For the sake of not having to type out narcissistic personality disorder throughout this post I will shorten it to NPD. NPD is a condition characterized by a lack of feelings for other people while feeling overly important. This is normally diagnosed in adults, because it stems from a long history or pattern of behaviors that most children and teens cannot establish during development. It is easy to suggest that children and teens are narcissistic, because their cognitive development is limited due to their frontal lobe being incomplete.
Narcissistic Personality Disorder: Narcissistic Personality Disorder is a disorder that is characterized by a long-standing pattern of grandiosity (either in fantasy or actual behavior), an overwhelming need for admiration, and usually a complete lack of empathy toward others. People with this disorder often believe they are of primary importance in everybody’s life or to anyone they meet. While this pattern of behavior may be appropriate for a king in 16th Century England, it is generally considered inappropriate for most ordinary people today. (http://psychcentral.com/disorders/narcissistic-personality-disorder-symptoms/)
NPD comes in many different forms, but is predominantly found in people that cannot relate to the suffering of others and believe they are the best. This is not to be confused with a high level of self-esteem as this is important to function healthily. An example of a person with NPD can be someone who drives all negativity towards themselves. Let's say two people are talking, and the first person is explaining how they just lost a parent. The second person, who has NPD, may not acknowledge the suffering of the first person, or may simply talk about their own suffering and how much worse it is. Instead of consoling the first person that is suffering, they may make them feel worse or that their problems don't matter, because the second person's problems are worse or the only one that matters. This is why the condition is usually only established in adults, because children naturally think of themselves first, and do not inherently have the ability to sympathize with others.
Does NPD exist in MLM??? Yes, and they take it a step further by conditioning MLMers to develop their own versions of NPD. They teach MLMers to not be sympathetic to the plight of their fellow human beings, and take it a step further by simply suggesting they deserve the problems they have because they are not involved in MLM. Upline condition downline by showing them lives of grandiosity with their large houses, cars, and trips. These material achievements become the only goal as they edify themselves for downline and teach them this particular value system. MLMers teach downline that this is attainable, but are not sympathetic to downlines struggles along the way. They trick downline into believing they are helping others, but they are really helping themselves and have no regard for the losses downline encounters when they continue to put money into a "business opportunity" they can't afford. They tell downline they must continue to purchase training materials, autoships, and seminars with no regard to the other factors of the downlines lives. This in turn spirals as MLMers toward the bottom also have no sympathy for the downline underneath them that are also struggling.
NPD is a naturally occurring condition, but MLM has found a way to embrace it and change other people. They manipulate downline into thinking this is a "winning mindset", when in actuality it is a set of blinders they are putting on blocking out reality. The upline crowns and diamonds are all perfect candidates for NPD, because they have successfully made millions for themselves from the losses of others and are not remorseful.
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.
Narcissistic Personality Disorder: Narcissistic Personality Disorder is a disorder that is characterized by a long-standing pattern of grandiosity (either in fantasy or actual behavior), an overwhelming need for admiration, and usually a complete lack of empathy toward others. People with this disorder often believe they are of primary importance in everybody’s life or to anyone they meet. While this pattern of behavior may be appropriate for a king in 16th Century England, it is generally considered inappropriate for most ordinary people today. (http://psychcentral.com/disorders/narcissistic-personality-disorder-symptoms/)
NPD comes in many different forms, but is predominantly found in people that cannot relate to the suffering of others and believe they are the best. This is not to be confused with a high level of self-esteem as this is important to function healthily. An example of a person with NPD can be someone who drives all negativity towards themselves. Let's say two people are talking, and the first person is explaining how they just lost a parent. The second person, who has NPD, may not acknowledge the suffering of the first person, or may simply talk about their own suffering and how much worse it is. Instead of consoling the first person that is suffering, they may make them feel worse or that their problems don't matter, because the second person's problems are worse or the only one that matters. This is why the condition is usually only established in adults, because children naturally think of themselves first, and do not inherently have the ability to sympathize with others.
Does NPD exist in MLM??? Yes, and they take it a step further by conditioning MLMers to develop their own versions of NPD. They teach MLMers to not be sympathetic to the plight of their fellow human beings, and take it a step further by simply suggesting they deserve the problems they have because they are not involved in MLM. Upline condition downline by showing them lives of grandiosity with their large houses, cars, and trips. These material achievements become the only goal as they edify themselves for downline and teach them this particular value system. MLMers teach downline that this is attainable, but are not sympathetic to downlines struggles along the way. They trick downline into believing they are helping others, but they are really helping themselves and have no regard for the losses downline encounters when they continue to put money into a "business opportunity" they can't afford. They tell downline they must continue to purchase training materials, autoships, and seminars with no regard to the other factors of the downlines lives. This in turn spirals as MLMers toward the bottom also have no sympathy for the downline underneath them that are also struggling.
NPD is a naturally occurring condition, but MLM has found a way to embrace it and change other people. They manipulate downline into thinking this is a "winning mindset", when in actuality it is a set of blinders they are putting on blocking out reality. The upline crowns and diamonds are all perfect candidates for NPD, because they have successfully made millions for themselves from the losses of others and are not remorseful.
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.
Amway's biggest defender, David Steadson, AKA "IBOFightback" is a classic NPD example.
ReplyDeleteI haven't personally had any experiences with David steadson, but have read a lot about him and his nonsense. I think it would be a great post to simply dissect his writings and those of other IBOs that defend Amway.
ReplyDeleteOne of his biggest contentions was that "retail sales" can be technically all IBOs (downline are customers) or the 70% rule.
ReplyDeleteIn light of the FTC ruling on Herbalife, his argument has no leg to stand on.
It is truly bizarre that he would try to defend a 1979 court case incorrectly. The courts specifically said that Amway could only count retail sales to customers and not distributors toward the less than 70% rule.
DeleteRemember that Steadson was a well paid whore-on-retainer for Amway, so his behavior might simply be explained in terms of avarice. The fact that he moved on to defend other MLMs shows that he is basically an opportunist who follows the scent of corporate money.
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