Thieving crystal fucker (long)

The BBQ Pit
1

Late last year, my SiL (#1), who I adore, was diagnosed with a tumor on her kidney.

My other SiL (#2), who I also like, put her in touch with this “wonderful man” who could help her with his “faith healing” skills.

SiL#1 isn’t rich. She works two jobs, brings up two kids on her own, spends all her money on her mortgage and kids - but she was scared. So as well as scheduling regular doctors’ appointments, she paid for babysitters and travelled several hours each way, and paid a great deal of money each time, to see this “faith healer”.

He screwed around with crystals.

He laid hands on her kidney area.

He said “I had cancer of the kidney once, too. It was negativity and blockage of my chi.”

He said “you’ll hear good news in January”.

SiL#1 is very bright, but not very skeptical, and she believed him.

So in December Sil#1 went to the oncologist, and my wife accompanied her for moral support. He said he’d normally do a biopsy, but since the tumor was so small, he may as well take the whole thing out, and as soon as possible, for a final diagnosis.

“Can we make the operation in February?” asked SiL#1. The oncologist looked puzzled: “Surely you want it taken out as soon as possible?” My wife bit her tongue, knowing exactly why SiL#1 didn’t want the operation in January.

So by coincidence the operation was for early February anyway. SiL#1 went in, the tumor was removed, it was indeed cancerous, but non-metastasizing, and the prognosis is good.

Nothing good happened in January.

SiL#2 is also bright, but is completely and utterly away with the fairies. She believes five unbelievable things before breakfast. Pixies, tarot, angels, runes, homeopathy, aromatherapy, reiki, you name it; if it’s not proven, it must be right. Conversely, if someone has proved it, it must be wrong and modern and negative. (Though I note that SiL#2 didn’t rely on aromatherapeutic homeopathy for her breast augmentation.)

By now, the “faith healer” was her boyfriend.

SiL#1 met up with SiL#2, and by extension, her new boyfriend, last month. She confronted him: “Nothing good happened in January.”

He said, “Perhaps you were too negative.”

“Did positive thinking work when you had cancer of the kidney?” she asked.

“Oh, when I said I had cancer of the kidney, you do realise that was just a metaphor.”

She shelled out thousands on this lying thieving crystal fucking pisswipe. In return, he endangered her fucking LIFE.

I have never met the cunt, but I will have to at some point in the future, because he’s now SiL#2’s boyfriend. I don’t know what or how I will be able to control myself. I suspect I’ll be inclined to ram his fucking pendulum up his chakras.

At the very least, I want somehow to get back the money he fucking STOLE from her. Any suggestions?

2

Maybe a lawsuit? Has there ever been a successful lawsuit against these types of charlatans? Or does the fact they themselves say they believe that horseshit make them hard to sue?

3

There’s no way SiL#1 has the resources to sue the fucker. Plus, since he’s now SiL#2’s boyfriend, I think it would irreparably damage the family, which is shaky as it is.

4

My brother has been seeing a crystal waver for over 20 years (off and on). She does some good things like midwifing, but the rest of it…people pay huge money to get their skull knobs massaged, blah, blah, blah. She’s doing quite well. Making six figures. People will believe what they want to believe. Not the guy’s fault that there’s a sucker born every minute. Faith healing, crystals, tarot, all of it. It sounds good so people embrace it. I’m glad she’s ok.

5

I have no suggestions, but

There aren’t enough :rolleyes: in the world.

6

Actually, that sounds pretty plausible to me. Self-absorbed woo-woo spiritual-wellness merchants tend to be just the type of people who will, with complete seriousness, describe things like “negativity” anc “chi blockage” as being the literal equivalent of cancer.

Frankly, I find that kind of supercilious, self-aggrandizing “metaphor” even more irritating than a plain old lie. If the quack was really deliberately attempting to make your SIL believe that he had literally been diagnosed by an oncologist with cancer of the kidney, then he’s a dishonest crook, sure. But I can almost respect an ordinary dishonest crook in comparison with a self-dramatizing, conceited blowhard who would try to claim with a straight face that his “negativity” is important enough to be described metaphorically as kidney cancer.

7

I would imagine that fucking crystals would hurt. What’s a skull knob?

In any event, I’m sorry for you. If people want to practice homeopathic medicine and believe in fairies that’s their business, but charging thousands of dollars to advise someone that positivity is better than plain ol’ tumor excision is fraud to me. I’m not sure what you can do successfully now that he’s her boyfriend, but at least he’s not charging her for this stuff anymore, right? Right?

8

By “seeing”, I mean seeing her romantically…not professionally. I do not endorse anything she does beyond midwifing.

9

The fraud is going out with my sister-in-law’s sister. And he would still charge.

10

Get drunk and loudly argue with him at length and with great belligerence when you do meet him, threatening to illustrate the difference between metaphorical kidney damage and literal kidney damage with the aid of a simple baseball bat.

Motherfucking con men. Warn SiL#2 away from this charlatan any way you can, starting by telling her how he endangered her sister’s life. Surely family ties must take precedence over this filthy bastard’s insanity.

I fear SiL#1 will never see her money agin, though.

11

My brother’s voodoo priestess came over on a day I happened to be ailing with a strained back. She cleared off my coffee table and had me lay on it. Then she felt my spine and told me I had some bad energy going on there. Then she took out a small bottle and told me she wanted to put a couple drops of it under my tongue. I asked her what it was, and her response was “all kinds of good stuff.” I asked her when I would start feeling better, and she said it 2-3 days.

So, long story short…1) whatever it was that she put under my tongue, I didn’t get off on it, and 2) as per most strained back incidents, I did indeed feel better in 2-3 days.

What. EVAH.

12

First off, I hope your SIL is all right, and gets whatever help she truly needs. That’s the important thing. However, one thing in your post caught my eye, and (while I can’t answer to her particular point of view) I wanted to correct it.

This isn’t quite correct, in my experience. The mentality at work seems to be “if it’s not proven wrong, then it could be right.”

Which is true, really. People are often derided for “believing” in such “woo-woo” stuff, when in reality they simply haven’t refused to rule them out yet.

It often gets into the whole “prove it is/prove it isn’t” argument war, but the war is a misunderstanding (IMO…Good Og, I sound like Kevin Trudeau!). Accepting the possibility doesn’t automatically constitute blind belief in that possibility, but it’s very often interpreted that way.

Wrongly, but often.

I hope she’s okay, and if she did get ripped off (from a legal standpoint), then there should be courses to follow for compensation.

On the other hand, if you are personally just pissed because you don’t agree with how she spent her money, there’s probably no hope for you. Suck it up and educate her, if you wish. Beyond that, there may be nothing that you can do.

13

In my experience, jjimm has it exactly right. I know several people who think that anything scientific must be bad and poisonous and unnatural, and any load of horseshit like aromatherapy or reiki ar ear candling or crystals must be good because it’s traditional and good and “natural,” whatever the fuck that means.

14

“But it could be true” is also the reasoning behind all those “Forward this (x) times and (y) will happen!” emails.

15

I beg to differ. Both may be very nice, sweet, ladies, and I wish them the best, but neither of them is remotely “bright.”

16

Does this dipshit have any kind of certificate or diploma proving he’s had training/taken courses to do this kind of “work”? If not, you’ve got a pretty good case to sue him, as he was putting her life in danger although he claimed to know what he’s doing. What a turd.

17

Could there be any sort of ‘practicing medicine without a license’ charge against the jerk?

18

She could kick him in the nads.

Metaphorically, of course.

19

You need to get the money back from him, he’s a charlatan. I suggest running a good old fashioned con on him- use his greed to get him to willingly part with his money. I’d suggest getting a third party accomplice to somehow fleece you both, then split his take while commiserating with him on how badly you both lost out. Sweet sweet revenge!

20

Don’t (please) get me wrong, some people DO mindlessly believe all this crap. My point was that there are closed-minded people on both ends of the spectrum, and they are both capable of failing to understand the truth.

Yeah, there are a LOT of idiots out there, but they’re not all on one side of the debate. The skeptics have their share, too (although you won’t convince them of that, just as you convince the believers of their idiots, either).

Closed-mindedness comes in both stripes, and it’s always going to be thus, until EVERYONE gets their head out of their asses. Arguing over who should is missing the point.