discuss this cure with anyone, nobody had a chance to knock some sense into him.
5) Public education in his community has failed.  Why in the USA would this be possible?


Or maybe he's a twit who chose to fall for the predations of a faith healer. Really, check out the folk who roll their wheelchairs into a Benny Hinn gathering.

Ockham's Razor and all that.

MtD

Offline Dennis

  • Member
  • Posts: 781
Re: AIDS Patient Feels Duped By $18K Promise To Cure
« Reply #21 on: February 05, 2010, 12:48:31 pm »
This post is in "living with hiv"
Its not in the comedic Off Topic.


Thanks for clearing that up, Mecch.  ::)

Maybe:
1) He's boderline intelligence.
2) Or he is desperate, or mentally ill, and not in his right mind.
3) Voodoo or other creole faith could be part of his upbringing.
4) He didn't discuss this cure with anyone, nobody had a chance to knock some sense into him.
5) Public education in his community has failed.  Why in the USA would this be possible?


Or maybe he's a twit who chose to fall for the predations of a faith healer. Really, check out the folk who roll their wheelchairs into a Benny Hinn gathering.

Ockham's Razor and all that.

MtD


Or maybe he suffers from a psychotic disorder called folie a deux in which this supposed healer acted as the folee imposee. (forgive me for the lack of accent marks).

Offline mecch

  • Member
  • Posts: 13,455
  • red pill? or blue pill?
Re: AIDS Patient Feels Duped By $18K Promise To Cure
« Reply #22 on: February 05, 2010, 12:53:55 pm »
South Park had it right when the said the cure for aids was liquified money.  I agree. But I'm smart and see the irony in it all.
All I was trying to say is that yeah, its a pity he didn't have someone or somewhere to knock some sense into him. 
Leatherman hits it when he says the reporting doesnt tell us all the story so I guess we'll never know. 

A sucker born every minute WC Fields, ok.  Is that all there is? Peggy Lee
“From each, according to his ability; to each, according to his need” 1875 K Marx

Offline Matty the Damned

  • Member
  • Posts: 12,277
  • Antipodean in every sense of the word
Re: AIDS Patient Feels Duped By $18K Promise To Cure
« Reply #23 on: February 05, 2010, 12:54:46 pm »
Or maybe he suffers from a psychotic disorder called folie a deux in which this supposed healer acted as the folee imposee. (forgive me for the lack of accent marks).

And maybe he suffers from Lupus. And maybe and maybe and maybe.

This thing can be made endlessly complex, but the rational mind seeks the simple answer. The simple answer is the willing sap got taken by a shyster.

MtD

Offline Dennis

  • Member
  • Posts: 781
Re: AIDS Patient Feels Duped By $18K Promise To Cure
« Reply #24 on: February 05, 2010, 01:01:22 pm »
And maybe he suffers from Lupus. And maybe and maybe and maybe.

This thing can be made endlessly complex, but the rational mind seeks the simple answer. The simple answer is the willing sap got taken by a shyster.

MtD

Actually, I think it's the simple mind that seeks the simple answer. Life, unfortunately, is not simple for many with a debilitating illness, and therefore causes some to act irrationally.

Offline Hellraiser

  • Member
  • Posts: 4,155
  • Semi-misanthropic
Re: AIDS Patient Feels Duped By $18K Promise To Cure
« Reply #25 on: February 05, 2010, 01:02:45 pm »
If anyone has any debilitating problems with managing money I can cure you of it for the low low price of $18,000.00

Offline Matty the Damned

  • Member
  • Posts: 12,277
  • Antipodean in every sense of the word
Re: AIDS Patient Feels Duped By $18K Promise To Cure
« Reply #26 on: February 05, 2010, 01:09:49 pm »
Actually, I think it's the simple mind that seeks the simple answer. Life, unfortunately, is not simple for many with a debilitating illness, and therefore causes some to act irrationally.

Well how about this. Why don't you and Mecch prove to the rest of us that this wretch is a psychotic voodoo practicing creole with little "public education"?

Until then I maintain that he should be grateful the rotten wench only took him for 18 large. ;)

MtD

Offline Ann

  • Administrator
  • Member
  • Posts: 28,134
  • It just is, OK?
    • Num is sum qui mentiar tibi?
Re: AIDS Patient Feels Duped By $18K Promise To Cure
« Reply #27 on: February 05, 2010, 01:19:33 pm »

Life, unfortunately, is not simple for many with a debilitating illness, and therefore causes some to act irrationally.


Ah, well, that explains a lot.
Condoms are a girl's best friend

Condom and Lube Info  

"...health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for." Kofi Annan

Nymphomaniac: a woman as obsessed with sex as an average man. Mignon McLaughlin

HIV is certainly character-building. It's made me see all of the shallow things we cling to, like ego and vanity. Of course, I'd rather have a few more T-cells and a little less character. Randy Shilts

Offline Dennis

  • Member
  • Posts: 781
Re: AIDS Patient Feels Duped By $18K Promise To Cure
« Reply #28 on: February 05, 2010, 01:21:21 pm »
Well how about this. Why don't you and Mecch prove to the rest of us that this wretch is a psychotic voodoo practicing creole with little "public education"?

Until then I maintain that he should be grateful the rotten wench only took him for 18 large. ;)

MtD

The key to rationality is the ability to analyze. Obviously, this person was not operating rationaly when he chose to go to a healer. A psychological disorder will prohibit someone from acting rationaly. Some have mentioned how can anyone today make such a stupid decision with so much information on the internet. Perhaps he did use the internet. However, someone who is not thinking rationaly would only use the internet to prove his/her decision is the right one. Whereas, someone like you and I would also look for information disproving our decision. Our ability to think rationaly and our ability to analyze the data we researched would allow us to make the correct decision, therefore leading to a pleasable outcome, hopefully.


The mind and thought process is much more difficult than your simple analysis without knowing all the facts.

Offline mecch

  • Member
  • Posts: 13,455
  • red pill? or blue pill?
Re: AIDS Patient Feels Duped By $18K Promise To Cure
« Reply #29 on: February 05, 2010, 01:22:01 pm »
Matty, hope you're making millions in some career where your shrewd brass tacks reasoning pays off handsomely!  I admire it but can't always manage it and don't always feel it.
“From each, according to his ability; to each, according to his need” 1875 K Marx

Offline Dennis

  • Member
  • Posts: 781
Re: AIDS Patient Feels Duped By $18K Promise To Cure
« Reply #30 on: February 05, 2010, 01:22:32 pm »
Ah, well, that explains a lot.

What are you really trying to say, Ann?

Offline Ann

  • Administrator
  • Member
  • Posts: 28,134
  • It just is, OK?
    • Num is sum qui mentiar tibi?
Re: AIDS Patient Feels Duped By $18K Promise To Cure
« Reply #31 on: February 05, 2010, 01:27:47 pm »
What are you really trying to say, Ann?

Just what I said. I'm glad you explained that little factoid to me. Thanks.
Condoms are a girl's best friend

Condom and Lube Info  

"...health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for." Kofi Annan

Nymphomaniac: a woman as obsessed with sex as an average man. Mignon McLaughlin

HIV is certainly character-building. It's made me see all of the shallow things we cling to, like ego and vanity. Of course, I'd rather have a few more T-cells and a little less character. Randy Shilts

Offline Matty the Damned

  • Member
  • Posts: 12,277
  • Antipodean in every sense of the word
Re: AIDS Patient Feels Duped By $18K Promise To Cure
« Reply #32 on: February 05, 2010, 01:37:04 pm »
The key to rationality is the ability to analyze. Obviously, this person was not operating rationaly when he chose to go to a healer. A psychological disorder will prohibit someone from acting rationaly. Some have mentioned how can anyone today make such a stupid decision with so much information on the internet. Perhaps he did use the internet. However, someone who is not thinking rationaly would only use the internet to prove his/her decision is the right one. Whereas, someone like you and I would also look for information disproving our decision. Our ability to think rationaly and our ability to analyze the data we researched would allow us to make the correct decision, therefore leading to a pleasable outcome, hopefully.


The mind and thought process is much more difficult than your simple analysis without knowing all the facts.


Dennis,

Seriously babe, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?

With the greatest respect you just don't make no sense here, mang. It's a jumble of non-sequiturs and logical fallacies.

MtD

Offline Dennis

  • Member
  • Posts: 781
Re: AIDS Patient Feels Duped By $18K Promise To Cure
« Reply #33 on: February 05, 2010, 01:39:47 pm »
Just what I said. I'm glad you explained that little factoid to me. Thanks.

Sarcasm doesn't work with me, Ann. It will only get us both in trouble.

I would think that an advocate for persons with AIDS, such as yourself, would have a clear understanding of the mental implications that can have a tremendous impact on someone diagnosed.

It bewilders me that some would try to devictimize the actual victim in this case without knowing all the facts. 
« Last Edit: February 05, 2010, 01:41:33 pm by Dennis »

Offline Matty the Damned

  • Member
  • Posts: 12,277
  • Antipodean in every sense of the word
Re: AIDS Patient Feels Duped By $18K Promise To Cure
« Reply #34 on: February 05, 2010, 01:46:15 pm »
Dennis,

It bewilders me that some would try to devictimize the actual victim in this case without knowing all the facts. 

You're right we don't know all the facts. So we make do with what is before us. You, on the other hand are just making shit up man.

You say he's psychotic. Really what do you have to prove that? Do you really even have a working definition of psychotic?

Where you see a psychotic, we just see some schlubb whose been taken by a con artist. Like all the other idiots who want a cheap cure for an expensive disease.

But by all means prove us wrong.

MtD


Offline Hellraiser

  • Member
  • Posts: 4,155
  • Semi-misanthropic
Re: AIDS Patient Feels Duped By $18K Promise To Cure
« Reply #35 on: February 05, 2010, 01:52:16 pm »
Girls, Girls!  You're both pretty.  Let's just stop arguing and agree he made a bad decision whether it was due to psychosis or stupidity who knows.  This Charlatan gladly defrauded him however which is the real crime.

Offline Matty the Damned

  • Member
  • Posts: 12,277
  • Antipodean in every sense of the word
Re: AIDS Patient Feels Duped By $18K Promise To Cure
« Reply #36 on: February 05, 2010, 01:55:13 pm »
Girls, Girls!  You're both pretty.  Let's just stop arguing and agree he made a bad decision whether it was due to psychosis or stupidity who knows.  This Charlatan gladly defrauded him however which is the real crime.

Or let's not.

Matty the Damned is 6'4" and weighs in at well over 250 lbs. He is many things. Pretty is not one of them. By all accounts he has a head like a robber's dog.

MtD

Offline Dennis

  • Member
  • Posts: 781
Re: AIDS Patient Feels Duped By $18K Promise To Cure
« Reply #37 on: February 05, 2010, 02:00:18 pm »
The key to rationality is the ability to analyze. Obviously, this person was not operating rationaly when he chose to go to a healer. A psychological disorder will prohibit someone from acting rationaly. Some have mentioned how can anyone today make such a stupid decision with so much information on the internet. Perhaps he did use the internet. However, someone who is not thinking rationaly would only use the internet to prove his/her decision is the right one. Whereas, someone like you and I would also look for information disproving our decision. Our ability to think rationaly and our ability to analyze the data we researched would allow us to make the correct decision, therefore leading to a pleasable outcome, hopefully.


The mind and thought process is much more difficult than your simple analysis without knowing all the facts.


Dennis,

Seriously babe, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?

With the greatest respect you just don't make no sense here, mang. It's a jumble of non-sequiturs and logical fallacies.

MtD

It's actually a very simple premise to something as complex as the thought process and how the brain works.
« Last Edit: February 05, 2010, 02:06:27 pm by Dennis »

Offline Dennis

  • Member
  • Posts: 781
Re: AIDS Patient Feels Duped By $18K Promise To Cure
« Reply #38 on: February 05, 2010, 02:04:22 pm »
Dennis,

It bewilders me that some would try to devictimize the actual victim in this case without knowing all the facts. 

You're right we don't know all the facts. So we make do with what is before us. You, on the other hand are just making shit up man.

You say he's psychotic. Really what do you have to prove that? Do you really even have a working definition of psychotic?

Where you see a psychotic, we just see some schlubb whose been taken by a con artist. Like all the other idiots who want a cheap cure for an expensive disease.

But by all means prove us wrong.

MtD



With psychology as one of majors, I have a very clear understanding of the term. Since I don't have all the facts, I was careful not to clearly state he suffers from a psychosis. I stated "maybe". Unlike others who clearly state he got what he asked for.

I'll agree to disagree. Just different persons looking at a topic from different angles. Not a bad thing, necessarily.

Offline Matty the Damned

  • Member
  • Posts: 12,277
  • Antipodean in every sense of the word
Re: AIDS Patient Feels Duped By $18K Promise To Cure
« Reply #39 on: February 05, 2010, 02:08:30 pm »
Firstly, stealth edit FTW Dennis! ;)

With psychology as one of majors, I have a very clear understanding of the term. Since I don't have all the facts, I was careful not to clearly state he suffers from a psychosis. I stated "maybe". Unlike others who clearly state he got what he asked for.

I'll agree to disagree. Just different persons looking at a topic from different angles. Not a bad thing, necessarily.


Agreeing to disagree is always good. Perhaps that's the best way sideways.

I'm still interested in knowing your understanding of 'psychotic', though. :)

MtD

Offline Dennis

  • Member
  • Posts: 781
Re: AIDS Patient Feels Duped By $18K Promise To Cure
« Reply #40 on: February 05, 2010, 02:19:11 pm »
Firstly, stealth edit FTW Dennis! ;)

With psychology as one of majors, I have a very clear understanding of the term. Since I don't have all the facts, I was careful not to clearly state he suffers from a psychosis. I stated "maybe". Unlike others who clearly state he got what he asked for.

I'll agree to disagree. Just different persons looking at a topic from different angles. Not a bad thing, necessarily.


Agreeing to disagree is always good. Perhaps that's the best way sideways.

I'm still interested in knowing your understanding of 'psychotic', though. :)

MtD

Simply put, being psychotic refers to someone who suffers from a psychosis. Psychosis in general is any severe mental illness that inteferes with the everyday life of an individual, causing a distortion of reality.

Offline Matty the Damned

  • Member
  • Posts: 12,277
  • Antipodean in every sense of the word
Re: AIDS Patient Feels Duped By $18K Promise To Cure
« Reply #41 on: February 05, 2010, 02:20:53 pm »
Simply put, being psychotic refers to someone who suffers from a psychosis. Psychosis in general is any severe mental illness that inteferes with the everyday life of an individual, causing a distortion of reality.

Cheers D! :)

MtD

Offline bocker3

  • Member
  • Posts: 4,285
  • You gotta enjoy life......
Re: AIDS Patient Feels Duped By $18K Promise To Cure
« Reply #42 on: February 05, 2010, 02:38:26 pm »
First -- he SHOULD feel duped, because he WAS duped.

Second -- Mrs. Helen may not have broken any laws, but she is clearly someone who preys on either the mentally unstable or the stupid (or probably - both).

I would guess she made a pretty good living doing this too -- there is no dearth of prey for these sorts of folks.

Was he a victim -- sure.  Was he a willing participant in this "victimhood" -- probably.  Hopefully he'll learn from it and hopefully, others will learn of this woman and avoid being taken in also.

Why he fell for this is of little interest to me, personally - because I dont' think it matters much.  No matter his mental condition, she did take advantage of him.  I'm guessing he didn't tell any family or friends about it, or they might well have limited the $$ damage -- so if you are keeping this "secret", you probably know at some level that this doesn't make sense (yes -- that is pure speculation on my part).  I just hope that it stops others from falling victim to the "miracle cure".

Mike

Offline skeebo1969

  • Member
  • Posts: 5,931
Re: AIDS Patient Feels Duped By $18K Promise To Cure
« Reply #43 on: February 05, 2010, 02:50:04 pm »


   He should have used that money to buy a Toyota.
I despise the song Love is in the Air, you should too.

Offline GSOgymrat

  • Member
  • Posts: 5,122
  • HIV+ since 1993. Relentlessly gay.
Re: AIDS Patient Feels Duped By $18K Promise To Cure
« Reply #44 on: February 05, 2010, 04:21:50 pm »
There is nothing about this story to indicate this person is mentally ill. To me he sounds like a desperate person, prone to superstitious thinking, who was preyed upon by a charlatan. It is a ploy that has been used by "psychics" and faith healers for a long time. Was he ripped off? Yep. Should he have known better? Of course.

Offline Miss Philicia

  • Member
  • Posts: 24,793
  • celebrity poster, faker & poser
Re: AIDS Patient Feels Duped By $18K Promise To Cure
« Reply #45 on: February 05, 2010, 04:37:34 pm »
250 lbs?
"I’ve slept with enough men to know that I’m not gay"

Offline Dennis

  • Member
  • Posts: 781
Re: AIDS Patient Feels Duped By $18K Promise To Cure
« Reply #46 on: February 05, 2010, 05:00:35 pm »
There is nothing about this story to indicate this person is mentally ill....

Absolutely. Likewise, there was nothing in the printed story entailing that there wasn't. If you watched the accompanying video, you'll notice the "healer" mentioned problems (multiple). So it's possible there is more to this story than what is being reported in this blurb. You'll also notice the victim mentioned he made several withdraws from the bank, signifying he went back more than once.

Now I ask...would someone of sound mind and body be able to be manipulated so easily? To withdraw almost $19,000 over a period of days, make multiple trips, and then complain to a local news station sounds a bit like bipolar disorder or schizophrenia to me. Most rational thinkers, even if initially manipulated, would have come to their senses after their first bank withdraw and first visit to this supposed healer.

Offline GSOgymrat

  • Member
  • Posts: 5,122
  • HIV+ since 1993. Relentlessly gay.
Re: AIDS Patient Feels Duped By $18K Promise To Cure
« Reply #47 on: February 05, 2010, 06:35:11 pm »
How much do some people spend on lottery tickets even though the chances of winning the powerball  are MILLIONS-to-one? The people who spend the most money are the people who don't have a lot of money. Why? Because poverty causes desperation, just like being diagnosed with an incurable disease causes desperation.

Offline Denver Toad

  • Member
  • Posts: 170
Re: AIDS Patient Feels Duped By $18K Promise To Cure
« Reply #48 on: February 05, 2010, 07:59:08 pm »
Quote
Meh. Benny Hinn has always managed to get away with it.

Now that's some funny sheet. Thanks Matty.

As to the gent in the article... a fool and his money are soon parted. See Matty's quote. There's millions of folks who "donate" to various con artists in the guise of faith. Many are seeking a miracle cure for some ailment. It's a shame the gent wasted money on a "cure", but he's not the first nor will he be the last to waste time/emotion/resources on such foolishness.


Life is short, Break the rules, Forgive quickly,
Kiss slowly, Love truly, Laugh uncontrollably, And never regret anything that made you smile.

Offline Dennis

  • Member
  • Posts: 781
Re: AIDS Patient Feels Duped By $18K Promise To Cure
« Reply #49 on: February 05, 2010, 08:31:38 pm »
How much do some people spend on lottery tickets even though the chances of winning the powerball  are MILLIONS-to-one? The people who spend the most money are the people who don't have a lot of money. Why? Because poverty causes desperation, just like being diagnosed with an incurable disease causes desperation.

I agree with you. However, to look at from my perspective, if someone is spending their entire savings on the lottery to the point it is affecting their life negatively, then chances are they have a gambling addiction, also termed pathological gambling; also a form of obsessive compulsive disorder. Therefore, can be considered a mental disorder as well.

Playing the lottery once in a while or when you can afford it is rational. Even spending a small amount of your savings on an alternative treatment could be considered rational, to an extent. Spending your entire income/savings on either of those would be considered irrational, and therefore lead to something a bit more complex occuring with the individuals cognition.

 


Terms of Membership for these forums
 

© 2024 Smart + Strong. All Rights Reserved.   terms of use and your privacy
Smart + Strong® is a registered trademark of CDM Publishing, LLC.