Kimkins Controversy - Kimkins Scam

Inventive Stumble Tagging

I recently installed Stumble on my PC. I didn’t know that Stumble would add elements to my Google searches. I have been Googling Kimkins regularly for the past few days and the tag that I underlined in green on this screencap struck me as kinda weird.

I don’t know if an anti-kimkins person added this tag in an effort to be subversive, or if a pro-kimkins person (there are still a handful of these) did it to generate traffic for Heidi’s blogspot blog. Kimkinsdiet.blogspot.com would actually get lots of traffic if it allowed unmoderated comments the way some anti-kimkins blogs do.

Anti-Kimkins Blogs of Note: Borat???

Where do I start with this blog review? I recently saw some hand wringing with regard to the offbeat humor that is the spawn of the Kimkins fraud. This blog is the penultimate example of this humor, if only for the reason that I have a new spell check and I wanted to see if I could spell penultimate right the first time. Unlike the real Borat, I don’t think this blogger ever fessed up to their true identity. It could be an open secret, I am way out of the loop on a lot of things.

This blog is ridiculous enough to be forgiven. The blogger also has good timing in that they quit when the joke had run its course.

When TV News Makes Nice

Isagenix is a cleansing product that is marketed by a company based in Chandler, Arizona.

You would get whiplash if you were to watch this video of ABC and its coverage of the product right after watching KTLA’s coverage of the Kimkins fraud. I am not disparaging Isagenix. I am sure they have all their ducks in a row as far as the FDA and the FTC are concerned. I do get the impression that the consumer report is really a sales pitch. If the three people on the video like to think of themselves as journalists, they must stop off somewhere after work for a few ounces of soul cleanser. The tone of the anchor man is the same tone that Ryan Seacrest uses when he says something heterosexual.

The television footage was uploaded by what appears to be an affiliate for the product.

Revisiting the ‘New Ownership’ Ruse

I don’t have any inside information on the whole ‘Kimkins under new ownership’ statement that was floated around before the legal case got traction. It just popped into my head and I wondered to myself what the ramifications would have been if Heidi Diaz had sold the Kimkins business to another real live person.

I heard a sad story once about a European investor that bought a mine site unseen from a company that had closed it up many months or years before that. The buyer understood that it was all hooked up with lighting and ventilation and other equipment. Neither party were aware that a local petty criminal had used his truck and some delinquent helpers to pull all the electrical wiring out of the mine so he could sell it as scrap copper. It wasn’t a copper mine. It wasn’t a diet site either, so I don’t know why I’m talking about it. There must be a good ’shaft’ reference in here somewhere.

People Continue to Defend Heidi and Kimkins

YouTube commentary is truly the lowest form of discourse. The anonymity encourages people to throw all semblance of civility out the window. Lying and outright outrageousness are pastimes for many users. But I digress… what I really wanted to post about was the fact that someone chose to post a comment on the YouTube version of the Heidi Diaz surveillance video this week. It is not a smart ass kid or a petty jokester, someone wanted to express their outrage about the exposure and defend the diet against its detractors. I will quote it in its entirety:

People should be ashamed of themselves. Invading someone’s privacy because the diet failed for you or caused a side effect. NEWSFLASH, all diets cause side effects, some minimal and others more extreme. No one held a gun to your head and forced you to join the kimkins site or to even do the diet. This diet works wonders for people who are SEVERLY obese, not people who need to lose 10 pounds to fit into their party dress for the weekend.

I think that this 25 year old American Girl with the really pretty name and no videos or favorites might even be Kimmer.

Top Commentators

The most frequent commentator on this blog is OhYeahBabe. This person blogs over at Kimorexia. I was thinking of adding a Top Commentators widget to the blog as a way of encouraging comments. I’m not sure if it worth the trouble.

If you use WordPress, you can add this function quite easily. The word on the blogosphere is that this widget is kinda buggy. There are fixed up versions available elsewhere. Webgrrl.net has a post about her adventures with this thing.

Baiting Haters on YouTube

Sarah Fights Back Against Rude You Tubers is an interesting phenomenon. A vlogger from Diet.com had received a lot of very rude comments on a previous video and she decided to highlight them and give the misanthropes the attention that they craved. The interesting thing was that she got a LOT of attention herself. The video was one of yesterday’s most watched videos. I actually don’t like the tone or the content of the video that got all the nasty comments. I worry sometimes about whether the YouTube generation will be able to carry out polite social discourse when they enter adult life.

Flashing Messages on your Computer Screen?

I am not talking about those flashing pink popups and banner ads that make you so mad that you could chew nails. There are subliminal messages that you can install on purpose on your computer. They are designed to work on your subconscious and effect positive change. If you go to http://www.subliminal-power.com/, you can choose from a vast array of these messages. With 120 subliminal programs containing a collective total of OVER 1500 AFFIRMATIONS, they probably have the message that you want to tell yourself. If they don’t, there is an admin panel that allows you to customize. A download version of this product costs $39.95. This kind of subliminal communication has been proven to be effective, they tried doing it at the movies back in the old days to sell more snackfood, unless that’s an urban legend. Anyway, broadcasting subliminal messages without the viewer’s consent is not legal in most places.

Blogging is Not a Hate Free Workplace

The Fat Acceptance movement is somewhat controversial. I haven’t followed enough of Joy Nash’s work to know what her views are on activism. Her famous Rant is really more about her own personal resolution to accept being fat and to not use it as an excuse for not living a happy life. She drew some very negative comments with her recent blog activity from someone who is on the warpath with regard to fat acceptance. I commend Joy for leaving the comment on her blog even though it crossed some lines as far as being personally insulting. The comment was illuminating if not pleasant.

While the obesity of one particular woman was central to the Kimkins Fraud, commentary after the PI pictures were published crossed quite a few lines. LOL Cat-like humor created using the ass of a fraudulent fellow human being may be quite funny, but it is also kinda wrong.

Wikipedia Founder Launches A New Search Engine

Wikia is the creation of Jimmy Wales. More accurately, it will be the creation of many volunteers in much the same way that Wikipedia was created. Interestingly, Google recently launched something that is a LOT like a wiki. It is called knolls.

Both Internet juggernauts are the target of criticism with regard to their core products. Google the term Wikipedia Editors Corrupt, or look up Page Rank on Wikipedia and you will see what I mean.

The best Wikia review that I have found is on Forbes. I found it using Google.