9 months ago
I mean... There was a behind the bastards series on the Iceman: https://open.spotify.com/episode/46v0Yz2qu603DLnX8RVcfS
And even among subjects of that show I'd give him a "top 5 worst fathers", which really is an achievement in poor parenting
9 months ago
> According to Hof, he was not delusional, ‘if you see wat the Wim Hof Method has accomplished in the world.’ ‘That’s bigger than de Volkskrant and the Netherlands.’
There’s no better way to undermine your own point.
9 months ago
I'm almost always skeptical of all this shiny persons out everybody is excited about. Most often they have a lot of corpses in the cellar.
9 months ago
Conversely, I'm weary of the tendency of discrediting everyone by finding flaws somewhere in their lives. He could have valid insights on health and fitness, while being a shitty person in private. The same applies to many scientists, artists, etc. Of course, the blame lies with him if he was putting himself up on the guru pedestal.
9 months ago
Same.
Maybe he's a bad person, but I would prefer if police and justice would handle this in private. If justice is not good enough, then make noise about laws and justice itself so it's changed, but I really dislike this private type of justice. Morally, I see no difference between this and hiring someone to sabotage him financially or physically.
If the problem is here about the PTSD, then I feel like dissociating themselves from the person and getting therapy should be the correct avenues to seek. This feels like the Nirvana baby from the Nevermind cover that had tattoos about the album cover, but was alleging trauma after 30+ years.
And I say this as someone who actually has trauma caused by family members, but in no way I seek public revenge. Sure in private I am the fucking devil, but people have also asked me to participate in dragging their name through the mud and just considering it already makes me feel like shit.
9 months ago
C'mon, really? If you knew this guy was abusing his kids you would not tell other people to stay away from him and his cult (he literally talks about becoming super human so I call it a cult)?
I knew people who were in cults (EST, Life Spring), and while they were being abused they would say "well some of the teaching really helped me."
9 months ago
Yes, really.
If he's doing anything inappropriate currently, he deserves scrutiny, regardless of past behavior. I don't care if he was Jesus or the devil. Rules should be the same for everyone.
If he did anything to his family he deserves to be brought to justice and pay for any crimes if decided so.
We should aim to be better than rationalizing mob-justice.
9 months ago
I seriously do not believe you can separate the two with Hof. It is one thing to have an idea, but a con man will convince people his idea is right regardless of the evidence. Con men are usually abusers because they cannot keep up the con in their private life and con men want control over everything else.
And it is possible the Hof is suffering from a mood disorder as well: "Wim Hof’s first relevant experiences with the cold goes back to when he was 17: he felt a sudden urge to jump into the freezing cold water of the Beatrixpark canal."
All he is talking about is self flagellation to get over emotional pain, which is disturbing to me at least.
9 months ago
What's the point of all his self improvement / stoic whatever he's doing if he remains a terrible person to the ones closest to him? That's why it's relevant.
9 months ago
You hit the nail on the head!
9 months ago
True. I think extreme circumstances might also lead to extreme motivation (obsession) and possibly achievements, skill or knowledge. Whether self-inflicted or caused by surroundings.
This case clearly the iceman is at the center of it all and the article was a tough read to me. With the grinding downwards spiral so clearly summed up in all the events I'm sure the interviewed people are now seeing all the red flags in hindsight.
9 months ago
No fan of Wim Hof, but this might be yet another case of someone getting convicted in the court of public opinion. Trial-by-(social)media. Hof appeared on Dutch TV yesterday, and made a case for himself just as plausible as the Volkskrant piece. Claimed they were out for his money and revenge. Not sure what is true, but I'd say let a true legal court decide that.
9 months ago
If you actually read the article, the legal courts already decided he was guilty of domestic abuse quite a few years ago.
9 months ago
If you sell yourself as a public character, then I think it’s fair to put that image on trial
9 months ago
> ‘In every relationship people use terms of abuse for each other,’ says Hof in an email. ‘I don’t remember this one.’
Besides the rightly pointed out conviction and numerous third party sources quoted by the article, this quote by the man himself
> ‘In every relationship people use terms of abuse for each other,’ says Hof in an email. ‘I don’t remember this one.’
Tells it all.
9 months ago
> Hof appeared on Dutch TV yesterday
Link?
9 months ago
He was already convicted of abuse in the Dutch courts years ago.
9 months ago
All these people hype up one specific part that people should improve, typically by doubling down and doing solely that. A balanced lifestyle doesn’t land you interviews with Oprah.
So that typically implies these people already know that what they’re doing and teaching is extreme and should not be general advice, yet they’re ignoring it. It takes a certain type of personality that is willing to become famous selling people inaccurate / wrong health advice for the sake of becoming famous.
The liver king is another “celebrity” that was recently outed and gave outrageous advice. In theory, there is some truth in what he says (livers do contain a lot of nutrients as it’s where your body stores a lot of vitamins necessary for metabolism), but then he took he 100 steps further with the lifestyle, and also denied using steroids, which he obviously did.
All these people are weird and unhinged.
9 months ago
And people fall for these con men every time. His first wife died by suicide by the way. Was it from him abusing her as well?
9 months ago
Surely it is appropriate for you to speculate about that.
9 months ago
>According to Rob, Hof also abused Olaya. ‘From the very beginning until Olaya’s death in 1995 there was a lot of domestic violence in their marriage,’ he states in his report, which he recently discussed with the Prosecution Office. ‘I observed from close by (…) how Wim would leave his wife and children to their own devices without adequate clothing or food while he was out pulling dangerous stunts.’ According to Rob Hof, Olaya was completely dependent on his brother and she had to beg for food. From his report: ‘That didn’t sit well with Wim and he would beat her. If that didn’t help, he would lock her up in a kitchen cupboard.’
It’s a reasonable question to consider when faced with the lengthy claims against Wim in the article.
9 months ago
Hmmm, have any cults in the past turned people to suicide? As someone with schizoaffective disorder and attempted suicide twice, it is. People with mental illness are often the abused partners. He was already charged with child abuse so why should I not speculate he also abused his first wife?
And we already know he does not care about people's lives since as of March 2024 there are 32 reports of people allegedly dying in relation to the Wim Hof Method
It is Hof's story that she had Schizophrenia anyway. I have yet to hear anyone else but him say she was mentally ill.
9 months ago
> as of March 2024 there are 32 reports of people allegedly dying in relation to the Wim Hof Method
Link?
9 months ago
I guess you have to be a sociopath to become such a guru.
9 months ago
9 months ago
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9 months ago
Can someone clean up the title? "'The Iceman' Wim Hof's family suffered domestic voilence."
I noticed that first Vice video Wim had a strange interaction with his son, normalising strange interactions, jokingly calling his son the biggest bastard he'd known. Seemed odd to me.
9 months ago
Isn't the general rule on HN to use the original title unless there's a very good reason not to?
9 months ago
Original was too long, had to trim a few words.
9 months ago
The original title is “The outside world knows Wim Hof as the eccentric Iceman. His family suffered domestic violence”
9 months ago
It's not the original title