Today's post could also aptly be named echolalia part two, but I wanted to focus more on the unwillingness to be aware of the programming. This is an information age, and we have access to more answers to questions than ever before. I am the tail end of a generation where libraries were a necessity, and book reports required opening actual books. Which brings me to the main point, people are less informed now than they ever have been in history. It seems contradictory that you can talk into your phone and immediately find out when William Shakespeare was alive, or how to cook a proper chicken tikka masala, but people can't seem to figure out that the stuff they are saying in MLM has been debunked hundreds of times.
Consciousness: the awareness or perception of something by a person.
This post was inspired by a couple of YouTube videos. The first video compared MLMers to zombies, and there are some worthy comparisons. When talking with an MLMer it is impossible to have a critical point, because they are deeply programmed to immediately respond without actually hearing what you are saying. An example of this was in my story with my conversation with Tom. I told Tom that I didn't think all of the monthly expenses were necessary to try and run this business. Before he even registered what I had to say, he immediately responded, that is how his team was going to work the business and if I don't like it, then I can try the business with someone else. Another instance was with Fred when he told me that the MLM was not a pyramid, because it has a product. He clearly did not come up with this line (it has been said for decades), and did not do any research to verify its accurateness. This, to me, is a loss of consciousness, because he is repeating garbage that somebody told him and he treats it as though it is a law of nature. He told me this line with such conviction, that it would make others not want to research its authenticity as well.
The second video I watched was Dave Ramsey on MLM. This video is bizarre for a number of reasons, the first being, he suggests MLM is not a pyramid because legally there is a product being sold (again this is incorrect as stated above, and I will put the FTC's definition of MLM at the bottom), but then suggests, "The business you are in is recruiting, recruiting, recruiting, everyone is a recruit". So, he gets it right there, and then the video goes on and on trying to legitimize MLM, which is more unnecessary nonsense. He is a YouTube personality that has over 160,000 subscribers giving him an air of authority, and he talks to people as an expert on business related topics. Yet this particular subject seems to have eluded him, because he got the actual definition from the FTC wrong, and the reason for why they consider MLM "legal". He is not a dumb person, but this was clearly a lack of consciousness as he could have very easily looked up the definition, and provided an expert analysis.
This is a troubling time, because people are opting to lose their ability to critically investigate a topic, and are becoming unconscious participants. I know this is a complex topic with many reasons for why people choose to not investigate for answers, and the purpose of this is to figure out how to change that rather than simply point and scream.
Here is the FTC's definition of MLM and how it can be considered "legal".
Not all multilevel marketing plans are legitimate. If the money you make is based on your sales to the public, it may be a legitimate multilevel marketing plan. If the money you make is based on the number of people you recruit and your sales to them, it’s probably not. It could be a pyramid scheme. Pyramid schemes are illegal, and the vast majority of participants lose money. (https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/guidance/multilevel-marketing)
Here is the MLM zombie video:
Here is the Dave Ramsey MLM video:
If you have a story involving abuses from your upline and would like me to share it on this blog as a guest post, then please e-mail me and I will be more than happy to post it! Your stories are not as unique as you may think, and your stories are some of the most impactful resources we have to fight MLMs. I will keep your anonymity upon request.
Consciousness: the awareness or perception of something by a person.
This post was inspired by a couple of YouTube videos. The first video compared MLMers to zombies, and there are some worthy comparisons. When talking with an MLMer it is impossible to have a critical point, because they are deeply programmed to immediately respond without actually hearing what you are saying. An example of this was in my story with my conversation with Tom. I told Tom that I didn't think all of the monthly expenses were necessary to try and run this business. Before he even registered what I had to say, he immediately responded, that is how his team was going to work the business and if I don't like it, then I can try the business with someone else. Another instance was with Fred when he told me that the MLM was not a pyramid, because it has a product. He clearly did not come up with this line (it has been said for decades), and did not do any research to verify its accurateness. This, to me, is a loss of consciousness, because he is repeating garbage that somebody told him and he treats it as though it is a law of nature. He told me this line with such conviction, that it would make others not want to research its authenticity as well.
The second video I watched was Dave Ramsey on MLM. This video is bizarre for a number of reasons, the first being, he suggests MLM is not a pyramid because legally there is a product being sold (again this is incorrect as stated above, and I will put the FTC's definition of MLM at the bottom), but then suggests, "The business you are in is recruiting, recruiting, recruiting, everyone is a recruit". So, he gets it right there, and then the video goes on and on trying to legitimize MLM, which is more unnecessary nonsense. He is a YouTube personality that has over 160,000 subscribers giving him an air of authority, and he talks to people as an expert on business related topics. Yet this particular subject seems to have eluded him, because he got the actual definition from the FTC wrong, and the reason for why they consider MLM "legal". He is not a dumb person, but this was clearly a lack of consciousness as he could have very easily looked up the definition, and provided an expert analysis.
This is a troubling time, because people are opting to lose their ability to critically investigate a topic, and are becoming unconscious participants. I know this is a complex topic with many reasons for why people choose to not investigate for answers, and the purpose of this is to figure out how to change that rather than simply point and scream.
Here is the FTC's definition of MLM and how it can be considered "legal".
Not all multilevel marketing plans are legitimate. If the money you make is based on your sales to the public, it may be a legitimate multilevel marketing plan. If the money you make is based on the number of people you recruit and your sales to them, it’s probably not. It could be a pyramid scheme. Pyramid schemes are illegal, and the vast majority of participants lose money. (https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/guidance/multilevel-marketing)
Here is the MLM zombie video:
Here is the Dave Ramsey MLM video:
If you have a story involving abuses from your upline and would like me to share it on this blog as a guest post, then please e-mail me and I will be more than happy to post it! Your stories are not as unique as you may think, and your stories are some of the most impactful resources we have to fight MLMs. I will keep your anonymity upon request.
Here you touch upon a truly major and world-shaking subject, and one that is packed with devastating implications for the future of the world.
ReplyDeleteYou say what no one in establishment circles wants to think about, much less hear: This is the "Information Age," but fewer and fewer persons are actually well informed! In fact, the vast majority of persons seem to be totally in a blank state of consciousness concerning anything of importance or consequence. They are zombie-like consumers and pleasure addicts, with cottage cheese for brains.
Our educational system is a total joke (and I say this as a university professor). Very few people are serious readers. Knowledge of the past is practically extinct. The level of scientific and mathematical expertise in America is now lower than in many other countries. People's consciousness is dimmed, cloudy, vague, and trivialized. I deal with airhead students every day in my classes, and I am appalled at what they simply DO NOT KNOW. It's scary.
Rip-offs and rackets and fake financial schemes sprout up like mushrooms in an atmosphere like this. People in a fog can't make rational decisions about something, so they simply do what everyone in this benighted country is now urged to do: "Follow your gut feelings."
But a primary dependence upon emotion in one's life choices is like a primary dependence on novocaine in dentistry. It's not necessarily going to guarantee a good result! But people who are uninformed and unintelligent are necessarily guided by their feelings and emotions, since that's all that they have.
So what happens? Some MLM trickster comes along and talks to them "with authority." Stupid people are amazed, and fall for his shpiel. Why? Because if you are untaught and unintelligent and don't know how to think for yourself and ask questions, you are the prime prey for self-assured hucksters and con-men. And you'll be impressed by slick propaganda that sounds good, and is expressed glibly.
People are desperate for something to believe in! And as G.K. Chesterton said, "When people cease to believe in God, they don't then believe in nothing. They start to believe in everything." This is a brilliant insight, for it hits the nail right on the head: the need to believe is so powerful in people that they will deliberately choose to believe in something asinine and phony like Amway or any other MLM racket.
Hi Anonymous,
DeleteEven though this will probably veer off on a tangent, I would like to hear why you think the education system is a joke. I have ideas of government influence ruining the ability to teach subjects correctly (Common Core). Also, it would seem bills like no child left behind are either crippling funding for schools, or making standards so low that everyone will pass.
Anonymous said, "Rip-offs and rackets and fake financial schemes sprout up like mushrooms in an atmosphere like this. People in a fog can't make rational decisions about something, so they simply do what everyone in this benighted country is now urged to do:
'Follow your gut feelings.'"
This needs to be plastered in every school room to remind teachers of the power they hold. I would put this next to a Robert Frost quote, "I am not a teacher, but an awakener" and hope that teachers could remember content is just as important as inspiration.
I never thought of people's dependence on emotion as a general lacking of education, but it makes perfect sense. I wrote in a previous post about the emotional response being the most irrational, and it only comes when people don't know how to articulate a point.
Your point in the sixth paragraph is one of the inspirations for me starting the blog. When people like Anthony Robbins, Robert Kiyosaki, John Maxwell, Kevin Trudeau, and so many others burst onto the scene with their utter nonsense it makes me sick. When televangelists can own their own television network and generate millions of dollars from "believers" that are trying to use "seed faith" to help with their problems, I feel as though something has to be done.
That is an amazing quote from G.K. Chesterton! (Sorry I'm not familiar with him or his work) The definition of trauma is not being able to complete the personal narrative. What I mean by this is, people need to make a nexus for everything they have experienced, and when that connection is destabilized it creates a huge personal turmoil. Some of the most difficult subjects for people to deal with involve randomness, because we can't explain it. Instead of being able to accept that some questions can't be answered, they become creative and invent an answer, and this is where things become dangerous. Instead of being okay with not understanding all of the reasons for why things are happening people take themselves further from the truth by lying to themselves, which creates an opportunity for manipulation of the imagined facts and the installment of corruption.
Dear Dr. Doe --
DeleteI'll try to answer your question, while being as concise and succinct as I can.
Let's start with the easy part: "Common Core" and "No Child Left Behind" are nothing but politicized boondoggles that have had absolutely no good effect on learning in the United States -- as a matter of fact, they have wrecked and impeded real education. Like every intrusion of the government into the learning process, these two idiotic schemes were designed solely to be hyped-up publicity stunts for the politicians who proposed and enacted them, and vast slush funds of money for the teachers' unions.
Both the Republicans and the Democrats supported these massive rip-offs and wastage of taxpayer dollars. That in itself is a sure sign that the programs are absolutely CORRUPT, from top to bottom. Everybody involved profited, and parents were tricked into thinking the schemes worked because the schemes' main objective was to insure that every child received a passing grade in every subject. A typical American absurdity -- fakery at the expense of actual substance.
The school system is indeed a total joke. Consider the fact that nearly two million families in the United States now home-school their children, at great financial expense and inconvenience. These parents aren't stupid -- they KNOW that even the private schools in this country have been gutted by absurdities and politically correct asininities. Getting a decent education in any American school is today a crap-shoot... it MIGHT happen, or it MIGHT NOT happen. And usually it WON'T happen.
The persons teaching in colleges are frequently so stupid that that they aren't even competent in their professed field of study. The vast majority are self-absorbed narcissists whose only interest is in promoting a left-wing agenda in the classroom.
Enough. If I write any more I'll blow a gasket.
Anonymous,
DeleteThank you for your candid response. I'm sorry that this didn't get posted sooner, but I think it just randomly popped up in my spam folder. I am usually good about checking it every day, and up until this point nothing had landed in there. I'm not even sure what could have qualified your brilliant response as "spam", but that is a crime to figure out another day.
It is truly sad when a noble profession, such as teaching, can be so manipulated and warped that it becomes a hindrance on society. Much like the political sphere, it would seem the education "racket" has decayed the minds of the many. I had to get out of school to become more educated, and I spent many of my days full of anxiety because I didn't want to get a bad letter grade and be potentially labeled for life. I have had some narcissistic rulers at the head of the class, including two that didn't like the fact that I was successful, but didn't always show up to their lectures.
Even with a product, the MLM can still be an illegal product pyramid. The MLM opportunity often creates an artificial demand for the products. The result is the sales force are the primary consumers of those products, which would not have been consumed at all if the business opportunity had not been attached to it.
ReplyDeleteLacking a real demand for products, the only way for a participant to prosper, is to recruit an endless chain of recruits who will also consume product and if you can find enough suckers/rubes to sign up, then you may finally receive a profit.
As with most MLMs though, because people aren't making money and the products are typically pricey but of average quality, the attrition rate is high, making recruiting your focus and lifeline. The recent FTC ruling on Herbalife is puzzling because Herbalife had the parameters of a pyramid but was not charged as one, although they paid a hefty fine and had to make operational changes to ensure that they don't operate as a pyramind going forward.
Joe,
DeleteAbsolutely spot on! MLMs were created to make people more dedicated consumers! They don't care about the product or its quality. They simply want people to be emotionally attached as they continue to pour money into the "business".
I don't know if that is exactly how the FTC came down on Herbalife. It looked like Herbalife had to restructure their payment plan, change the way they solicited the business, and change the way they moved product to "discount customers" instead of distributors. It is an interesting time for Herbalife, but unfortunately this only affects about 20% of their business as the other 80% is over seas.
The FTC has finally twigged (after being assisted by US consumer groups and short-sellers who encouraged more than 1000 'Herbalife' victims to come forward) that, contrary to what 'MLM' bosses have always pretended, vitually no members of the general public have ever been buying 'MLM' wampum (based on value and demand). In reality, for decades, countless millions of temporarily deluded 'MLM' adherents have been handing over their money to 'MLM' companies in the false expectation of future reward. In this way, many billions of dollars of unlawful losing investment payments into a closed-market swindle have been laundered as lawful sales (based on value and demand).
DeleteThe above irrefutable analysis was given to regulators by myself (and others) many years ago, but this extraordinary reality was completely ignored.
In theory, the FTC 'HLF' ruling does apply to the organisation's overseas activities, because all American 'HLF' bosses, under-bosses and shills are supposedly bound by it. This means (again in theory) that if these racketeers recite the 'MLM' fairy story anywhere, the 'HLF' US front company can be closed.
In practice, a notorious 'MLM' pitchman/parasite, Donald Trump, will soon have the power to appoint the Chair of the FTC as well as countless other key federal officials.
Government of the people, by the people and for the people has now perished from the Earth. The USA will soon (quite literally) have a government of racketeers, by racketeers for racketeers.
Ironically, had senior US regulators and law enforcement agents, done their jobs, and held the likes of Donald Trump to account, he would never have been in a position to run for public office.
Dr. Doe --
ReplyDeleteI entered an extensive comment here a few days ago to give you the answer to your question about American education, and why it has become a joke. Has it gotten lost?
I'm hoping it is the comment by Anonymous October, 27 2016 at 5:02 PM. If it isn't, then I don't know what happened, because I have published all comments and nothing is in the spam folder.
DeleteNo, it was not that comment, but a subsequent one. It must be lost.
ReplyDelete