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Wellness App Author Lied About Cancer Diagnosis
Freshly Exhumed writes: Wellness advocate Belle Gibson, who translated her high profile as a cancer survivor into publishing success, has admitted her cancer diagnosis was not real. Ms Gibson, 23, who claimed to have healed terminal brain cancer by eating wholefoods, made the admission in an interview with the Australian Women's Weekly. The success of Gibson's book, The Whole Pantry, and her smartphone application, which advocates natural therapies, has been largely dependent on her high-profile as a cancer survivor. Sadly, we've seen this sort of behaviour before. It would seem that Belle Gibson has emulated Dr. Andrew Wakefield in knowingly decieving the public in ways that could possibly be dangerous to the health of believers.
A nation of "cyberchondria"s probably do bad to themselves, but, more importantly, feed a cyclic loop of social/economic behaviors encouraging self-diagnosis.
Wait. A person who made dubious claims that had no scientific backing to them was actually lying? What next? Water is wet?!!
I think pretty much everyone but the nutjob, true believers in psuedo-science knew all along that this woman was lying.
Exercising is good. Religion and cult of personality is bad.
Wait. A person who made dubious claims that had no scientific backing to them was actually lying? What next? Water is wet?!!
I think pretty much everyone but the nutjob, true believers in psuedo-science knew all along that this woman was lying.
So you're saying everyone knew she was lying about her charity donations as well? Or was it only the charities that knew that? From the article:
The 26-year-old's popular recipe app, which costs $3.79, has been downloaded 300,000 times and is being developed as one of the first apps for the soon-to-be-released Apple Watch. Her debut cook book The Whole Pantry, published by Penguin in Australia last year, will soon hit shelves in the United States and Britain.
So you're saying the 300,000 downloads are by people that knew they were downloading the app architected by a liar? And they were paying $3.79 to Apple and this liar for a recipe app that contain recipes that someone lied about helping her cure cancer? And you're saying that everyone at Apple that featured her app on the Apple Watch knew they were showing a snake oil app on their brand new shiny device? And that the people at Penguin did all their fact checking on any additional information this cookbook might contain about Belle Gibson's alleged cancer survival? And that everybody involved in these events know society's been parading around a fucking liar and rewarding her with cash money while she basically capitalizes on a horrendous disease that afflicts millions of people worldwide ... that she never had?
... anybody who accepts it as the sole cure for their ailment is putting their health in the hands of such charlatans and quacks.
No, this is not the same as "water is wet" and it needs to be shown that holistic medicine is temporarily propped up on a bed of anecdotal lies
My work here is dung.
That could be 'cured' via a special diet. First off, were that true, bicarbonate would be chemotherapy and secondly, this sounds to me like practicing medicine without a licence. The nutritional version of "crying fire in a movie crowded theatre" shouldn't get special exception simply because it's about nutrition and people wanting to do good things for their children and themselves by not eating crap. She hurt people by broadcasting this nonsense.
Will she refund all of the money she made? Doubt it.
---- The above post was generated by the Turing Institute. Maybe.
TFA said she admitted she was full of shit in AWW. Are you saying eating healthy CAN cure brain cancer?
Give a hoot, read a book, you illiterate retard.
Seems this is just a case of fraud and greed rather than someone lying to promote a cause they truly believe in:
"In early 2015, media scrutiny revealed that Gibson's cancer claims appear to have been fabricated, that she had lied about her age and other details of her personal life and history, and she had used campaign donations to lead a profligate and affluent lifestyle instead of delivering the money to charitable institutions as promised. There are claims she rented an expensive town house, leased an office suite and luxury car, underwent cosmetic dental procedures, and holidayed internationally from the proceeds of money purportedly raised for charity"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B...
Separately, I wish all these self professed wellness "gurus" would jump off the nearest cliff and rid the world of their stupidity.
This is why it's pretty dangerous that the human mind naturally accepts anecdotal evidence instead of statistical evidence. A few fraudsters on the Internet will convince more people than any number of scientific studies.
Wait wait, hold on.
Someone lied?
On the Internet?
Say it ain't so!
PS: I can bench press 400 pounds, and I'm a lawyer, and a doctor, and I used to be an astronaut. Oh and Bill Gates stole MS-DOS from my cousin when they lived together in college.
The Right Reverend K. Reid Wightman,
It never ceases to amaze me how people want so badly to believe this crap that they just blindly accept some pretty extraordinary claims without proof.
What utterly boggles the mind is absolutely nobody ever fact checked what she said ... not her cancer diagnosis, not her recovery, not a damned thing ... she basically said "I had cancer and now I don't, I cured it with unicorns and ponies and stuff I read on the interwebs, hey, why not buy my app?"
Hell, she published a damned book, and nobody ever checked a single fact to make sure she wasn't lying.
Sorry folks, but as usual, if someone makes an extraordinary claim, they better provide some evidence. Or you should be treating them like they're full of shit.
From the anti-vaxers to the people who think the can cure cancer with healing crystals ... people should stop being so damned trusting and naive. Because generally the people making these claims are full of shit, stand to gain financially.
Hell, the great quack Atkins never did a scrap of research despite selling tens of millions of books. Which means everything he ever said or the products which sprung up around him were more or less complete bullshit.
i just don't understand why people are so willing to believe in quackery with zero evidence.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
If a person claims authority on a subject based on falsified experiences isn't that pretty much the essential definition of FRAUD? (Particularly if money is made in the process.)
If your advice is connected to peoples' actions that could have ramifications for their health and safety, then negligent manslaughter might be included as well.
Look at it this way, if we started this, we'd at least have fewer celebrities talking about health issues, which is ultimately a net good.
-Styopa
There are men - and women too, I suppose - who hunt down people who claim to be veterans. Watched video just recently, some old Marine chased down some panhandler posing as a veteran, and made him take the Marine Corps jacket off. Told him if he EVER saw him with it on again, he was going to stomp the shit out of him.
This woman deserves as much as any fake veteran has ever received at the hands of real veterans.
"Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
I don't want forgiveness.
Good! You're not going to get any from me.
I hate it when people say that. By refusing something they're implying that it has been offered to them, which reveals that they think that someone, somewhere, thinks they deserve it.
I just think [speaking out] was the responsible thing.
No, not deliberately lying about having and being cured of cancer was the responsible thing to do.
But she said people needed to "draw a line in the sand where they still treat someone with some level of respect or humility".
Sorry, but you've lost the right to dictate how much respect is due to you.
Above anything, I would like people to say, 'Okay, she's human.
I'd insist on a genetic test before believing even that, from her.
She's obviously had a big life.
Jesus... she's obviously got an ego inflated to bursting point.
She's respectfully come to the table
No, there's nothing respectful about any of this.
I'd never wish cancer on anyone, but in her case, I'll just wish the symptoms (apart from death) on her, temporarily.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
Surely you must be joking. There's no possible way an app apper could app about apps! All apps are perfect, especially those that are nothing more than a browser frontend!
Apps!
A reactionary fool at Slashdot? Totally would have guessed that one!
This sort of thing surfaces again and again, but hope or talk radio drivel means those who dare to question it get ignored over and over again.
is that it allows con artists proliferate in the media. "Trust, but verify" would have exposed Gibson a long time ago. I really hope the bitch is prosecuted for fraud.
If there's anything worthy of the death penalty, it's putting countless lives at risk by promoting fake medicine for personal gain. Wakefield would be right there on death row, too.
Nothing posted to
There's nothing valorous about picking on the homeless. Sure, it's fraud, but just treat any panhandling story like a circus act because there's a damned good reason to make it more appealing than accurate.
Steve Jobs had the most treatable, survivable type of pancreatic cancer. He decided to do yoga and change his diet and do acupuncture instead of real treatments. Then he died. That's just how stupid some people are.
What an unscrupulous being:
source, source 2
anybody who believed her, and followed her methods to cure their cancer deserves to die. It strengthens the herd.
I'm not a nerd. Nerds are smart.
That there are people who are willing to lie, even if their lies cause suffering to others, does not surprise me in the list.
What concerns me is the media's role in all this, who for the most part accepted her story without any questions or fact checking. There were so many inconsistencies in her story that even the most basic background check should have exposed her. I'm shocked that no one tried to even talk to her doctors to follow up on her medical claims, for example. Or a quick phone call to the charities she claimed to be supporting would have also exposed her charitable claims.
Her claims should never have been allowed to stand as long they did.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
Can't a guy say "feminist rag" without being called a reactionary?
Dark Reflection
Sounds like she claimed she had special knowledge revealed from a unique experience. She told people to live their lives according to rules that she made up, based on this knowledge, and they will be rewarded with a miracle. Hmmm, where else have we seen this tactic?
Only his diagnosis was REAL and he (claimed that he) cured it with apricot seed oil. Federal slammer for 35-40 years? No problem.
CINCIN KAWIN mempunyai kualitas baik
CINCIN KAWIN mempunyai kualitas baik
And for those who get their medical advice from Playboy's Playmate of the Year there is Jenny McCarthy, of whom Wikipedia reports:
"McCarthy's public presence and vocal activism on the vaccination-autism controversy, led, in 2008, to her being awarded the James Randi Educational Foundation's Pigasus Award, which is a tongue-in-cheek award granted for contributions to pseudoscience..."
"McCarthy's claims that vaccines cause autism are not supported by any medical evidence, and the original paper by Andrew Wakefield that formed the basis for the claims...
"In January 2011, McCarthy defended Wakefield..."
So in honor of Ms. McCarthy, can we henceforth refer to populist medical quackery practiced by uncredentialed public attention seekers as "Jenny McCarthyism?"
Ceci n'est pas une signature.
I wouldn't wish cancer on anyone, but when I read about people like this it makes me think some people might deserve it.
I hope she is prosecuted and made to pay restitution somehow. Someday in the future when she really does have cancer, she'll see how wrong her behaviour is (or maybe she will become the victim of a horrible scam like this).
The whole notion that food is medicine is garbage. Your health is a function of genetics and lifestyle. If your dad keeled over of a heart attack at 40 or your mom had breast cancer, there is a good chance you are going to die young. If you sit all day at work in front of a keyboard and watch re-runs of Seinfeld all night, and never exercise, there is a good chance you will die young. There have been so many fraudulent diet fads, from low-fat to low-sodium, that it is a wonder any of these nutritionists have any credibility whatsoever. Choose the right parents, don't get fat, and get out and ride your bike or push a lawnmower around once in a while and call it good.
You're dumber than a sack of hair.
He tried to kill me with a forklift!
LOL at the 'Andrew Wakefield' link, and spelling 'deceiving' wrong. Oh, the evil Andrew Wakefield! Vaccines are wonderful! Even though Jenner was a fraudster!
The Myth of 'Herd Immunity':
http://www.vaccinationcouncil.org/2012/02/18/the-deadly-impossibility-of-herd-immunity-through-vaccination-by-dr-russell-blaylock/
The Fraud of Vaccination:
http://www.whale.to/v/hadwen1.html
How much panhandling do you have to do to buy a "nice home"?
Such bullshit is the same sort of reality denial as falling for this cure cancer with diet scam.
Steve Jobs was faced with an emotionally and physically traumatizing ordeal. This lady's a liar. There's no comparison, and you're picking on a cancer victim for being scared. That's less morally offensive than convincing them not to get good treatment, but it's still a crappy thing to do.
You don't hear a snakeoil peddler admit that their crap is useless any day!
It's almost as rare as a politician admitting being wrong.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
It's somewhat impressive how a young woman was able to successfully fabricate/orchestrate this kind of business empire w/o first dropping out of some ivy league school. Her mea culpa sounds like a contrived effort at exculpation, i.e. a planned follow up since she knew she'd eventually get discovered. Did she have help?
Editors, it's "i" before "e", except after "c".
Yes, surprise surprise, what you believe actually matters. This is because your beliefs often directly impact your actions.
Thus, false beliefs matter doubly so, since they will often result in you acting in a way which either simply wastes your effort, or worse, is actually counter productive to your goals, or possibly even harmful to yourself or others.
It is very important that what you belief is actually based in reality, and isn't some fanciful notion or wishful thinking.
I am a type 1 diabetic and I can't count how many of these idiots have come up to me and told me that I can cure my type 1 diabetes by eating whole foods..
Yea right was always my response.. because I knew they were full of shit.. and I always wondered what ever made people think that eating food that had not been cooked or whatever would cure an auto-immune issue which is probably caused by underlying genetic issues..
This is not a surprise, I have been waiting for the lies to come out for one of these "Whole food hoaxers".
Now it would be fun to have an epic fail admission come out for some of the homeopathy guys.. waiting..
The results of the original Lancet paper was never refuted. All the co-authors (eg. Profs John Walker-Smith and Prof Simon Murch) were totally exonerated. Wakefield was accused of 'potentially competing financial interests' (eg. requesting funding from the Legal Aid Board).
MMR doctor wins battle against being struck off
US Court Awards Multi-Million Dollar Payouts To Two More US Children With Vaccine Caused Autism
When you look at a lot of the history of this woman, it's clear there are probably mental issues involved; at older jobs (catering, etc.) you got the impression she was kind of a loner who'd slowly start spinning stories that would amp up to levels where people would start rolling their eyes. We've all known those people to an extent, whether it's their grandmother dying for the second time or dog eating their homework every other day.
There are three things that set her apart:
1. On the internet, you can pull in a broad, self-selecting congregation. There are suckers born every minute, and whenever someone on the internet gets suspicious you're only a facebook like away from someone else taking their place.
2. The media did zero due-diligence in order to profit from her. She's "photogenic" (read, not bad to look at) and looks nice on covers and profiles; if she was 50yr old and frumpy she'd be just another niche health blogger. You can slap her photo in a spread and say "the most inspiring woman of the year" and people will check it out. I'm 100% including Apple as a media/publishing company in this with things like their Apple Watch and trying to sell the health-apps aspect of it.
3. I mentioned she wasn't ugly, right?
It really lays at the floor of the media and publishing companies. In an era of Gawker and Buzzfeed, I'm not sure what the real answers are though.
Yep, all of them live in nice houses just like this cancer woman cured it all with her diet. All completely proven.
Now where is that bridge I can sell to you.