Regular Blog readers will know that back in the 1990s, members of my family in the north of England underwent sudden radical personality transformations as a result of their falling under the malign influence of the American-based organisation known as 'Amway' (corruption of the 'American Way').
Although I immediately realised that my relatives had become involved with some sort of pyramid scheme, and that their egos prevented them from facing reality, initially, I had little conception of the full horror lurking behind their weird new behaviour. To be honest, I'd never heard of 'Prosperity Gospel' groups like 'Amway.' My family situation seemed to be unreal and absurd: rather than dangerous. Although a couple of friends tried to warn me that 'Amway' was a mind-bending cult similar to 'Scientology,' I dismissed these concerns as alarmist. By the time I became fully-informed, it was too late to save my family.
In brief, I witnessed my older brother (a previously scruffy, depressed and deeply-dissatisfied, '30 something' high school teacher) turn into a cross between a religious missionary and a foot-in-the door salesman. His new (well-groomed) appearance and (wildly-optimistic) personality were based on his absolute conviction that within 10 years all supermarkets were going to be closed in the UK, because the 'Amway Multi-Level Marketing Direct Selling Business Model' was 'taking over.'
.At the height of his guided 'Amway' delusion, my brother stared at me and, in all seriousness, insisted that there were literally billions at stake and that I would kick myself in the future for not claiming my share. All rational common-sense arguments, and even attempts at humour, were blocked by a stream of scripted 'MLM' clichés.
For several years, my brother remained dissociated from external reality, becoming an obedient, unquestioning, jargon-spouting robot 'duplicating a proven 2-5 year plan to achieve total financial freedom.' i.e. Handing over around $200 per month in exchange for banal, exorbitantly-priced and effectively-unsaleable 'Amway' household products, whilst working long hours systematically contacting anyone, and everyone, he could think of, then reciting a 'positive' recruitment script in an attempt to persuade them to 'duplicate the same proven 2-5 plan.' Indeed, I later discovered that core-'Amway' adherents are widely-referred to as 'Ambots'
I eventually tried to bring my brother back to reality by sending him video recordings of destitute, and confused, British ex-Ambots (discovered in S. West England by television journalists working for HTV). These witnesses now confessed to having wasted tens of thousands of $, and years of their lives, duplicating the same 'Amway plan.' However, my brother was convinced that these were 'negative whining losers' or even paid actors - part of a campaign of misinformation and fake news - 'Amway' was being unjustly attacked by a biased left wing media controlled by the 'enemies of free-enterprise.'
When I told my brother that I had complained to UK regulators and legislators that 'Amway' is a fraud and a cult, I was told that I was trying to destroy not only his business out of jealousy, but also the entire 'Amway business opportunity', and that I would be disowned by my family.
In 1996, I became the target of a vicious character assassination campaign. Thanks to my brother passing information to his 'Amway' handlers, almost everyone whom I'd been in contact with (including members of the UK parliament) was sent a copy of an attorney's letter addressed to me. This sought to misrepresent my specific complaints and falsely-portrayed me as an ill-informed, child-like fantasist involved in a 'vendetta' with my older brother who just happened to work for 'Amway,' an entirely legal direct selling company. Furthermore, the poison pen letter informed me of the circulation of a second document signed by my brother in which he had expanded on 'Amway's' attorney's 'family vendetta' narrative and insisted that he personally had no complaint against the company. In conclusion, I was threatened with unspecified legal action if I continued to spread false information about 'Amway.'
I have not seen, or spoken to, my brother since the mid 1990s. At around that time, he moved into my widowed mother's home and easily took-over her thinking and behaviour, with the comic-book 'Amway' controlling-narrative supported by his handlers and slick propaganda. At this time, 'Amway UK Ltd.' had a popular veteran BBC television celebrity (Valerie Singleton*), a Conservative Member of Parliament (Andrew Rowe) and couple of self-styled 'cult experts' (Ian Howarth and Graham Baldwin) on its payroll.
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Valerie Singleton began her career at the BBC in the 1960s as a children's television presenter. She eventually presented a weekly business magazine show, 'The Money Programme.' By the 1990s, Valerie Singleton had been very publicly sacked from the BBC following a scandal. She then made a classic 'fake news' propaganda/recruitment video for 'Amway UK Ltd.' in which she played the role of an independent business journalist interviewing typical 'Amway Distributors.' These Ambots claimed to be earning money and were fed soft (scripted) questions by Ms. Singleton, who nodded in passive agreement to their misleading (scripted) explanation of why 'Multi-level Marketing schemes are not pyramid schemes.'
Prior to Ms. Singleton, another iconic veteran British televison celebrity, Michael Aspel ( a former BBC News reader: turned chat show host) had also been employed by 'Amway UK Ltd.' His agent subsequently revealed to me that Mr. Aspel had (at first) refused, but had eventually been persuaded to make a video for 'Amway' after the company offered to donate £30 000 to his favourite charity.
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To quash any lingering doubts, my brother was even able to show my mother a video recording of veteran British actor, Sir Roger Moore, thanking 'Amway' for supporting UNICEF.
For the first time, full page colour 'Amway' adverts also appeared in news supplements (including 'The Sunday Express' which was read by my mother). This expensive propaganda featured two prosperous-looking models wearing classic flying jackets, posing in lush English countryside with a rare and valuable 1930s Lagonda sports car. The caption read, 'If we'd known how easy it would be to go into business, we'd have done it years ago.' It was no coincidence that these ritual Utopian images of a clean-cut white hetrosexual 'Amway' couple enjoying limitless prosperity and freedom, featured models who were the same age and physical types as my brother and his girlfriend.
When I went to my mother's home accompanied by her Member of Parliament, my mother was shielded by my brother's Ambot girlfriend and the door was closed in our face. The last time I met with my mother was in 1997. At that time, she was genuinely paranoid - believing that I was being paid by the British inventor/industrialist, James Dyson (who was involved in a lawsuit in the USA with 'Amway') to spread lies about 'Amway' in the UK. My mother (who suffered from a weak heart and diabetes) had allowed me to enter her home, but when I tried to reason with her, she grabbed at my wrists and angrily told me that:
- 'Amway' couldn't possibly be a fraud, because my brother had local police officers and tax officials in his group.
- My brother was now a 'financial consultant' who worked with lawyers and accountants.
- 'Amway' was supported by members of Mrs.Thatcher's Conservative government.
- 'Amway' had given money to charity.
- I needed psychiatric treatment.
- I was trying kill her with lies about my brother's 'business' to steal her money.
- If I didn't leave her home, she would call the police and have me arrested.
My mother died in 2004. I did not have any direct contact with her for the last 7 years of her life. My brother made no attempt to inform me of her death until 6 months afterwards. At that time, not even my mother's own attorney knew that she was dead. My brother had placed no announcement in the local paper and the funeral was by invitation only. Unknown to the same attorney, at the instigation of my brother and his 'Amway' handlers, my mother had made a later (overriding) will with another firm of attorneys to the exclusive benefit of my brother. He was also named as her the sole executor. However, virtually everything that my mother owned (including two valuable houses) had already been transferred into joint-ownership with my brother. In reality, for several years, these considerable capital assets had been used for the benefit of his 'Amway' handlers. My brother had given up his teaching job to become a full-time 'Amway' proselytiser. i.e. He had lured victims into de facto slavery by pretending that his 'retirement' and new-found wealth was 'the result of his exact duplication of the proven 2-5 year plan.'
Prior to these disturbing events, in the hopes of rescuing my family, I had continued to gather evidence about 'Amway' and so-called 'MLM.' I had sent this to my mother's attorney and used it to support my ongoing complaints to UK government regulators. However, although my mother's attorney sympathised, he felt obliged not to intervene. Legalistically, there is no such thing as a cultic racket in the UK and consequently, there is no dedicated agency of law enforcement to complain to.
During my research, I had travelled to the USA and met with Eric Scheibeler, a former federal auditor who had been enslaved by the pernicious 'Amway' narrative for 10 years. He was writing a painfully-frank account of his nightmare experience and eventual escape. Eric showed me evidence proving that lurking behind 'Amway' was 'The First Assembly of God' (a 'Pentacostalist/Dominionist Church') and that high level 'Amway' initiates were conditioned to believe that because 'God' spoke directly to 'Amway's leaders, critics of the organisation were, therefore, the agents of 'Satan.'
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The following is a transcript of a recording (recovered from Eric Scheibeler) entitled: ‘How to Handle Negative Websites’, produced and distributed by the ‘InterNet Services Corporation,’ a structure which was registered in the USA as a ‘privately-controlled limited-liability commercial company’ (apparently independent of ‘Amway’), but owned by ‘Amway Diamond Distributors’, Dexter and Birdie Yager.
‘I'm convinced more and more each day that this (‘Amway’) business was God's idea. What I'm saying is God created this (‘Amway’) business so that we could pull families together and help people — and the Devil does not like that ! If you don't believe there's a Devil, go on the Internet ! Man I'm telling you, there's a Devil ! The Devil does not like this (‘Amway’) business ! - He does not like the unity in this (Amway’) business ! All I want to say to you is: guys, if I were the Devil and I saw a business that was keeping marriages together, where that men learned how to love their wife … they're taught from stage in Leadership sessions how to love their wife … where women are taught how to really integrate the marriage … the husband and wife relationship … where parents are taught how to bring up their children and encourage them to speak life and positive things into them so that those children have good healthy self-images and believe that they can really do anything that they put their minds to do . If I saw a business that was responsible for holding those marriages and families together, and getting people out of debt, and learning how to treat people with dignity, respect and kindness … a business that gave people hope for freedom, hope for their financial future … that a person could not even succeed in this (‘Amway’) business without helping somebody else, and that the more people you help the more money you make… a business that teaches the principles of morals and ethics and integrity, that gives dignity to human life, that validates marriages an institution that should be reverenced that should not be put down or criticised or belittled .… If I saw a business that did all those things and so much more for humanity .… If I were the Devil, I'd hate it with a passion ! And I am convinced that not only does Satan hate the Church, I'm convinced with all my heart that Satan has good reason for hating this (‘Amway’) business. He has good reason for hating Dexter and Birdie and every Leader in their organisation. Satan hates this (‘Amway’) business with a passion, because this (‘Amway’) business stands for everything he hates ! And if you want to know whose behind those Websites, all I ask you is, who could it be… huh ? … Could it be Satan ?’
Pastor Mark Gorman 2001
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Eric Scheibeler and his wife had previously been 'Amway' shills - shining examples of 'MLM' success who were presented in the propaganda as having 'fulfilled their Dreams and Goals of total financial freedom by exactly duplicating the plan.'
The Scheibelers retained records proving that, in reality, they had lost at least $100 000. They had been conditioned to continue to 'duplicate the plan' no matter what suffering this entailed. They had maintained their insolvent 'MLM' activity through the reckless dissipation of all their mental, physical and financial resources. They were now destitute, exhausted and in fear of their lives. False rumours had been spread amongst the 'Amway' faithful that Eric had lost all his 'MLM' profits gambling in Las Vegas, and was trying to lay the blame on others for his own personal failings. All reference to the Sheibelers had been removed from 'Amway' propaganda.
Eric Sheibleler was blocked from filing suit in the USA due to clauses in the take-it-or-leave- it annual 'Amway Distributor' contracts, ten of which he had been obliged to sign.
I eventually arranged for Eric Scheibeler to come to the UK, where he met with senior regulators including the (then) UK Deputy Inspector of Companies, Cliff Calaghan. However, it wasn't until 2007, almost 3 full years after my mother's death, that the Company Investigation Branch of the UK Dept. of Trade and Industry finally took action. An investigation (comprising the seizure of truck-loads of documentary evidence) led to a Public Interest Bankruptcy Petition being filed in the UK High Court against 'Amway UK Ltd.' on the grounds that, for years, the company had been collecting approximately $100 sign-up fees contrary to UK trading schemes law. When taken into consideration as a debit rather than a credit, these substantial illegal revenues would automatically render the company bankrupt. In private, I was assured by senior UK regulators that, once the company was closed-down on these very limited grounds, a full-scale criminal fraud investigation would be launched into what lay behind it. One senior regulator, Peter Bott, privately described 'Amway' as being like the 'KKK' in the 1920s. Another regulator privately warned me that, due to the vast amount of money involved, my life could be in danger.
UK regulators discovered that, when examined in isolation, 'Amway UK Ltd.' was a permanently-insolvent (and apparently pointless) company that had recently declared accumulated net-losses of more than $15 millions (despite collecting illegal sign-up fees). The sinking ship had been kept afloat with regular cash injections from a labyrinth of foreign-based companies centrally-controlled by 'Amway's' big bosses in the USA. Yet between 1973 and 2006, around one million UK and Irish citizens had signed take-it-or-leave-it annual 'Distributor' contracts with 'Amway UK Ltd.' More than 50% of these people had never renewed their first contract. The so-called 'Amway/MLM income opportunity' was an ever-shifting illusion of 'stability and viability.' The '2-5 year plan' was indeed proven: it was proven to be a plan for committing financial suicide.
The real money had been made from peddling a never-ending chain of would-be 'Amway' millionaires a never-ending 'step-by-step plan to achieve total financial freedom' in the form of publications, recordings, tickets to meetings, etc. However, these fraudulent materials had been procured, and sold, by a parallel labyrinth of private companies (including 'International Business Systems UK Ltd.' and 'World-Wide Dream Builders UK Ltd.'). When UK government agents began to investigate, these apparently independent companies were voluntarily closed, and their officers were excommunicated from 'Amway.' All reference to these previously-exemplary UK shills was immediately air-brushed out of the propaganda.
Privately, UK regulators confirmed the accuracy of my own research and analysis. e.g. 'Amway' mass rallies, held at the UK's national exhibition Centre, had regularly generated 15 thousands ticket sales at more than $150 per ticket. Privately, the same regulators agreed with my estimate that (over a 34 year period) up to one billion dollars (largely in cash) had probably been stolen from the UK via this secondary advance fee fraud, and shipped to 'Amway' under-bosses (like the Yagers) in the USA. The (apparently pointless) 'Amway UK Ltd.' had really been the kitsch bait to lure ill-informed persons into a blame-the-victim trap. The overwhelming majority had abandoned 'Amway' within a short time, but a significant fanatical core-minority (like my brother) with access to independent funds, had remained enslaved, sometimes for decades. Mysteriously, UK government attorneys made no serious attempt to explain to the High Court what had really been occurring. I was told that the court proceedings would be closed to the public, but this was a lie.
Even more mysteriously, the Judge (Mr. Justice Norris) never asked the one blindingly obvious question:
What possible lawful reason could anyone have for wasting millions of dollars on legal fees to prevent such an apparently disastrous company as 'Amway UK Ltd.' from being closed?
Thus, 'Amway's insolvent British front company survived a restricted civil investigation/prosecution without any further penalty, simply through its own attorneys pretending that the company's officers had been completely unaware that they had been breaking trading schemes legislation or of the existence of the secondary fraud, and by promising Judge Norris that the offending 'Amway Diamond' agents had already been removed under the company's own rules and that henceforth, the company's officers and agents would comply with UK law.
The rejection of the Public Interest Bankruptcy Petition against 'Amway UK Ltd.' was appealed by the UK government's attorneys only on the grounds that it broke established legal precedent, but this was declined by a 2 to 1 majority in the Court of Appeal. Consequently, no well-informed wider-criminal investigation has taken place.
For several months during the UK government probe, 'Amway UK Ltd.' had a former Deputy Director of the UK Serious Fraud Office, Peter Kiernan, on its payroll. Mr Kiernan, who had attempted to negotiate a private deal with UK regulators to halt the forthcoming public trial, resigned from his job with 'Amway's' UK attorneys (Eversheds LLP) before the government's case came to court, but only after speaking with me. He has never issued any public statement on these, and other related, matters. Over the years, the UK SFO has received detailed complaints from me, but its agents have absolutely denied any responsibility to investigate 'MLM' companies.
As a direct result of 45 years of chronic regulatory/judicial/legislative/media failure, currently, there are several 'Amway' copy-cat blame-the-victim 'Multi Level Marketing/Prosperity Gospel' cultic rackets operating in plain sight in the UK without any law enforcement agency monitoring them. Indeed, a large number of UK police officers (desperate to get out of the service) are known to have fallen victim to 'MLM' rackets. Other vulnerable target groups have been teachers, farmers and National Health Service employees.
I estimate that, currently, around 200 000-300 000 ill-informed UK citizens are being churned through these demonstrably ciminogenic organisations annually (2-3 millions per decade), whilst this key-information has been deliberately withheld from the public. Lately, over 70% of UK 'MLM' recruits have been women; a particularly vulnerable target group are new mothers who feel guilty about returning to traditional employment.
For many years, another private company known as the 'UK Direct Selling Association' has been unlawfully broadcasting outrageous misinformation, hiding the true (ever-shifting and economically-unviable) nature the 'MLM' phenomenon. The pernicious fairy story that '400 000 UK citizens operate direct selling businesses' and that 'the Direct Selling industry has lowered unemployment and contributes over £1.5 billion to the UK's GDP,' has regularly been bleated by journalists, and even legislators, without the slightest challenge to its authenticity. Indeed, so-called 'DSA's exist all over the world. Again, they are centrally-controlled from the USA and they have been the propaganda-arm of a classic organised crime syndicate. In reality, so-called 'DSA's have formed part of a pattern of ongoing major racketeering activity (as defined by the US federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organisations Act,1970).
Without any official acknowledgement, let alone thanks or support, for more than 20 years I have been financing my own independent attempt to educate the public as to how this type of latter-day cultic racket functions.
Meanwhile, the members of the 'MLM' crime syndicate have been allowed to acquire billions of dollars unlawfully with which they have financed the prosecution a largely-unopposed information war - infiltrating traditional culture and buying political protection, on a scale which beggars belief.
www.bbc.com/news/av/stories-43049230/hun-this-could-be-your-opportunity-to-get-rich
In the above linked video, BBC journalists (no doubt under the guidance of lawyers) did not begin to identify so-called 'Multi Level Marketing' companies as having been the corporate-fronts for a world-wide criminogenic phenomenon. However, why should they?, when the fact that 'MLM income opportunity' cultic rackets have been allowed to operate in the UK for decades (right under the noses of: specialist financial journalists, regulators, law enforcement agents, legislators, etc.), has made the full-truth almost unthinkable.
These are just three of the common-sense questions which could have been put to the jargon-spouting 'MLM' shills who were interviewed for the BBC report, and who were apparently not asked to provide quantifiable evidence to support their anecdotal statements:
- How many persons in total have signed annual 'distributor contracts' to participate in your company's 'MLM income opportunity,' since it was first instigated ?
- What percentage of these persons have remained under contract for: more than one year, two years, three years, four years, five years, etc.?
- Could you offer any lawful reason why the key-information contained in the truthful answers to the above questions has never been disclosed publicly?
To their credit, the BBC journalists (and their legal advisers) did allow the word, 'cult,' to be broadcast in the report. They have also confirmed that, in the UK, the overwhelming majority of persons currently being ensnared by the pernicious 'MLM' fairy story are women.
David Brear (copyright 2018)
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Although I immediately realised that my relatives had become involved with some sort of pyramid scheme, and that their egos prevented them from facing reality, initially, I had little conception of the full horror lurking behind their weird new behaviour. To be honest, I'd never heard of 'Prosperity Gospel' groups like 'Amway.' My family situation seemed to be unreal and absurd: rather than dangerous. Although a couple of friends tried to warn me that 'Amway' was a mind-bending cult similar to 'Scientology,' I dismissed these concerns as alarmist. By the time I became fully-informed, it was too late to save my family.
In brief, I witnessed my older brother (a previously scruffy, depressed and deeply-dissatisfied, '30 something' high school teacher) turn into a cross between a religious missionary and a foot-in-the door salesman. His new (well-groomed) appearance and (wildly-optimistic) personality were based on his absolute conviction that within 10 years all supermarkets were going to be closed in the UK, because the 'Amway Multi-Level Marketing Direct Selling Business Model' was 'taking over.'
For several years, my brother remained dissociated from external reality, becoming an obedient, unquestioning, jargon-spouting robot 'duplicating a proven 2-5 year plan to achieve total financial freedom.' i.e. Handing over around $200 per month in exchange for banal, exorbitantly-priced and effectively-unsaleable 'Amway' household products, whilst working long hours systematically contacting anyone, and everyone, he could think of, then reciting a 'positive' recruitment script in an attempt to persuade them to 'duplicate the same proven 2-5 plan.' Indeed, I later discovered that core-'Amway' adherents are widely-referred to as 'Ambots'
I have not seen, or spoken to, my brother since the mid 1990s. At around that time, he moved into my widowed mother's home and easily took-over her thinking and behaviour, with the comic-book 'Amway' controlling-narrative supported by his handlers and slick propaganda. At this time, 'Amway UK Ltd.' had a popular veteran BBC television celebrity (Valerie Singleton*), a Conservative Member of Parliament (Andrew Rowe) and couple of self-styled 'cult experts' (Ian Howarth and Graham Baldwin) on its payroll.
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Prior to Ms. Singleton, another iconic veteran British televison celebrity, Michael Aspel ( a former BBC News reader: turned chat show host) had also been employed by 'Amway UK Ltd.' His agent subsequently revealed to me that Mr. Aspel had (at first) refused, but had eventually been persuaded to make a video for 'Amway' after the company offered to donate £30 000 to his favourite charity.
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To quash any lingering doubts, my brother was even able to show my mother a video recording of veteran British actor, Sir Roger Moore, thanking 'Amway' for supporting UNICEF.
For the first time, full page colour 'Amway' adverts also appeared in news supplements (including 'The Sunday Express' which was read by my mother). This expensive propaganda featured two prosperous-looking models wearing classic flying jackets, posing in lush English countryside with a rare and valuable 1930s Lagonda sports car. The caption read, 'If we'd known how easy it would be to go into business, we'd have done it years ago.' It was no coincidence that these ritual Utopian images of a clean-cut white hetrosexual 'Amway' couple enjoying limitless prosperity and freedom, featured models who were the same age and physical types as my brother and his girlfriend.
When I went to my mother's home accompanied by her Member of Parliament, my mother was shielded by my brother's Ambot girlfriend and the door was closed in our face. The last time I met with my mother was in 1997. At that time, she was genuinely paranoid - believing that I was being paid by the British inventor/industrialist, James Dyson (who was involved in a lawsuit in the USA with 'Amway') to spread lies about 'Amway' in the UK. My mother (who suffered from a weak heart and diabetes) had allowed me to enter her home, but when I tried to reason with her, she grabbed at my wrists and angrily told me that:
- 'Amway' couldn't possibly be a fraud, because my brother had local police officers and tax officials in his group.
- My brother was now a 'financial consultant' who worked with lawyers and accountants.
- 'Amway' was supported by members of Mrs.Thatcher's Conservative government.
- 'Amway' had given money to charity.
- I needed psychiatric treatment.
- I was trying kill her with lies about my brother's 'business' to steal her money.
- If I didn't leave her home, she would call the police and have me arrested.
Prior to these disturbing events, in the hopes of rescuing my family, I had continued to gather evidence about 'Amway' and so-called 'MLM.' I had sent this to my mother's attorney and used it to support my ongoing complaints to UK government regulators. However, although my mother's attorney sympathised, he felt obliged not to intervene. Legalistically, there is no such thing as a cultic racket in the UK and consequently, there is no dedicated agency of law enforcement to complain to.
During my research, I had travelled to the USA and met with Eric Scheibeler, a former federal auditor who had been enslaved by the pernicious 'Amway' narrative for 10 years. He was writing a painfully-frank account of his nightmare experience and eventual escape. Eric showed me evidence proving that lurking behind 'Amway' was 'The First Assembly of God' (a 'Pentacostalist/Dominionist Church') and that high level 'Amway' initiates were conditioned to believe that because 'God' spoke directly to 'Amway's leaders, critics of the organisation were, therefore, the agents of 'Satan.'
_________________________________________________________________________
The following is a transcript of a recording (recovered from Eric Scheibeler) entitled: ‘How to Handle Negative Websites’, produced and distributed by the ‘InterNet Services Corporation,’ a structure which was registered in the USA as a ‘privately-controlled limited-liability commercial company’ (apparently independent of ‘Amway’), but owned by ‘Amway Diamond Distributors’, Dexter and Birdie Yager.
Eric Scheibeler and his wife had previously been 'Amway' shills - shining examples of 'MLM' success who were presented in the propaganda as having 'fulfilled their Dreams and Goals of total financial freedom by exactly duplicating the plan.'
The Scheibelers retained records proving that, in reality, they had lost at least $100 000. They had been conditioned to continue to 'duplicate the plan' no matter what suffering this entailed. They had maintained their insolvent 'MLM' activity through the reckless dissipation of all their mental, physical and financial resources. They were now destitute, exhausted and in fear of their lives. False rumours had been spread amongst the 'Amway' faithful that Eric had lost all his 'MLM' profits gambling in Las Vegas, and was trying to lay the blame on others for his own personal failings. All reference to the Sheibelers had been removed from 'Amway' propaganda.
Eric Sheibleler was blocked from filing suit in the USA due to clauses in the take-it-or-leave- it annual 'Amway Distributor' contracts, ten of which he had been obliged to sign.
I eventually arranged for Eric Scheibeler to come to the UK, where he met with senior regulators including the (then) UK Deputy Inspector of Companies, Cliff Calaghan. However, it wasn't until 2007, almost 3 full years after my mother's death, that the Company Investigation Branch of the UK Dept. of Trade and Industry finally took action. An investigation (comprising the seizure of truck-loads of documentary evidence) led to a Public Interest Bankruptcy Petition being filed in the UK High Court against 'Amway UK Ltd.' on the grounds that, for years, the company had been collecting approximately $100 sign-up fees contrary to UK trading schemes law. When taken into consideration as a debit rather than a credit, these substantial illegal revenues would automatically render the company bankrupt. In private, I was assured by senior UK regulators that, once the company was closed-down on these very limited grounds, a full-scale criminal fraud investigation would be launched into what lay behind it. One senior regulator, Peter Bott, privately described 'Amway' as being like the 'KKK' in the 1920s. Another regulator privately warned me that, due to the vast amount of money involved, my life could be in danger.
_________________________________________________________________________
The following is a transcript of a recording (recovered from Eric Scheibeler) entitled: ‘How to Handle Negative Websites’, produced and distributed by the ‘InterNet Services Corporation,’ a structure which was registered in the USA as a ‘privately-controlled limited-liability commercial company’ (apparently independent of ‘Amway’), but owned by ‘Amway Diamond Distributors’, Dexter and Birdie Yager.
‘I'm convinced more and more each day that this (‘Amway’) business was God's idea. What I'm saying is God created this (‘Amway’) business so that we could pull families together and help people — and the Devil does not like that ! If you don't believe there's a Devil, go on the Internet ! Man I'm telling you, there's a Devil ! The Devil does not like this (‘Amway’) business ! - He does not like the unity in this (Amway’) business ! All I want to say to you is: guys, if I were the Devil and I saw a business that was keeping marriages together, where that men learned how to love their wife … they're taught from stage in Leadership sessions how to love their wife … where women are taught how to really integrate the marriage … the husband and wife relationship … where parents are taught how to bring up their children and encourage them to speak life and positive things into them so that those children have good healthy self-images and believe that they can really do anything that they put their minds to do . If I saw a business that was responsible for holding those marriages and families together, and getting people out of debt, and learning how to treat people with dignity, respect and kindness … a business that gave people hope for freedom, hope for their financial future … that a person could not even succeed in this (‘Amway’) business without helping somebody else, and that the more people you help the more money you make… a business that teaches the principles of morals and ethics and integrity, that gives dignity to human life, that validates marriages an institution that should be reverenced that should not be put down or criticised or belittled .… If I saw a business that did all those things and so much more for humanity .… If I were the Devil, I'd hate it with a passion ! And I am convinced that not only does Satan hate the Church, I'm convinced with all my heart that Satan has good reason for hating this (‘Amway’) business. He has good reason for hating Dexter and Birdie and every Leader in their organisation. Satan hates this (‘Amway’) business with a passion, because this (‘Amway’) business stands for everything he hates ! And if you want to know whose behind those Websites, all I ask you is, who could it be… huh ? … Could it be Satan ?’
Pastor Mark Gorman 2001
________________________________________________________________________
Eric Scheibeler and his wife had previously been 'Amway' shills - shining examples of 'MLM' success who were presented in the propaganda as having 'fulfilled their Dreams and Goals of total financial freedom by exactly duplicating the plan.'
The Scheibelers retained records proving that, in reality, they had lost at least $100 000. They had been conditioned to continue to 'duplicate the plan' no matter what suffering this entailed. They had maintained their insolvent 'MLM' activity through the reckless dissipation of all their mental, physical and financial resources. They were now destitute, exhausted and in fear of their lives. False rumours had been spread amongst the 'Amway' faithful that Eric had lost all his 'MLM' profits gambling in Las Vegas, and was trying to lay the blame on others for his own personal failings. All reference to the Sheibelers had been removed from 'Amway' propaganda.
Eric Sheibleler was blocked from filing suit in the USA due to clauses in the take-it-or-leave- it annual 'Amway Distributor' contracts, ten of which he had been obliged to sign.
I eventually arranged for Eric Scheibeler to come to the UK, where he met with senior regulators including the (then) UK Deputy Inspector of Companies, Cliff Calaghan. However, it wasn't until 2007, almost 3 full years after my mother's death, that the Company Investigation Branch of the UK Dept. of Trade and Industry finally took action. An investigation (comprising the seizure of truck-loads of documentary evidence) led to a Public Interest Bankruptcy Petition being filed in the UK High Court against 'Amway UK Ltd.' on the grounds that, for years, the company had been collecting approximately $100 sign-up fees contrary to UK trading schemes law. When taken into consideration as a debit rather than a credit, these substantial illegal revenues would automatically render the company bankrupt. In private, I was assured by senior UK regulators that, once the company was closed-down on these very limited grounds, a full-scale criminal fraud investigation would be launched into what lay behind it. One senior regulator, Peter Bott, privately described 'Amway' as being like the 'KKK' in the 1920s. Another regulator privately warned me that, due to the vast amount of money involved, my life could be in danger.
The real money had been made from peddling a never-ending chain of would-be 'Amway' millionaires a never-ending 'step-by-step plan to achieve total financial freedom' in the form of publications, recordings, tickets to meetings, etc. However, these fraudulent materials had been procured, and sold, by a parallel labyrinth of private companies (including 'International Business Systems UK Ltd.' and 'World-Wide Dream Builders UK Ltd.'). When UK government agents began to investigate, these apparently independent companies were voluntarily closed, and their officers were excommunicated from 'Amway.' All reference to these previously-exemplary UK shills was immediately air-brushed out of the propaganda.
Privately, UK regulators confirmed the accuracy of my own research and analysis. e.g. 'Amway' mass rallies, held at the UK's national exhibition Centre, had regularly generated 15 thousands ticket sales at more than $150 per ticket. Privately, the same regulators agreed with my estimate that (over a 34 year period) up to one billion dollars (largely in cash) had probably been stolen from the UK via this secondary advance fee fraud, and shipped to 'Amway' under-bosses (like the Yagers) in the USA. The (apparently pointless) 'Amway UK Ltd.' had really been the kitsch bait to lure ill-informed persons into a blame-the-victim trap. The overwhelming majority had abandoned 'Amway' within a short time, but a significant fanatical core-minority (like my brother) with access to independent funds, had remained enslaved, sometimes for decades. Mysteriously, UK government attorneys made no serious attempt to explain to the High Court what had really been occurring. I was told that the court proceedings would be closed to the public, but this was a lie.
Even more mysteriously, the Judge (Mr. Justice Norris) never asked the one blindingly obvious question:
What possible lawful reason could anyone have for wasting millions of dollars on legal fees to prevent such an apparently disastrous company as 'Amway UK Ltd.' from being closed?
Thus, 'Amway's insolvent British front company survived a restricted civil investigation/prosecution without any further penalty, simply through its own attorneys pretending that the company's officers had been completely unaware that they had been breaking trading schemes legislation or of the existence of the secondary fraud, and by promising Judge Norris that the offending 'Amway Diamond' agents had already been removed under the company's own rules and that henceforth, the company's officers and agents would comply with UK law.
The rejection of the Public Interest Bankruptcy Petition against 'Amway UK Ltd.' was appealed by the UK government's attorneys only on the grounds that it broke established legal precedent, but this was declined by a 2 to 1 majority in the Court of Appeal. Consequently, no well-informed wider-criminal investigation has taken place.
For several months during the UK government probe, 'Amway UK Ltd.' had a former Deputy Director of the UK Serious Fraud Office, Peter Kiernan, on its payroll. Mr Kiernan, who had attempted to negotiate a private deal with UK regulators to halt the forthcoming public trial, resigned from his job with 'Amway's' UK attorneys (Eversheds LLP) before the government's case came to court, but only after speaking with me. He has never issued any public statement on these, and other related, matters. Over the years, the UK SFO has received detailed complaints from me, but its agents have absolutely denied any responsibility to investigate 'MLM' companies.
As a direct result of 45 years of chronic regulatory/judicial/legislative/media failure, currently, there are several 'Amway' copy-cat blame-the-victim 'Multi Level Marketing/Prosperity Gospel' cultic rackets operating in plain sight in the UK without any law enforcement agency monitoring them. Indeed, a large number of UK police officers (desperate to get out of the service) are known to have fallen victim to 'MLM' rackets. Other vulnerable target groups have been teachers, farmers and National Health Service employees.
I estimate that, currently, around 200 000-300 000 ill-informed UK citizens are being churned through these demonstrably ciminogenic organisations annually (2-3 millions per decade), whilst this key-information has been deliberately withheld from the public. Lately, over 70% of UK 'MLM' recruits have been women; a particularly vulnerable target group are new mothers who feel guilty about returning to traditional employment.
For many years, another private company known as the 'UK Direct Selling Association' has been unlawfully broadcasting outrageous misinformation, hiding the true (ever-shifting and economically-unviable) nature the 'MLM' phenomenon. The pernicious fairy story that '400 000 UK citizens operate direct selling businesses' and that 'the Direct Selling industry has lowered unemployment and contributes over £1.5 billion to the UK's GDP,' has regularly been bleated by journalists, and even legislators, without the slightest challenge to its authenticity. Indeed, so-called 'DSA's exist all over the world. Again, they are centrally-controlled from the USA and they have been the propaganda-arm of a classic organised crime syndicate. In reality, so-called 'DSA's have formed part of a pattern of ongoing major racketeering activity (as defined by the US federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organisations Act,1970).
Without any official acknowledgement, let alone thanks or support, for more than 20 years I have been financing my own independent attempt to educate the public as to how this type of latter-day cultic racket functions.
Meanwhile, the members of the 'MLM' crime syndicate have been allowed to acquire billions of dollars unlawfully with which they have financed the prosecution a largely-unopposed information war - infiltrating traditional culture and buying political protection, on a scale which beggars belief.
In the above linked video, BBC journalists (no doubt under the guidance of lawyers) did not begin to identify so-called 'Multi Level Marketing' companies as having been the corporate-fronts for a world-wide criminogenic phenomenon. However, why should they?, when the fact that 'MLM income opportunity' cultic rackets have been allowed to operate in the UK for decades (right under the noses of: specialist financial journalists, regulators, law enforcement agents, legislators, etc.), has made the full-truth almost unthinkable.
These are just three of the common-sense questions which could have been put to the jargon-spouting 'MLM' shills who were interviewed for the BBC report, and who were apparently not asked to provide quantifiable evidence to support their anecdotal statements:
- How many persons in total have signed annual 'distributor contracts' to participate in your company's 'MLM income opportunity,' since it was first instigated ?
- What percentage of these persons have remained under contract for: more than one year, two years, three years, four years, five years, etc.?
- Could you offer any lawful reason why the key-information contained in the truthful answers to the above questions has never been disclosed publicly?
To their credit, the BBC journalists (and their legal advisers) did allow the word, 'cult,' to be broadcast in the report. They have also confirmed that, in the UK, the overwhelming majority of persons currently being ensnared by the pernicious 'MLM' fairy story are women.
David Brear (copyright 2018)
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For a sobering illustration of how the Internet (in its present effectively-unregulated form) has become a platform to propagate any old comic-book drivel as reality, I would invite Blog readers to take a look at an American totalistic movement in the initial stages of instigation. This has become known as 'QAnon' - after a fictitious anonymous Internet character, 'Q,' who pretends:
...to be high level player in the 'Deep State,' but who has now decided to tell the truth to the American people.
...to be high level player in the 'Deep State,' but who has now decided to tell the truth to the American people.
In brief, 'QAnon' adherents believe that:
...Donald Trump is an enlightened, righteous and honest American - a selfless patriotic leader who, along with his Republican/military allies and other similarly-virtuous world leaders, is engaged in a war against an evil global criminal conspiracy - comprising dishonest, godless, selfish, sexually-deviant, left-wing: politicians, civil servants, senior intelligence agents, bankers, journalists, editors, the liberal Hollwood elite, etc...
and that,
until President Trump came along, an unaccountable parallel government (the 'Deep State') had been secretly taking control of the USA.
...Donald Trump is an enlightened, righteous and honest American - a selfless patriotic leader who, along with his Republican/military allies and other similarly-virtuous world leaders, is engaged in a war against an evil global criminal conspiracy - comprising dishonest, godless, selfish, sexually-deviant, left-wing: politicians, civil servants, senior intelligence agents, bankers, journalists, editors, the liberal Hollwood elite, etc...
and that,
until President Trump came along, an unaccountable parallel government (the 'Deep State') had been secretly taking control of the USA.
'QAnon' is neither original nor unique, and consequently, it cannot be fully-understood in isolation. It exhibits many of the universal identifying characteristics of a cult. Indeed, if adherents of 'QAnon' were to be directed to this article, their minds have been conditioned (by a closed-logic controlling-narrative) systematically to categorise any evidence-based information challenging their controlled model of reality, as 'misinformation' and 'fake news.'
Earlier this year, I began to send evidence-based research concerning, and analysis of, the widely-misunderstood 'Multi Level Marketing' phenomenon, to the UK Parliamentary Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Committee investigating 'disinformation' and 'fake news' following the 'Cambridge Analytica' data scandal.
'Disinformation' and 'fake news' are terms which can be more-accurately replaced by the word, propaganda - i.e. an intellectually, and emotionally, overpowering mixture of lies and half-truths tailored to fit our existing beliefs, and instinctual desires, and constantly repeated as the truth in order to modify our perception of reality and resulting behaviour.
Currently, it is generally accepted that the ruling Russian regime, headed by Vladimir Putin, has been prosecuting an information war against western democracies. One of the goals of Putin's war has been to destroy what remains of our confidence in the mainstream media, making it far easier to spread 'disinformation/fake news' via social media.
The members of the DCMS Committee have concluded that the UK faces a democratic crisis due to the spread of pernicious views and the manipulation of personal data. Amongst other things, the committee has recommended that technology companies (like 'Facebook') which have been used as (effectively unregulated) platforms to broadcast 'disinformation' and 'fake news,' should be taxed not only to fund their own regulation, but also to fund a campaign of public education to help us to identify 'disinformation' and 'fake news.'
In view of the increasingly-dangerous situation (recently acknowledged by the DCMS Committee), perhaps the UK government should consider making the study of the thought-provoking works of George Orwell compulsory, not only in all UK state-funded schools, but also in the UK parliament.
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In 1945, whilst most, contemporary mainstream commentators were unable to look beyond the ends of their noses, with a perfect sense of irony, Eric Arthur Blair a.k.a. George Orwell (1903-1950) presented fact as fiction in an insightful 'fairy story' entitled, 'Animal Farm.' He revealed that totalitarianism is merely the oppressors' fiction mistaken for fact by the oppressed.
In the same universal allegory, Orwell described how, at a time of vulnerability, almost any people's dream of a future, secure, Utopian existence can be hung over the entrance to a totalitarian deception. Indeed, the words that are always banished by totalitarian deceivers are, 'totalitarian' and 'deception.'
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It seems that it's not just members of the public who need educating about how easy it is to become controlled by reality-inverting lies presented as the truth, but also persons who set themselves up to know better than the public.
Recently, I explained how in 2016, the bosses of 'Lyoness' - an Austrian-based cultic racket peddling a fake 'income opportunity' - tried to infiltrate the UK Independence Party via one of its officials (Deputy Treasurer), Peter Jewell. Although other UKIP officials applied common-sense and immediately recognised 'Lyoness' as a wolf in sheep's clothing, Peter Jewell then ignored internal attempts by the members of UKIP's National Executive Committee to stop him from facilitating the committing of fraud. This led to one party official, Tomasz Slivnik, resigning from the UKIP NEC in protest. However, Peter Jewell was then inexplicably appointed as UKIP's 'Justice Spokesman' - a post he held throughout 2017 into 2018, but which he does not hold today. As far as I'm aware, these shameful matters have never been reported by UKIP officials to any agency of UK law enforcement. Not surprisingly, to date, UKIP officials have been more concerned with protecting the reputation of their party, than with protecting the UK public.
In the same article, I also began to explain how, earlier this year, a UKIP Member of the European Parliament, Stuart Agnew (whose name appeared on a 2016 UKIP report into 'Lyoness'), broadly accepted my analysis of 'Lyoness,' but then very recently he refused to accept my fully-deconstructed analysis of the wider 'Multi Level Marketing / income opportunity' phenomenon. Sadly, this MEP has so far preferred to trust the controlled jargon-laced statements of ill-informed former 'MLM' adherents of his acquaintance, rather than rely on quantifiable evidence. However, Stuart Agnew's eyes-wide-shut reaction just goes to show that the full-truth about the big 'MLM' lie, has become almost unthinkable to many people. This is why I've now given up trying to educate him and instead, made these matters public.
In my experience, people can either see how 'MLM' cultism functions or they can't, because for reasons of self-esteem, many people (particularly well-educated people) cannot admit to their own ignorance/vulnerability.
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Christopher Heaton-Harris (b. 1967) is a former UK Member of the the European Parliament. He is currently a Conservative member of the UK Parliament and the Under Secretary of State in the Dept. for Exiting the European Union.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Heaton-Harris |
The evidence demonstrates that Chris Heaton Harris MP has been a classic useful idiot for 'MLM' racketeers, but he is far from being alone.
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| Nicholas Edward Coleridge Boles (b. 1965) is formerly the UK Minister of State for Skills (2014-2016). He is currently a Conservative Member of the UK Parliament. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Boles Nick Boles involvement in these matters is doubly embarrassing, due to the fact that he is openly gay. www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/07/amway-anti-gay-marriage-lgbt-boycott-_n_1752674.html?guccounter=1 |
The shameful document posted below is a 2015 extract from Hansard (the official record of proceedings in the UK Parliament). If, in the light of the research and analysis contained in this article, Messrs. Heaton-Harris and Boles still believe that so-called 'MLM' companies (like 'Amway' and 'Herbalife') are entirely lawful enterprises that have offered viable income opportunities to a fully-informed public, then they are probably far too stupid to be held to account. That said, if these Honourable Members of Parliament are now able to face reality, I invite them to contact me and set the record straight.
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4.43 pm
Chris Heaton-Harris (Daventry) (Con): It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Crausby. As you know, my constituency takes the name of Daventry, but it also has a couple of nicknames. Some call it logistics central because of the number of jobs in the logistics sector there; others call it direct selling central, which is extremely relevant to the debate.
My constituency is a hub for the direct selling industry. On my southern doorstep is Avon. Its former boss, Paul Southworth OBE, is one of the most active people in Northamptonshire business politics I have ever met, and until recently he was chairman of the Northamptonshire enterprise partnership. Andy Smith, a constituent of mine, also happens to be the general manager of Amway UK and Ireland, and there a number of big direct selling businesses just down the road in Corby. For example, Cambridge Weight Plan has more than 100 jobs and exports to more than 25 other countries, and Herbalife UK is based in Middlesex, along with dozens of other companies.
I therefore try to keep a watchful eye on what is happening in the direct selling industry. I wanted to take this opportunity to remind the Minister how important the direct selling industry is to the British economy. The industry has an association—the appropriately named Direct Selling Association—and its member companies contribute about £1.6 billion a year to UK GDP. Some 400,000 people work in the industry, making it one of the largest providers of part-time working opportunities nationwide.
The industry is open to everyone. There are absolutely no barriers to entry, which is why so many mums coming back into the jobs market choose to do so by setting up their own direct selling businesses. In fact, stay-at-home mums account for 29% of direct sellers—many are attracted by the flexibility and social aspects of direct selling—and for a 20% increase in numbers between 2012-2013 and now.
If hon. Members will forgive me for being slightly political for one moment, the Opposition regularly talk down part-time job opportunities as not being proper jobs. I see things very differently. I view every part-time job provided as a massive positive. For many, the flexibility of part-time work allows them the opportunity to earn some extra money when it suits them. For some, it facilitates re-entry into the jobs market. As I said before, there are no barriers to entry in direct selling. It does not matter what age or gender people are or what culture they are from; pretty much everyone can succeed in the industry if they put their mind to it.
One need only look at the recent survey by the Direct Selling Association of its 60 member companies, which discovered that 38% of direct sellers are over 50 years old, yet the number of those under 25 entering the market has increased by 29%. It highlights the breadth of people to whom direct selling reaches out and whom it enables to work. The industry has gone from strength to strength: revenue in the sector last year increased by 7%.
That makes the direct selling industry invaluable to UK plc. Think about it: when the Opposition had some issues with how they ran the economy, jobs in some
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parts of the country were few and far between. Which industry was still recruiting new blood in those areas? The direct selling industry was. Female unemployment rose more than male joblessness after the recession. Given that 79% of direct sellers are women, the continued growth of the industry has been invaluable in aiding women back on to the employment ladder, thus helping our economic recovery. I am sure that the Chancellor would not forgive me if I did not add that such entrepreneurship is key to our long-term economic plan.
In my constituency, the unemployment claimant rate has fallen to just 1.1%, with just 600 people claiming. Youth unemployment has fallen more than 40% since 2010, and long-term unemployment has fallen by nearly half as well. That is all excellent local news for Daventry, but I am aware that not every part of the country is as fortunate as my constituency. However, I do know the direct selling industry is giving those who are harder to place in employment the chance to start their own business, no matter where they are based. Direct selling is like the Heineken of industries, operating in every part of the country no matter what the economic circumstances or social demographic. It is a phenomenal industry that, in my opinion, does not get the credit it deserves from Government or in our national press, which is why I thought this debate was needed.
In the time remaining, I will say a bit about the benefits of self-employment, and specifically about the opportunities in direct selling, including opportunities for female entrepreneurship. With the help and sponsorship of Amway, one of the biggest direct sellers, I have hosted a lunch and an afternoon tea in Parliament on the subject with some of the great and good of politics from the House of Lords, the House of Commons and local government, and business representatives and some amazing female entrepreneurs and their advocates.
Amway is the world’s No. 1 direct selling company, established in 1959, and Amway business owners operate in more than 100 markets around the world. There are more than 40,000 Amway business owners in the UK alone, selling products across a wide range of industries including skin care, cosmetics, hair care and so on. One good example of an Amway business owner is Brenda Wills. She and her daughter Sally Brinner have been working as distributors for Amway for more than 30 years. Sally was introduced to the business by her parents, who started their Amway business together in the mid-80s, and they have worked together in the industry ever since.
Sally’s parents were drawn to the prospect of owning a business that offered independence, flexibility and a chance to earn a living on their own terms. Some 30 years later, Brenda is still working from home and enjoying an income aged 81, and Sally and her own 27-year-old daughter Victoria, who has been an Amway business-owner since the age of 18, are now driving the business forward. That means three generations of the same family are part of this entrepreneurial industry, which sells products globally.
The Direct Selling Association has had a close relationship with my local university, the university of Northampton, for a number of years. Indeed, DSA representatives regularly visit the university to give talks to students about the direct selling industry, including
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on how to start up their own business. The DSA provides advice on how students can combine a direct selling business with their studies. One benefit of such a business is that it provides students with something concrete and interesting to put on their CV for life after university; it shows that they have held a position of responsibility and gained some experience in a number of areas by running their own business. Of course, it also encourages something that is almost impossible to teach—the wish, or urge, to be an entrepreneur and run a business. That is the direct selling industry’s strongest suit. Direct selling is the first and easiest of all steps on the ladder to becoming an entrepreneur.
The DSA’s experience is that many young people want to run their own business but do not know how to go about it. The direct selling industry provides a safe environment for them to take their first steps as an entrepreneur. Some stay in the industry, while others use it as a stepping stone. When I was researching material for this speech, I asked how many younger direct sellers there are in the UK and was told that there are around 75,000 direct sellers under the age of 25, 75% of whom are women. That is an amazing statistic.
As a Conservative who has set up and run businesses of my own, I hope I know how important self-employment is, but just in case the Government do not get it, let me read out part of an interview conducted last summer with the Minister for Employment, my right hon. Friend the Member for Wirral West (Esther McVey). The headline was: “‘Young people should think about starting their own business instead of university,’ says employment minister.” She said that, for many teenagers, being their own boss would be better than embarking on a career with a large firm, and she wanted to encourage people who had the “seed” of an idea to pursue it, instead of feeling pressured to follow friends or family into taking a degree. She said that the choices made by people to become apprentices or self-employed are
“equal and good and worthwhile”
when compared with those made by people who go to university. I wholeheartedly agree.
As I am sure my hon. Friend the Minister knows, the direct selling industry can help to deliver the opportunities for people to do exactly what our right hon. Friend the Minister for Employment was talking about. As I have already said, one of the industry’s biggest players is Amway and it regularly commissions a study on how different countries view entrepreneurship. The findings of the latest study were fascinating. Denmark is considered to be one of the top countries within the EU for having the most positive attitude towards entrepreneurship. Perhaps an explanation for that is that the Danish Government encourage the teaching of enterprise skills at school from the age of 16. Whether or not that is a good idea is a discussion for another day. However, the study also highlighted that fear of failure was one of the main reasons given by women, young people and pretty much everyone in the UK for not setting up their own businesses. The direct selling industry contains many excellent people who help people such as that—we know from the statistics I mentioned earlier that this group especially includes women—over the hurdles that help to perpetuate that fear.
In conclusion, I wanted this debate to ensure that the direct selling industry is not forgotten by the Minister or his Department when they are deciding policies in
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future. I also wanted to explain that the industry provides fertile training ground for entrepreneurs, from people who want to provide a little extra for their families to those who aim big and want to employ others themselves. It gives people the chance to make their lives better, to build self-confidence and business confidence, and to succeed. Thus, I would like to receive one simple assurance from the Minister today: that he and his Department recognise and understand the importance of that industry, and will continue to work with it in future to ensure that it continues to play such a positive part in our country’s economic development.
4.54 pm
The Minister for Skills and Equalities (Nick Boles): It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Crausby. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Daventry (Chris Heaton-Harris) on securing this debate on an industry that is not only important to his constituency—although, as he rightly pointed out, it could easily claim to be the centre of direct selling in the UK—but to communities across the whole country.
We in our profession should have a particular affinity with anyone in the direct selling industry, because what are we politicians ourselves other than direct sellers, going—particularly in the next few months—from door to door and trying to persuade people to buy a product from us? We do not do so for profit, but we often have to use many of the same skills and methods as those who succeed in the direct selling industry. We all know that, simple though it sounds, summoning up the persuasive powers and reserves of charm necessary to persuade a sceptical person on the doorstep that they should give us a little time so that they can listen to our message and understand what we are proposing is not the easiest thing in the world.
It is a huge credit to the people engaged in direct selling that they are as successful as they are and that they are able to build sustainable incomes for their families. My hon. Friend told the wonderful story of Brenda, Sally and Victoria, three generations of one family, all of whom—including Brenda, who is now 81 but still active—are direct sellers; I believe it is for Amway, which is obviously the most famous direct selling company in the world.
Those three formidable ladies provide particular lessons for us. The first lesson is that the income is sustainable. Direct selling is not just something that people do perhaps for a year or two at the start of their careers, although it could be that. It can provide a sustainable income and be a business that provides a livelihood for a family—not just for decades, but across generations.
The second lesson is that, as my hon. Friend pointed out, this is an area of business and entrepreneurial activity that is perhaps particularly attractive to young women, especially those trying to combine work and enterprise with bringing up children. That is because it has a key, innate flexibility. A direct selling business is one that they can run from home, devoting whatever hours in whatever days of the week suit them. What matters is their results, not how they achieve them.
That is why it has been so important that the Government have been focused, and remain focused, on making it easier for people to set up and run businesses from their homes. Of course, not all businesses run from homes
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are direct selling businesses, but a great number of them are. Previously, there were some pettifogging bureaucratic rules that made it harder for people to set up and run businesses from home—rules on tenancy agreements, meaning that people required a specific change to them, with the agreement of their landlord, before they could set up a business to run from home. We have changed the law so that landlords can agree to home business use without in any way affecting or undermining their residential tenancy agreement.
In addition, there were rules relating to business rates and planning conditions that also militated against people setting up businesses to run from home. Consequently, we have made sure that, in the majority of circumstances, home-based businesses will not attract business rates. We have published revised business rates guidance to clarify that point. That is important, because if someone is setting up a home business they probably do not have a great deal of capital to set it up; perhaps one of the attractions of the direct selling industry is that it does not require a huge amount of start-up capital. However, if they face the prospect of being charged business rates instead of council tax, that could be very off-putting. The change that we have made will help to make the prospect of setting up a home-based business more attractive to people.
Finally, we have published a guide for anyone who wants to set up a home-based business, so that they can find in one place all the information they need to ensure that they are acting properly within the law and to understand what support they get from Government as start-up businesses, as well as what opportunities there are for start-up loans and other financial support from the British Business Bank.
We believe, as a Government, that we have a good record of supporting anybody who wants to set up a business—particularly a business from home. I am sure that that record has played a role in the substantial increase in home-based businesses. The number of home businesses has increased to 2.9 million, a 500,000 increase since 2010. That increase is enabling people who previously either did not have any work or had a job that was not satisfying to them and was incompatible with their other responsibilities to take charge of their lives and provide for their families in a way that suits them.
My hon. Friend made an important point in saying that this way of working enables people to have independence and to run their lives in a way that suits them and their families. It can also suit their broader responsibilities, providing them with an opportunity to develop a business and earn an income that is flexible and fits with the pattern of their lives. I am happy to give my hon. Friend an assurance that we will continue to take into account home-based businesses—particularly direct selling businesses—in the formulation of policy.
My hon. Friend mentioned an interesting study of attitudes towards home-based businesses and direct selling businesses in different countries. He singled out Denmark as a place where attitudes were most positive. He conjectured that that might be a result of the fact that Denmark requires every young person to be offered enterprise education from the age of 16.
I hope that my hon. Friend welcomes—I am sure that he does—the work by the noble Lord Young, who has held a central and distinguished position in a series of Conservative Governments going back over many decades
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and who is passionate about enterprise education. Lord Young recently produced a report for the Prime Minister called “Enterprise for all”. He proposes specifically to establish a network of enterprise advisers—current or former executives with local businesses—attached to schools, whose job it would be to co-ordinate bringing people into schools who could inspire young people with the possibilities of enterprise and of setting up their own businesses.
That policy is welcome and has now been given over to the new careers company that Christine Hodgson is setting up and leading, to which the Government are committing £20 million. We hope that within a couple of years we will have a network of enterprise advisers across the country and that every school will have somebody with real business experience, embedded and implanted in the local business community, who can bring into schools speakers, programmes and work experience offers that will enable young people who think they might be interested in setting up a business to get some experience and talk to people who have done it.
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I say to my hon. Friend’s constituents who are senior executives in the direct selling businesses, and to individuals running direct selling businesses and members of the Direct Selling Association, that they could make contact with their old school, go back as alumni and talk to young people about what direct selling and setting up their own business from home has done for their lives. They could say how it has enabled them to fulfil their dreams and establish financial independence for their families. That would be as powerful a message as any.
I thank my hon. Friend for bringing this subject to the attention of the House. It is certainly one that the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is focused on.
Question put and agreed to.
5.4 pm
Sitting adjourned.
http://mlmtheamericandreammadenightmare.blogspot.com/2015/04/1997-polish-amway-documentary-welcome.html
New York Times (copyright 1998)
WARSAW— A documentary that takes a caustic look at the Polish operations of the American direct-sales company Amway has set off an unusually strenuous debate here about press freedom.
The Polish-made film ''Welcome to Life,'' which is dominated by hard-sell pep rallies that are a hallmark of the company and by the motivational jargon of its distributors, was stopped from being shown on television by a court order sought by the company.
Amway argued that in seeking the injunction it wanted to protect its reputation and its employees.
But to more than 50 Polish editors and journalists from across the political spectrum, the successful court action was reminiscent of the old Communist way of doing things.
''A court ban amounts to a return of preventive censorship,'' the editors said in a petition to President Aleksandr Kwasniewski.
The signers included Jerzy Urban, who was the spokesman for the Communist Party in the 1980's and is now the editor of a ribald weekly newspaper, Nie.
The court action touched a raw nerve in Poland because Amway has represented itself since the collapse of Communism as a sure way for Poles to become entrepreneurs and live the rich life of their dreams. The company says it has enlisted 80,000 Poles as distributors of its home-care products and has said that it sees expansion into former Communist countries as essential to continued growth.
But in China, concern over exploitation of naive people led the Government in April to ban all door-to-door sales, although Amway can supply retail outlets with its products.
Founded in 1959 in Ada, Mich., Amway has been a controversial, closely held company. Its business practices have been the subject of court cases in the United States and Canada. In 1979, the Federal Trade Commission ruled that Amway was not an illegal pyramid scheme, but ordered the company to stop setting prices at which distributors sold products.
Since the injunction was imposed in March, the country's biggest newspaper, Gazeta Wyborcza, has published the sound track to the film. The film is a best-seller on the video black market in the southern town of Cracow.
Some of the dialogue goes like this:
''As a former member of the Communist Party apparatus, I was surprised to see so many smiling, happy people clapping to the rhythm of music,'' says a middle-aged Polish distributor. ''My immediate association was of a Communist Party feast. Back in 1993, this sort of thing was a complete shock to me. I simply did not believe that there could be so many happy people in these difficult days of political and economic transformation.''
Another Polish distributor says: ''There are people who have inborn leadership qualities, people such as Napoleon, or even Hitler, though it may seem to be a very negative example. He too was a leader who knew how to attract the masses, the whole German nation.''
The film goes on to show a meeting in a large hall where a man on the stage shows how door-to-door distributors should get householders to accept motivational tape recordings that the distributors sell. He demonstrates how a distributor should come within an inch of hitting a would-be customer on the head with a tape, forcing the person to accept the tape as a way of protecting himself. Much of Amway's business, the film says, is devoted to distributing motivational tapes intended to make distributors think the Amway way.
A spokesman for Amway, Piotr A. Czernowski, said in an interview that the film was unfair but that he had cooperated with the filmmaker, Henryk Dederko, at the start of the project. Mr. Dederko received financing from the Government television station to make the documentary, which was to be shown first on that channel.
''The Polish media believe that there should be freedom of any expression without having any responsibility,'' said Mr. Czernowski. He said Amway was concerned that the film would ''negatively affect their business.''
Journalists and editors say the case brought by Amway has already had a chilling result. Not long after the court ruled against the screening of ''Welcome to Life,'' a prominent Polish businessman won an injunction against Mr. Urban's weekly, Nie, that prevents the planned publication of an article about him.
New York Times (copyright 1998)
__________________________________________________________________________
Although it's better than the average 'MLM' article, the above NY Times article also contains fiction presented as fact, because it states that:
'In 1979, the Federal Trade Commission ruled that Amway was not an illegal pyramid scheme, but ordered the company to stop setting prices at which distributors sold products.'
Unfortunately, the NY Times seriously misrepresented the truth of the matter; probably because this would have required whoever researched and wrote this article to ignore 'Amway's' own thought-stopping propaganda and make the effort to apply his/her own critical, and evaluative, faculties. The truth being that, in 1979, the members of the FTC issued a non-definitive ruling in which they chose (at that time) to accept the external opinion of a single Administrative Law Judge (temporarily employed by the FTC) that:
Although 'Amway' had been operating massively in breach of the law and should be fined, the company didn't have to be closed down in the USA, provided its owners honoured a voluntary agreement with the FTC to reform their previous activities in order to operate legally.
The FTC then introduced no common-sense independent mechanism to ensure that this promised complete reform of 'Amway' had actually taken place and would be maintained. Consequently, for almost 40 years, 'Amway's' bosses have never had to honour their 1979 agreement with the FTC, whilst during this period, hundreds of effectively-unregulated 'Amway' copy-cat racketeers have also pretended to be operating with the approval of US regulators, by constantly repeating the lie that:
'In 1979, the Federal Trade Commission ruled that Amway was not an illegal pyramid scheme...'
In reality, during the 1970s, a protracted FTC investigation (triggered by a significant number of complaints) had discovered that, largely due to banal quality and exorbitant fixed-pricing, 'Amway' products were effectively-unsaleable on the open-market, because equivalent, and often superior, products were widely-available in traditional retail outlets at a fraction of the cost of 'Amway' products.
Henryk Dederko's 1997 film demonstrated that, almost 20 years later, 'Amway' bosses were still running exactly the same racket (but on a global scale) which the FTC investigation had discovered evidence of in the 1970s, but which the FTC (on the recommendation of a naive, and/or corrupt, Administrative Law Judge) had completely failed to identify as a racket, let alone stop. Not surprisingly, as part of a pattern of ongoing major racketeering activity, 'Amway's' bosses made every effort to suppress Henryk Dederko's jaw-dropping film. i.e. They sought to hide the truth in order to prevent their victims from facing reality and complaining en-mass.
David Brear (copyright 2018)
_________________________________________________________________________
'Multi-Level Marketing' Warning
The most-accurate, and entertaining, warning about the real nature of the 'MLM' phenomenon ever to be broadcast by the mainstream media, has come from the British-born satirist, John Oliver.
________________________________________________________________________
The following deconstructed analysis has been formulated to sharpen the critical and evaluative faculties of all unwary persons approaching 'Multi-Level Marketing' from the dangerous (subjective) point of view that it must be a business, rather than from the safe (purely-objective) point of view that they don't really know what it is.
_________________________________________________________________________
More than half a century of quantifiable evidence, proves beyond all reasonable doubt that:
________________________________________________________________________
The following deconstructed analysis has been formulated to sharpen the critical and evaluative faculties of all unwary persons approaching 'Multi-Level Marketing' from the dangerous (subjective) point of view that it must be a business, rather than from the safe (purely-objective) point of view that they don't really know what it is.
_________________________________________________________________________
More than half a century of quantifiable evidence, proves beyond all reasonable doubt that:
- the widely-misunderstood phenomenon that has become popularly-known as 'Multi-Level Marketing' (a.k.a. 'Network Marketing') is nothing more than an absurd, non-rational, cultic, economic pseudo-science maliciously-designed to lure unwary persons into de facto servitude, dissociate them from external reality and not only steal their money, but also deceive them into unconsciously acting the role of bait to lure other unwary persons (particularly their friends and family members) into the same trap.
- the impressive-sounding made-up jargon term, 'MLM,' is therefore, the misleading title for an enticing structured-scenario of control which has been developed, and constantly acted out as reality, by the instigators, and associates, of various copy-cat, major and minor, ongoing organised crime groups (hiding behind labyrinths of legally-registered corporate structures) to shut-down the critical, and evaluative, faculties of victims, and of casual observers, in order to perpetrate, and dissimulate, a series of blame-the-victim 'Long Cons*' - comprising self-perpetuating rigged-market swindles**, a.k.a. pyramid scams (dressed up as 'legitimate direct selling income opportunites') and related advance-fee frauds (dressed up as 'legitimate: training and motivation, self-betterment, programs, recruitment leads, lead generation systems,' etc.).
- Apart from an insignificant minority of shills (whose leading-role in the 'Long Con' has been to pretend that anyone can achieve financial freedom simply by following their unquestioning example and exactly-duplicating a step-by-step-plan of recruitment and self-consumption), the hidden overall net-loss/churn rate for participation in so-called 'MLM income opportunities,' has always been effectively 100%.
________________________________________________________________________
*A 'Long Con' is a form of fraud maliciously designed to exploit victims' existing beliefs and instinctual desires and make them falsely-believe that they are exercising a completely free-choice. 'Long Cons' comprise an enticing structured-scenario of control acted out as reality over an extended period. Like theatrical plays, 'Long Cons' are written, directed and produced. They involve leading players and supporting players as well as props, sets, extras, costumes, script, etc. The hidden objective of 'Long Cons' is to convince unwary persons that fiction is fact and fact is fiction, progressively cutting them off from external reality. In this way, victims begin unconsciously to play along with the controlling-scenario and (in the false-expectation of future reward) large sums of money or valuables can be stolen from them. Classically, the victims of 'Long Cons' can become deluded to such an extent that they will abandon their education, jobs, careers, etc., empty their bank accounts, and/or beg, steal, borrow from friends, family members, etc.
_________________________________________________________________________
** The enticing structured-scenario of control fundamental to all 'rigged-market swindles' is that people can earn income by first contributing their own money to participate in a profitable commercial opportunity, but which is secretly an economically-unviable fake due to the fact that the (alleged) opportunity has been rigged so that it generates no significant, or sustainable, revenue other than that deriving from its own ill-informed participants. For more than 50 years, 'Multi-Level Marketing' racketeers have been allowed to dissimulate rigged-market swindles by offering endless-chains of victims various banal, but over-priced, products, and/or services, in exchange for unlawful losing-investment payments, on the pretext that 'MLM' products/services can then be regularly re-sold for a profit in significant quantities via expanding networks of distributors. However, since 'MLM' products/services cannot be regularly re-sold to the general public for a profit in significant quantities (based on value and demand), 'MLM' participants have, in fact, been peddled infinite shares of their own finite money (in the false expectation of future reward).
Thus, in 'MLM' rackets, the innocent looking products/sevices' function has been to hide what is really occurring - i.e The operation of an unlawful, intrinsically fraudulent, rigged-market where effectively no non-salaried (transient) participant can generate an overall net-profit, because, unknown to the non-salaried (transient) participants, the market is in a permanent state of collapse and requires its non-salaried (transient) participants to keep finding further (temporary) de facto slaves to sustain the enticing illusion of stability and viability.
Meanwhile an insignificant (permanent) minority direct the 'Long Con' - raking in vast profits by selling into the rigged-market and by controlling/withholding all key-information concerning the rigged-market's actual catastrophic, ever-shifting results from its never-ending chain of (temporary) de facto slaves.
Although cure-all pills potions and vitamin/dietary supplements, household and beauty, products have been most-prevalent, it is possible to use any product, and/or service, to dissimulate a rigged-market swindle. There are even some 'MLM' rackets that have been hidden behind well-known traditional brands (albeit offered at fixed high prices). Some 'MLM' rackets have included 'cash-back/discount shopping cards, travel products, insurance, energy/communications services' and 'crypto-currencies' in their controlling scenarios.
No matter what bedazzling product/service has been dangled as bait, in 'MLM' rackets, there has been no significant or sustainable source of revenue other than never-ending chains of contractees of the 'MLM' front companies. These front-companies always pretend that their products/services are high quality and reasonably-priced and that for anyone prepared to put in some effort, the products/services can be sold on for a profit via expanding networks of distributors based on value and demand. In reality, the underlying reason why it has mainly only been (transient) 'MLM' contractees who have bought the various products /services (and not the general public) is because they have been tricked into unconsciously playing along with the controlling scenario which constantly says that via regular self-consumption and the recruitment of others to do the same, etc. ad infinitum, anyone can receive a future (unlimited) reward.
I've been examining the 'MLM' phenomenon for around 20 years. During this time, I've yet to find one so-called 'MLM' company that has voluntarily made key-information available to the public concerning the quantifiable results of its so-called 'income opportunity'.
Part of the key-information that all 'MLM' bosses seek to hide concerns the overall number of persons who have signed contracts since the front companies were instigated and the retention rates of these contractees.
When rigorously investigated, the overall hidden net-loss churn rates for so-called 'MLM income opportunites' has turned out to have been effectively 100%. Thus, anyone claiming (or implying) that it is possible for anyone to make a penny of net-profit, let alone a living, in an 'MLM,' cannot be telling the truth and will not provide quantifiable evidence to back up his/her anecdotal claims.
Although a significant number of 'MLM' front-companies (like 'Vemma', 'Fortune Hi-Tech Marketing', 'Wake Up Now') have been shut-down by commercial regulators, some of the biggest 'MLM' rackets (like 'Amway' ,'Herbalife', Forever Living Products' ) have continued to hide in plain sight whilst secretly churning tens of millions of losing participants over decades.
The quantifiable results of the self-perpetuating global 'Long Con' known as 'Multi Level Marketing,' have been fiendishly hidden by convincing victims that they are 'Independent Business Owners' and that any losses they incurred, must have been entirely their own fault.
Blog readers should observe how (in the above linked-videos) chronic victims of 'MLM' cults are incapable of describing what they were subjected to in accurate terms. Even though they are no longer physically playing along with the 'Long Con's' controlling-scenario, they unconsciously continue to think, and speak, using the jargon-laced 'MLM' script - illogically describing themselves as 'Distributors.'
Chronic victims of blame-the-victim cultic rackets who have managed to escape and confront the ego-destroying reality that they’ve been systematically deceived and exploited, are invariably destitute and dissociated from all their previous social contacts. For years afterwards, recovering cult victims can suffer from psychological problems (which are also generally indicative of the victims of abuse):
depression; overwhelming feelings (guilt, grief, shame, fear, anger, embarrassment, etc.); dependency/ inability to make decisions; retarded psychological/ intellectual development; suicidal thoughts; panic/ anxiety attacks; extreme identity confusion; Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder; insomnia/ nightmares; eating disorders; psychosomatic illness, fear of forming intimate relationships; inability to trust; etc.
David Brear (copyright 2018)
_______________________________________________________________________
(Short) Questionnaire for Past, and Present,
'Multi-Level Marketing Income Opportunity'
Adherents.
(Respondents are advised first to read all the questions before making any answer).
____________________________________________________________________________________________
1. Was the person who first approached you to participate in 'MLM,' a friend or relative (i.e. a person with whom you enjoyed a relationship based on love and trust)?
2. Did the 'MLM' recruiter present a bleak picture of the world of traditional employment, in which most people are forced to go out to work for 45 years with only retirement and a limited pension to look forward to?
3. Did the recruiter present the 'MLM Income Opportunity' as a viable alternative to the world of traditional employment, in which it is possible for anyone to retire and enjoy total financial freedom, after a just a few years of concentrated effort?
4. At the time you were recruited, would you say that you were entirely satisfied with life; particularly, your achievements, education, career/employment status/prospects, home, relationships, social standing, salary, etc.?
5. How would you describe your level of satisfaction with your life at the time you were recruited?
6. When, and how, were you first approached to participate in 'MLM' and when was the name of the sponsoring company first mentioned?'
- Was 'MLM' first presented to you individually or as part of a group?
- Did the presentation comprise drawing circles containing numbers and percentages on a board or sheet of paper?
- Did you fully-understand the presentation?
- Was the presentation given by a man with a woman nodding in agreement next to him?
- Were you given to believe that anyone could understand 'MLM?'
- Did the recruiters seem generally happy and excited as though they had wonderful news to share?
7. What prior knowledge did you have of 'MLM?'
8. What was your initial reaction when you were approached?
9. At the time you signed up, what did you believe to be the success-rate of persons participating in'MLM' schemes (i.e. about what percentage of participants did you think made an overall net-income out of 'MLM')?
10. Were you ever shown any independent quantifiable evidence (e.g. income tax payment receipts) proving that anyone has ever made an overall net-income out of participating in 'MLM?'
11. Did you ever ask to see such evidence?
12. Could you give a brief explanation of what you understand by the term pyramid scheme or scam?
13. What would you say was the essential identifying characteristic of pyramid scams, Ponzi schemes, money circulation games, chain letter scams, etc.?
14. Were you given to believe that 'MLM' schemes are not pyramid scams, because they involve the sale of products, and/or services, to customers and end users, and offer money-back guarantees?
15. Were you given to believe that 'MLM' schemes cannot be frauds, because they have existed for decades and have been investigated and approved by governments around the world?
16. Were you given to believe that 'MLM' schemes cannot be frauds, because celebrities (including senior politicians) have endorsed 'MLM' schemes?
17. Were you given to believe that 'MLM' schemes cannot be frauds, because their sponsors have given money to charity?
18. Were you given to believe that 'MLM' schemes cannot be frauds, because they have sponsored professional sports stars and teams?
19. What was your main motivation for joining an 'MLM' scheme :
- to earn income?
- to buy products and/or services at a discount price
20. Before you signed up, were your encouraged by the recruiter to seek independent legal/financial advice?
21. Did you ever seek independent legal/financial advice?
22. What initially convinced you that 'MLM' was an authentic opportunity to earn income?
23. At the time you signed up, did you have any knowledge of pernicious groups that employ co-ordinated devious techniques of social, psychological and physical persuasion - designed to shut down the critical and evaluative faculties of ill-informed individuals in order to exploit them and prevent them from complaining?
24. Could you give a brief explanation of what you understand by the terms:
- Neuro-Linguistic Programming?
- brainwashing?
- coercive behaviour modification?
- group pressure?
- covert hypnosis?
- ego-destruction?
- thought reform?
- mental manipulation?
- love bombing?
25. Were you given to believe that it is possible for anyone to replace their income by participating in 'MLM?'
26. Were you given to believe that after achieving a certain level of income in MLM you could cease all activity and receive the same residual income for the rest of your life?
27. Were you given to believe that this residual income could be passed on to your descendants after your death?
28. During you time in an 'MLM' group, were you taught that the 'exact duplication of a proven step-by-step plan' would bring you 'total financial freedom?'
29. As part of this 'proven plan,' were you taught:
- to alter you habitual way of speaking (if yes, give a brief explanation)?
- to alter your habitual way of dressing (if yes, give a brief explanation)?
- to alter you habitual way of eating (if yes, give a brief explanation)?
- to alter your habitual sleep pattern (if yes, give a brief explanation)?
- to alter you habitual social contacts (if yes, give a brief explanation)?
- that everyone above you in your 'MLM Network' was your 'Upline' and everyone beneath you was your 'Downline?'
- that your 'Upline' was to be 'admired and respected?'
- that your 'Upline's success in MLM depended on helping his/her Downline to succeed,'
- to divide everyone, and everything, in your life into 'negative' vs 'positive?'
- that 'MLM' products were to be deemed 'positive' and non-'MLM' products deemed 'negative?'
- that you should buy a regular quota (by value) of 'positive' products?
- that you should draw up a list of prospective 'MLM' recruits comprising everyone you had ever encountered in your life?
- that you should progressively contact all these persons and attempt to recruit them using a precisely-worded 'positive' script?
- that you should never say anything 'negative' about 'MLM?'
- that you should never listen to, or look at, anything 'negative' about 'MLM?'
- that all persons who refused to join you (particularly, those who said 'MLM' is a scam) were to be deemed 'negative' and a threat to your own success?
- that all 'negative' persons were also to be deemed losers, whiners, etc., and should be excluded from your life?
- that all persons with regular jobs were to be labelled 'Just Over Broke' losers?
- that you should only have contact with 'positive winners?'
- that you should regularly buy, and listen to, recordings of 'positive winners?'
- that you should regularly buy tickets to, and attend, meetings conducted by 'positive winners'at which you took part in rhythmic chanting and moving?
- that you should regularly buy, and read, publications, written by 'positive winners?'
- that you should exactly duplicate the 100% positive mental attitude and behaviour of the 'positive winners' in your 'Upline?'
- that you should regularly visualize your 'dreams an goals' in life (luxury cars, expensive houses, exotic holiday destinations, etc.)
- that you should fix images of your 'dreams and goals' in strategic places in your home?
- that 'all persons who develop a 100% positive mental attitude and never quit, ultimately achieve their dreams and goals in MLM?'
- that 'all persons who fail to achieve their dreams and goals in MLM, are negative losers, whiners, quitters etc., who always try to blame others, when they only have themselves to blame?'
30. As a result of duplicating the 'proven plan,' did you lose contact with anyone with whom you had previously been close (give brief details)?
David Brear (copyright 2018)
_________________________________________________________________________________________
** The enticing structured-scenario of control fundamental to all 'rigged-market swindles' is that people can earn income by first contributing their own money to participate in a profitable commercial opportunity, but which is secretly an economically-unviable fake due to the fact that the (alleged) opportunity has been rigged so that it generates no significant, or sustainable, revenue other than that deriving from its own ill-informed participants. For more than 50 years, 'Multi-Level Marketing' racketeers have been allowed to dissimulate rigged-market swindles by offering endless-chains of victims various banal, but over-priced, products, and/or services, in exchange for unlawful losing-investment payments, on the pretext that 'MLM' products/services can then be regularly re-sold for a profit in significant quantities via expanding networks of distributors. However, since 'MLM' products/services cannot be regularly re-sold to the general public for a profit in significant quantities (based on value and demand), 'MLM' participants have, in fact, been peddled infinite shares of their own finite money (in the false expectation of future reward).
Thus, in 'MLM' rackets, the innocent looking products/sevices' function has been to hide what is really occurring - i.e The operation of an unlawful, intrinsically fraudulent, rigged-market where effectively no non-salaried (transient) participant can generate an overall net-profit, because, unknown to the non-salaried (transient) participants, the market is in a permanent state of collapse and requires its non-salaried (transient) participants to keep finding further (temporary) de facto slaves to sustain the enticing illusion of stability and viability.
Meanwhile an insignificant (permanent) minority direct the 'Long Con' - raking in vast profits by selling into the rigged-market and by controlling/withholding all key-information concerning the rigged-market's actual catastrophic, ever-shifting results from its never-ending chain of (temporary) de facto slaves.
Although cure-all pills potions and vitamin/dietary supplements, household and beauty, products have been most-prevalent, it is possible to use any product, and/or service, to dissimulate a rigged-market swindle. There are even some 'MLM' rackets that have been hidden behind well-known traditional brands (albeit offered at fixed high prices). Some 'MLM' rackets have included 'cash-back/discount shopping cards, travel products, insurance, energy/communications services' and 'crypto-currencies' in their controlling scenarios.
No matter what bedazzling product/service has been dangled as bait, in 'MLM' rackets, there has been no significant or sustainable source of revenue other than never-ending chains of contractees of the 'MLM' front companies. These front-companies always pretend that their products/services are high quality and reasonably-priced and that for anyone prepared to put in some effort, the products/services can be sold on for a profit via expanding networks of distributors based on value and demand. In reality, the underlying reason why it has mainly only been (transient) 'MLM' contractees who have bought the various products /services (and not the general public) is because they have been tricked into unconsciously playing along with the controlling scenario which constantly says that via regular self-consumption and the recruitment of others to do the same, etc. ad infinitum, anyone can receive a future (unlimited) reward.
I've been examining the 'MLM' phenomenon for around 20 years. During this time, I've yet to find one so-called 'MLM' company that has voluntarily made key-information available to the public concerning the quantifiable results of its so-called 'income opportunity'.
Part of the key-information that all 'MLM' bosses seek to hide concerns the overall number of persons who have signed contracts since the front companies were instigated and the retention rates of these contractees.
When rigorously investigated, the overall hidden net-loss churn rates for so-called 'MLM income opportunites' has turned out to have been effectively 100%. Thus, anyone claiming (or implying) that it is possible for anyone to make a penny of net-profit, let alone a living, in an 'MLM,' cannot be telling the truth and will not provide quantifiable evidence to back up his/her anecdotal claims.
Although a significant number of 'MLM' front-companies (like 'Vemma', 'Fortune Hi-Tech Marketing', 'Wake Up Now') have been shut-down by commercial regulators, some of the biggest 'MLM' rackets (like 'Amway' ,'Herbalife', Forever Living Products' ) have continued to hide in plain sight whilst secretly churning tens of millions of losing participants over decades.
The quantifiable results of the self-perpetuating global 'Long Con' known as 'Multi Level Marketing,' have been fiendishly hidden by convincing victims that they are 'Independent Business Owners' and that any losses they incurred, must have been entirely their own fault.
Blog readers should observe how (in the above linked-videos) chronic victims of 'MLM' cults are incapable of describing what they were subjected to in accurate terms. Even though they are no longer physically playing along with the 'Long Con's' controlling-scenario, they unconsciously continue to think, and speak, using the jargon-laced 'MLM' script - illogically describing themselves as 'Distributors.'
Chronic victims of blame-the-victim cultic rackets who have managed to escape and confront the ego-destroying reality that they’ve been systematically deceived and exploited, are invariably destitute and dissociated from all their previous social contacts. For years afterwards, recovering cult victims can suffer from psychological problems (which are also generally indicative of the victims of abuse):
depression; overwhelming feelings (guilt, grief, shame, fear, anger, embarrassment, etc.); dependency/ inability to make decisions; retarded psychological/ intellectual development; suicidal thoughts; panic/ anxiety attacks; extreme identity confusion; Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder; insomnia/ nightmares; eating disorders; psychosomatic illness, fear of forming intimate relationships; inability to trust; etc.
David Brear (copyright 2018)
The quantifiable results of the self-perpetuating global 'Long Con' known as 'Multi Level Marketing,' have been fiendishly hidden by convincing victims that they are 'Independent Business Owners' and that any losses they incurred, must have been entirely their own fault.
Blog readers should observe how (in the above linked-videos) chronic victims of 'MLM' cults are incapable of describing what they were subjected to in accurate terms. Even though they are no longer physically playing along with the 'Long Con's' controlling-scenario, they unconsciously continue to think, and speak, using the jargon-laced 'MLM' script - illogically describing themselves as 'Distributors.'
Chronic victims of blame-the-victim cultic rackets who have managed to escape and confront the ego-destroying reality that they’ve been systematically deceived and exploited, are invariably destitute and dissociated from all their previous social contacts. For years afterwards, recovering cult victims can suffer from psychological problems (which are also generally indicative of the victims of abuse):
depression; overwhelming feelings (guilt, grief, shame, fear, anger, embarrassment, etc.); dependency/ inability to make decisions; retarded psychological/ intellectual development; suicidal thoughts; panic/ anxiety attacks; extreme identity confusion; Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder; insomnia/ nightmares; eating disorders; psychosomatic illness, fear of forming intimate relationships; inability to trust; etc.
David Brear (copyright 2018)
_______________________________________________________________________
(Short) Questionnaire for Past, and Present,
'Multi-Level Marketing Income Opportunity'
Adherents.
(Respondents are advised first to read all the questions before making any answer).
____________________________________________________________________________________________
1. Was the person who first approached you to participate in 'MLM,' a friend or relative (i.e. a person with whom you enjoyed a relationship based on love and trust)?
2. Did the 'MLM' recruiter present a bleak picture of the world of traditional employment, in which most people are forced to go out to work for 45 years with only retirement and a limited pension to look forward to?
3. Did the recruiter present the 'MLM Income Opportunity' as a viable alternative to the world of traditional employment, in which it is possible for anyone to retire and enjoy total financial freedom, after a just a few years of concentrated effort?
4. At the time you were recruited, would you say that you were entirely satisfied with life; particularly, your achievements, education, career/employment status/prospects, home, relationships, social standing, salary, etc.?
5. How would you describe your level of satisfaction with your life at the time you were recruited?
6. When, and how, were you first approached to participate in 'MLM' and when was the name of the sponsoring company first mentioned?'
- Was 'MLM' first presented to you individually or as part of a group?
- Did the presentation comprise drawing circles containing numbers and percentages on a board or sheet of paper?
- Did you fully-understand the presentation?
- Was the presentation given by a man with a woman nodding in agreement next to him?
- Were you given to believe that anyone could understand 'MLM?'
- Did the recruiters seem generally happy and excited as though they had wonderful news to share?
7. What prior knowledge did you have of 'MLM?'
8. What was your initial reaction when you were approached?
9. At the time you signed up, what did you believe to be the success-rate of persons participating in'MLM' schemes (i.e. about what percentage of participants did you think made an overall net-income out of 'MLM')?
10. Were you ever shown any independent quantifiable evidence (e.g. income tax payment receipts) proving that anyone has ever made an overall net-income out of participating in 'MLM?'
11. Did you ever ask to see such evidence?
12. Could you give a brief explanation of what you understand by the term pyramid scheme or scam?
13. What would you say was the essential identifying characteristic of pyramid scams, Ponzi schemes, money circulation games, chain letter scams, etc.?
14. Were you given to believe that 'MLM' schemes are not pyramid scams, because they involve the sale of products, and/or services, to customers and end users, and offer money-back guarantees?
15. Were you given to believe that 'MLM' schemes cannot be frauds, because they have existed for decades and have been investigated and approved by governments around the world?
16. Were you given to believe that 'MLM' schemes cannot be frauds, because celebrities (including senior politicians) have endorsed 'MLM' schemes?
17. Were you given to believe that 'MLM' schemes cannot be frauds, because their sponsors have given money to charity?
18. Were you given to believe that 'MLM' schemes cannot be frauds, because they have sponsored professional sports stars and teams?
19. What was your main motivation for joining an 'MLM' scheme :
- to earn income?
- to buy products and/or services at a discount price
21. Did you ever seek independent legal/financial advice?
22. What initially convinced you that 'MLM' was an authentic opportunity to earn income?
23. At the time you signed up, did you have any knowledge of pernicious groups that employ co-ordinated devious techniques of social, psychological and physical persuasion - designed to shut down the critical and evaluative faculties of ill-informed individuals in order to exploit them and prevent them from complaining?
24. Could you give a brief explanation of what you understand by the terms:
- Neuro-Linguistic Programming?
- brainwashing?
- coercive behaviour modification?
- group pressure?
- covert hypnosis?
- ego-destruction?
- thought reform?
- mental manipulation?
- love bombing?
25. Were you given to believe that it is possible for anyone to replace their income by participating in 'MLM?'
26. Were you given to believe that after achieving a certain level of income in MLM you could cease all activity and receive the same residual income for the rest of your life?
27. Were you given to believe that this residual income could be passed on to your descendants after your death?
28. During you time in an 'MLM' group, were you taught that the 'exact duplication of a proven step-by-step plan' would bring you 'total financial freedom?'
29. As part of this 'proven plan,' were you taught:
- to alter you habitual way of speaking (if yes, give a brief explanation)?
- to alter your habitual way of dressing (if yes, give a brief explanation)?
- to alter you habitual way of eating (if yes, give a brief explanation)?
- to alter your habitual sleep pattern (if yes, give a brief explanation)?
- to alter you habitual social contacts (if yes, give a brief explanation)?
- that everyone above you in your 'MLM Network' was your 'Upline' and everyone beneath you was your 'Downline?'
- that your 'Upline' was to be 'admired and respected?'
- that your 'Upline's success in MLM depended on helping his/her Downline to succeed,'
- to divide everyone, and everything, in your life into 'negative' vs 'positive?'
- that 'MLM' products were to be deemed 'positive' and non-'MLM' products deemed 'negative?'
- that you should buy a regular quota (by value) of 'positive' products?
- that you should draw up a list of prospective 'MLM' recruits comprising everyone you had ever encountered in your life?
- that you should progressively contact all these persons and attempt to recruit them using a precisely-worded 'positive' script?
- that you should never say anything 'negative' about 'MLM?'
- that you should never listen to, or look at, anything 'negative' about 'MLM?'
- that all persons who refused to join you (particularly, those who said 'MLM' is a scam) were to be deemed 'negative' and a threat to your own success?
- that all 'negative' persons were also to be deemed losers, whiners, etc., and should be excluded from your life?
- that all persons with regular jobs were to be labelled 'Just Over Broke' losers?
- that you should only have contact with 'positive winners?'
- that you should regularly buy, and listen to, recordings of 'positive winners?'
- that you should regularly buy tickets to, and attend, meetings conducted by 'positive winners'at which you took part in rhythmic chanting and moving?
- that you should regularly buy, and read, publications, written by 'positive winners?'
- that you should exactly duplicate the 100% positive mental attitude and behaviour of the 'positive winners' in your 'Upline?'
- that you should regularly visualize your 'dreams an goals' in life (luxury cars, expensive houses, exotic holiday destinations, etc.)
- that you should fix images of your 'dreams and goals' in strategic places in your home?
- that 'all persons who develop a 100% positive mental attitude and never quit, ultimately achieve their dreams and goals in MLM?'
- that 'all persons who fail to achieve their dreams and goals in MLM, are negative losers, whiners, quitters etc., who always try to blame others, when they only have themselves to blame?'
30. As a result of duplicating the 'proven plan,' did you lose contact with anyone with whom you had previously been close (give brief details)?
David Brear (copyright 2018)
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http://cultcharacteristics.blogspot.com/
In 2005, I published a pamphlet, 'The Universal Identifying Characteristics of a Cult.'
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The Universal Identifying Characteristics of a Cult
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In 1961 (after years of field-research, including the interviewing of US servicemen and civilians held prisoner during the Korean War), Dr. Robert Jay Lifton (b. 1926) published, ‘Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism.’ In this standard medical text-book, Dr. Lifton identified 8 ‘themes’ which, if present in any group, indicate that its members are being subjected to a mixture of social, psychological and physical pressures, designed to produce radical changes in their individual beliefs, attitudes and behaviour.
1). ‘Milieu control’ — the attempted control of everything an individual experiences (i.e. sees, hears, reads, writes and expresses). This includes discouraging subjects from contacting friends and relatives outside the group and undermining trust in exterior sources of information; particularly, the independent media.
2). ‘Personal or mystical manipulation’ — charismatic (psychologically dominant) leaders create a separate environment where specific behaviour is required; leading to group members believing that they have been chosen and that they have a special purpose. Normally group members will insist that they have not been coerced into group membership, and that their new way of life and beliefs are the result of a completely free-choice.
3). ‘Demand for purity’ — everything in life becomes either pure or impure, negative or positive, etc. This builds up a sense of shame and guilt. The idea is promoted that there is no alternative method of thinking or middle way, to that promoted by the group or by those outside it. Everything in life is either good or bad and anything is justified provided the group sanctions it as good.
4). ‘Confession’ — personal weaknesses are admitted to, to demonstrate how group membership can transform an individual. Group members often have to rewrite their personal histories and those of their friends and relatives, denigrating their previous lives and relationships. Other techniques include group members writing personal reports on themselves and others. Outsiders are presented as a threat who will only try to return group members to their former incorrect thinking.
5). ‘Sacred science’ — the belief in an inexplicable power system or secret knowledge, derived from a hierarchy who must be copied and who cannot be challenged. Often the group’s leaders claim to be followers of traditional historical figures (particularly, established political, scientific and religious thinkers). Leaders promote the idea that their own teaching will also benefit the entire world, and it should be spread.
6). ‘Loading the language’ — a separate vocabulary used to bond the group together and short-circuit critical thought processes. This can become second nature within the group, and talking to outsiders can become difficult and embarrassing. Derogatory names, or directly racist terms, are often given to outsiders.
7). ‘Doctrine over persons’ — individual members are taught to alter their own view of themselves before they entered the group. Former attitudes and behaviour must then be re-interpreted as worthless, and/or dangerous, using the new values of the group.
8). ‘Dispensing of existence’ — promotion of the belief that outsiders — particularly, those who disagree with the teaching of the group — are inferior and are doomed. Therefore, they can be manipulated, and/or cheated, and/or dispossessed, and/or destroyed. This is justifiable, because outsiders only represent a danger to salvation.
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Another giant in the field of academic research into the cult phenomenon, is Prof. Margaret Singer (1921-2003). Her major work which was published in 1996, is 'Cults in Our Midst.' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cults_in_Our_Midst). In this, Prof. Singer set out 'six conditions' in which totalistic thought-reform can be achieved:
1). Keep the person unaware of what is going on and how attempts to psychologically condition him or her are directed in a step-by-step manner.
Potential new members are led, step by step, through a behavioral-change program without being aware of the final agenda or full content of the group. The goal may be to make them deployable agents for the leadership, to get them to buy more courses, or get them to make a deeper commitment, depending on the leader's aim and desires.
2). Control the person's social and/or physical environment; especially control the person's time.
Through various methods, newer members are kept busy and led to think about the group and its content during as much of their waking time as possible.
3). Systematically create a sense of powerlessness in the person.
This is accomplished by getting members away from their normal social support group for a period of time and into an environment where the majority of people are already group members.
The members serve as models of the attitudes and behaviors of the group and speak an in-group language.
Strip members of their main occupation (quit jobs, drop out of school) or source of income or have them turn over their income (or the majority of) to the group.
Once the target is stripped of their usual support network, their confidence in their own perception erodes.
As the target's sense of powerlessness increases, their good judgment and understanding of the world are diminished. (ordinary view of reality is destabilized)
As the group attacks the target's previous worldview, it causes the target distress and inner confusion; yet they are not allowed to speak about this confusion or object to it - leadership suppresses questions and counters resistance.
This process is sped up if the targeted individual or individuals are kept tired - the cult will take deliberate actions to keep the target constantly busy.
4). Manipulate a system of rewards, punishments and experiences in such a way as to inhibit behavior that reflects the person's former social identity.
Manipulation of experiences can be accomplished through various methods of trance induction, including leaders using such techniques as paced speaking patterns, guided imagery, chanting, long prayer sessions or lectures, and lengthy meditation sessions.
The target's old beliefs and patterns of behavior are defined as irrelevant or evil. Leadership wants these old patterns eliminated, so the member must suppress them.
Members get positive feedback for conforming to the group's beliefs and behaviors and negative feedback for old beliefs and behavior.
5). The group manipulates a system of rewards, punishments, and experiences in order to promote learning the group's ideology or belief system and group-approved behaviors.
Good behavior, demonstrating an understanding and acceptance of the group's beliefs, and compliance are rewarded while questioning, expressing doubts or criticizing are met with disapproval, redress and possible rejection. Anyone who asks a question is made to feel there is something inherently disordered about them to be questioning.
The only feedback members get is from the group; they become totally dependent upon the rewards given by those who control the environment.
Members must learn varying amounts of new information about the beliefs of the group and the behaviors expected by the group.
The more complicated and filled with contradictions the new system is and the more difficult it is to learn, the more effective the conversion process will be.
Esteem and affection from peers is very important to new recruits. Approval comes from having the new member's behaviors and thought patterns conform to the models (members). Members' relationship with peers is threatened whenever they fail to learn or display new behaviors. Over time, the easy solution to the insecurity generated by the difficulties of learning the new system is to inhibit any display of doubts—new recruits simply acquiesce, affirm and act as if they do understand and accept the new ideology.
6). Put forth a closed system of logic and an authoritarian structure that permits no feedback and refuses to be modified except by leadership approval or executive order.
The group has a top-down, pyramid structure. The leaders must have verbal ways of never losing.
Members are not allowed to question, criticize or complain. If they do, the leaders allege the member is defective, not the organization or the beliefs.
The targeted individual is treated as always intellectually incorrect or unjust, while conversely the system, its leaders and its beliefs are always automatically, and by default, considered as absolutely just.
Conversion or remolding of the individual member happens in a closed system. As members learn to modify their behavior in order to be accepted in this closed system, they change—begin to speak the language—which serves to further isolate them from their prior beliefs and behaviors.
The group has a top-down, pyramid structure. The leaders must have verbal ways of never losing.
Members are not allowed to question, criticize or complain. If they do, the leaders allege the member is defective, not the organization or the beliefs.
The targeted individual is treated as always intellectually incorrect or unjust, while conversely the system, its leaders and its beliefs are always automatically, and by default, considered as absolutely just.
Conversion or remolding of the individual member happens in a closed system. As members learn to modify their behavior in order to be accepted in this closed system, they change—begin to speak the language—which serves to further isolate them from their prior beliefs and behaviors.
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Building on Lifton's and Singer's solid foundation (and after much research) I concluded that pernicious cultism is an evolving criminogenic phenomenon which, like all phenomena, cannot be accurately defined. Therefore, I set down the essential, and universal, identifying characteristics of a pernicious cult, and I first published these in 2005:
It is important to note that cults don't just suddenly appear and they don't always exhibit exactly the same characteristics. This is because (like cancers and viruses) cults grow and evolve (and sometimes explode or even implode) and their identifying characteristics appear at different stages of their evolution cycle. Thus, the fact that a particular group doesn't exhibit all of the characteristics described in the following document, doesn't mean that it won't in the future or that it should not be identified as being a constituent part of the overall cult phenomenon.
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The Universal Identifying Characteristics of a Cult
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Apart from its use in the sense of ‘a popular fashion especially followed by a specific section of society’ or ‘a person or thing popularised in this way,’ the traditional definition of the English noun, cult (Latin cultus worship), has been ‘a system of religious worship (Latin religiosus obligation, bondage) especially as expressed in ritual,’ or ‘devotion or homage to a person or thing.’ However, the word is now also used as shorthand for what is more-accurately described as a pernicious cult. This ongoing historic, and criminogenic, phenomenon can be briefly described as:
any self-perpetuating, non-rational/esoteric, ritual belief system established or perverted for the clandestine purpose of human exploitation.
Such groups are identified by the following characteristics:
any self-perpetuating, non-rational/esoteric, ritual belief system established or perverted for the clandestine purpose of human exploitation.
Such groups are identified by the following characteristics:
1). Deception. Pernicious cults are presented externally as traditional associations. These can be arbitrarily defined by their instigators as almost any banal group (‘religious’, ‘cultural’, ‘political’, ‘commercial’, etc.). However, internally, they are always totalitarian (i.e. they are centrally-controlled and require of their core-adherents an absolute subservience to the group and its patriarchal, and/ or matriarchal, leadership above all other persons). By their very nature, pernicious cults never present themselves in their true colours. Consequently, no one ever becomes involved with one as a result of his/her fully-informed consent.
2). Self-appointed sovereign leadership. Pernicious cults are instigated and ruled by psychologically dominant individuals, and/or bodies of psychologically dominant individuals (often with impressive, made-up names, and/or ranks, and/or titles), who hold themselves accountable to no one. These individuals have severe and inflexible Narcissistic Personalities (i.e. they suffer from a chronic psychological disorder, especially when resulting in a grandiose sense of self-importance/ righteousness and the compulsion to take advantage of others and to control others’ views of, and behaviour towards, them).* They steadfastly pretend moral and intellectual authority whilst pursuing various, hidden, criminal objectives (fraudulent, and/or sexual, and/or violent, etc.). The admiration of their adherents only serves to confirm, and magnify, the leaders’ strong sense of self-entitlement and fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, ideal love, etc.
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* ‘Narcissistic Personality Disorder,’ is a psychological term first used in 1971 by Dr. Heinz Kohut (1913-1981). It was recognised as the name for a form of pathological narcissism in ‘The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 1980.’ Narcissistic traits (where a person talks highly of himself/herself to eliminate feelings of worthlessness) are common in, and considered ‘normal’ to, human psychological development. When these traits become accentuated by a failure of the social environment and persist into adulthood, they can intensify to the level of a severe mental disorder. Severe and inflexible NPD is thought to effect less than 1% of the general adult population. It occurs more frequently in men than women. In simple terms, NPD is reality-denying, total self-worship born of its sufferers’ unconscious belief that they are flawed in a way that makes them fundamentally unacceptable to others. In order to shield themselves from the intolerable rejection and isolation which they unconsciously believe would follow if others recognised their defective nature, NPD sufferers go to almost any lengths to control others’ view of, and behaviour towards, them. NPD sufferers often choose partners, and raise children, who exhibit ‘co-narcissism’ (a co-dependent personality disorder like co-alcoholism). Co-narcissists organise themselves around the needs of others (to whom they feel responsible), they accept blame easily, are eager to please, defer to others’ opinions and fear being seen as selfish if they act assertively. NPD was observed, and apparently well-understood, in ancient times. Self-evidently, the term, ‘narcissism,’ comes from the allegorical myth of Narcissus, the beautiful Greek youth who falls in love with his own reflection.
Currently, NPD has nine recognised diagnostic criteria (five of which are required for a diagnosis):
- has a grandiose sense of self-importance.
- is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, ideal love, etc.
- believes that he/she is special and unique and can only be understood by other special people.
- requires excessive admiration.
- strong sense of self-entitlement.
- takes advantage of others to achieve his/her own ends.
- lacks empathy.
- is often envious or believes that others are envious of him/her.
- arrogant disposition.
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3). Manipulation. Pernicious cults employ co-ordinated, devious techniques of social and psychological persuasion (variously described as: ‘covert hypnosis’, ‘mental manipulation’, ‘coercive behaviour modification’, ‘group pressure’, ‘thought reform’, ‘ego destruction’, ‘mind control’, ‘brainwashing’, ‘neuro-linguistic programming’, ‘love bombing’, etc.). These techniques are designed to fulfil the hidden criminal objectives of the leaders by provoking in the adherents an infantile total dependence on the group to the detriment of themselves and of their existing family, and/or other, relationships. Pernicious cults manipulate their adherents’ existing beliefs and instinctual desires, creating the illusion that they are exercising free will. In this way, adherents can also be surreptitiously coerced into following potentially harmful, physical procedures (sleep deprivation, protein restriction, repetitive chanting/ moving, etc.) which are similarly designed to facilitate the shutting down of an individual’s critical and evaluative faculties without his/ her fully-informed consent.
4). Radical changes of personality and behaviour. Pernicious cults can be of any size, duration and level of criminality. They comprise groups, and/or sub-groups, of previously diverse individuals bonded by their unconscious acceptance of the self-gratifying, but wholly imaginary, scenario that they alone represent a positive or protective force of purity and absolute righteousness derived from their leadership’s exclusive access to a superior or superhuman knowledge, and that they alone oppose a negative or adversarial force of impurity and absolute evil.Whilst this two-dimensional, or dualistic, narrative remains the adherents’ model of reality, they are, in effect, constrained to modify their individual personalities and behaviour accordingly.
5). Pseudo-scientific mystification. The instigators of pernicious cults seek to overwhelm their adherents emotionally and intellectually by pretending that progressive initiation into their own superior or superhuman knowledge (coupled with total belief in its authenticity and unconditional deference to the authority of its higher initiates) will defeat a negative or adversarial force of impurity and absolute evil, and lead to future, exclusive redemption in some form of secure Utopian existence. By making total belief a prerequisite of redemption,adherents are drawn into a closed-logic trap (i.e. failure to achieve redemption is solely the fault of the individual who didn’t believe totally). Cultic pseudo-science is always essentially the same hypnotic hocus-pocus, but it can be peddled in an infinite variety of forms and combinations (‘spiritual’, ‘medical’, ‘philosophical’, ‘cosmological,’‘extraterrestrial’, ‘political’, ‘racial’, ‘mathematical’, ‘economic’, ‘New-Age’, 'magical', etc.), often with impressive, made-up, technical-sounding names. It is tailored to fit the spirit of the times and to attract a broad range of persons, but especially those open to an exclusive offer of salvation (i.e. the: sick, dissatisfied, bereaved, vanquished, disillusioned, oppressed, lonely, insecure, aimless, etc.). However, at a moment of vulnerability, anyone (no matter what their: age, sex, nationality, state of mental/ physical health, level of education, etc.) can need to believe in a non-rational, cultic pseudo-science. Typically, obedient adherents are granted ego-inflating names, and/or ranks, and/or titles, whilst non-initiates are referred to using derogatory, dehumanising terms. Although initiation can at first appear to be reasonable and benefits achievable, cultic pseudo-science gradually becomes evermore costly and mystifying. Ultimately, it is completely incomprehensible and its claimed benefits are never quantifiable. The self-righteous euphoria and relentless enthusiasm of cult proselytisers can be highly infectious and deeply misleading. They are invariably convinced that their own salvation also depends on saving others.
6). Monopoly of information. The leaders of pernicious cults seek to control all information entering not only their adherents’ minds, but also that entering the minds of casual observers. This is achieved by constantly denigrating all external sources of information whilst constantly repeating the group’s reality-inverting key words and images, and/or by the physical isolation of adherents. Cults leaders systematically categorise, condemn and exclude as unenlightened, negative, impure, absolutely evil, etc. all free-thinking individuals and any quantifiable evidence challenging the authenticity of their imaginary scenarios of control. In this way, the minds of cult adherents can become converted to accept only what their leadership arbitrarily sanctions as enlightened, positive, pure, absolutely righteous, etc. Consequently, adherents habitually communicate amongst themselves using their group’s thought-stopping ritual jargon, and they find it difficult, if not impossible, to communicate with negative persons outside of their group whom they falsely believe to be not only doomed, but also to be a suppressive threat to redemption.
7). False justification. In pernicious cults, a core-group of adherents can be gradually dissociated from external reality and reformed into deployable agents, and/or de facto slaves, and/or expendable combatants, etc., furthering the hidden criminal objectives of their leaders, completely dependent on a collective paranoid delusion of absolute moral and intellectual supremacy fundamental to the maintenance of their individual self-esteem/identity and related psychological function. It becomes impossible for such fanatics to see humour in their situation or to feel pity for, or to empathise with, non-adherents. Their minds are programmed to interpret the manipulation, and/or cheating, and/or dispossession, and/or destruction, of inferior outsiders (particularly, those who challenge their group’s controlling scenario) as perfectly justifiable.
8). Structural mystification. The instigators of pernicious cults can continue to organise the creation, and/or dissolution, and/or subversion, of further (apparently independent) corporate structures pursuing lawful, and/or unlawful, activities in order to prevent, and/or divert, investigation and isolate themselves from liability. In this way, some cults survive all low-level challenges and spread like cancers enslaving the minds, and destroying the lives, of countless individuals in the process. At the same time, their leaders acquire absolute control over capital sums which place them alongside the most notorious racketeers in history. They operate behind ever-expanding, and changing, fronts of ‘limited-liability, commercial companies,’ and/or ‘non-profit-making associations,’ etc. Other than ‘religious /philosophical’ and ‘political’ movements and ‘secret societies,’ typical reality-inverting disguises for cultic crime are:
‘charity/ philanthropy’; ‘fund-raising’; ‘lobbying’ on topical issues (‘freedom’, ‘ethics’, ‘environment’, ‘human rights’, ‘women’s rights’, ‘child protection’, ‘law enforcement’, ‘social justice’, 'peace,' etc.); ‘publishing and media’; ‘education’; ‘academia’; ‘celebrity’; ‘patriotism’; ‘information technology’; ‘public relations’; ‘advertising’; ‘medicine’; ‘alternative medicine’; ‘nutrition’; ‘rehabilitation’; ‘manufacturing’; ‘retailing’; ‘direct selling/ marketing’; ‘multilevel marketing’; ‘network marketing’; ‘regulation’; ‘personal development’; ‘self-betterment’; ‘positive thinking’; ‘self-motivation’; ‘leadership training’; ‘life coaching’; ‘research and development’; ‘investment’; ‘real estate’; ‘sponsorship’; ‘bereavement/trauma counselling’; ‘addiction counselling’; ‘legal counselling’; ‘cult exit-counselling’; ‘financial consulting’; ‘management consulting’; ‘clubs’; etc.
9). Chronic psychological deterioration symptoms. The long-term core-adherents of pernicious cults are psychotic (i.e. suffering from psychosis, a severe mental derangement, especially when resulting in delusions and loss of contact with external reality). Core-adherents who manage to break with their group and confront the ego-destroying reality that they’ve been systematically deceived and exploited, are invariably destitute and dissociated from all their previous social contacts. For many years afterwards, recovering former core-adherents can suffer from one, or more, of the following psychological problems (which are also generally indicative of the victims of abuse):
depression; overwhelming feelings (guilt, grief, shame, fear, anger, embarrassment, etc.); dependency/ inability to make decisions; retarded psychological/ intellectual development; suicidal thoughts; panic/ anxiety attacks; extreme identity confusion; Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder; insomnia/ nightmares; eating disorders; psychosomatic illness ( asthma, skin disorders, headaches, fatigue, etc.); sexual problems/ fear of forming intimate relationships; inability to trust; etc.
10). Repression of all dissent. The leaders of the most-destructive cults are megalomaniacal psychopaths (i.e. suffering from a chronic mental disorder, especially when resulting in paranoid delusions of grandeur and self-righteousness, and the compulsion to pursue grandiose objectives). The unconditional deference of their deluded adherents only serves to confirm, and magnify, the leaders’ own paranoid delusions. This type of cult leader maintains an absolute monopoly of information whilst perpetrating, and/or directing, evermore heinous crimes. They sustain their activities by the imposition of arbitrary contracts and codes (secrecy, denunciation, confession, justice, punishment, etc.) within their groups, and by the use of humiliation, and/or intimidation, and/or calumny, and/or malicious prosecution (where they pose as victims), and/or sophism, and/or the infiltration of traditional culture, and/or corruption, and/or intelligence gathering and blackmail, and/or extortion, and/or physical isolation, and/or violence, and/or assassination, etc., to repress any internal or external dissent.
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A COMMON SENSE APPROACH TO CULTISM
Who hasn’t heard about cults? The word, ‘cult,’ has been thrown around so often that most of us now take it for granted that we must know exactly what it means. To be honest, very few people have sought out sufficient background material to be able to form the lucid picture of cultism contained in the essential identifying characteristics presented in the above document. Even the most-diligent news reports have tended to examine individual cultic groups in close-up, leaving the wider phenomenon either out of shot or out of focus. However, in recent years, it has become a matter of public record that, as a result of unprotected exposure to one of an ever-growing and evolving catalogue of apparently diverse and innocent groups, almost anyone can begin to exhibit remarkably uniform symptoms. In everyday terms, it is as though they’ve fallen head over heels in love. Although this initial euphoria is often short-lived, a significant minority will subsequently undergo a nightmarish transformation and recklessly dissipate all their mental, and/or physical, and/or financial, resources to the benefit of some hitherto unknown person(s), whom they continue to trust and follow no matter what suffering this entails. Only when enough victims of one of these latter-day ‘Pied-Pipers’ wind up in psychiatric hospitals or on mortuary slabs is the word, ‘cult,’ liberally applied by the popular press. It is then always revealed that there had been some timely attempt(s) to warn the authorities, but they couldn’t intervene, because, legalistically, cultism does not exist. That said, all cosmopolitan people readily accept that cults most-certainly do exist, but, due to the prevalent style of media coverage, we habitually think of them only as remote, and grotesque, freak-shows.
In my experience, if it is suggested that ‘we should all be on our guard against cultism, because it is actually much closer to us than we like to think,’ the average person is immediately convinced that such an idea is absurd. This instinctual reaction is usually accompanied by one, or more, of the following comments:
· ‘Don’t worry, I wasn’t born yesterday, a cult couldn’t fool me or anyone in my family… only idiots and weaklings join cults.’
· ‘In a free society everyone has the right to believe in what they want… if adults decide to hand over their time and money to some charismatic guru, it’s their own business.’
· ‘One man’s cult is another man’s religion.’
· ‘I suppose you’re including all the people who believe Elvis is still alive.’
· ‘Unless they are being physically held as prisoners, adults always have a free-choice to walk away if they don’t like what’s happening to them.’
· ‘Perhaps some cult members get harmed, but that’s their problem not mine.’
· ‘Cults have been around for centuries, there’s nothing new to learn about them.’ etc.
Whilst these opinions can all seem valid to the ill-informed, the underlying facts prove them to be nothing more than ego-protecting self-deceptions, which completely miss the point. It’s easy to understand that ‘knowledge itself is power,’ but it’s altogether harder to accept that (by the same token) ignorance is vulnerability. Obviously, cults never announce themselves, but their many disguises continue to adapt to mirror the changing spirit of the times. Throughout the ages, a dangerous minority of mythomaniacs, charlatans and would-be demagogues have always been able to get their human prey to sail blindly into positions of subjection, by first bedazzling them with all manner of false beacons which seemed so welcoming and authentic that the majority of people could not have been expected to determine exactly what was lurking behind them. Even though most of us want to deny it, at a moment of weakness all of us can need to listen to the latest cultic voice of insanity; especially when it appeals to our existing beliefs and instinctual desires, and originates from the apparent face of reason. To casual observers, the phenomenon might seem to be a ridiculous anachronism, but cultism or occultism has survived the tide of history and continues to wreck countless lives, simply because its instigators keep updating the lyrics of their siren song. Totalitarianism itself is enduring, its camouflage is ephemeral.
Young children’s unconscious acceptance of ‘Santa Claus’ as total reality, stems from a fictitious scenario reflected as fact by the traditional culture in which they live. Up to a certain age, children are not equipped to challenge the model of reality offered to them by authoritarian figures within their family groups; particularly, their parents. Therefore, once children have been converted to a self-gratifying, non-rational belief in ‘Santa,’ the truth (that they are actually being deceived by the people whom they instinctively trust and follow) is unthinkable. The scenario can then be expanded to modify children’s behaviour — ‘Santa’ has magical powers… he can see and hear everything they do at all times… he will reward them for unquestioning belief and punish them for dissent. Only when they attain the necessary level of intellectual/psychological development, can children begin to use their critical and evaluative faculties and come to realise that ‘Santa’ is merely a game of make believe. If you think about it, what I’ve just described is the most elementary form of self-perpetuating, non-rational/esoteric, ritual belief system - perfectly tailored to fit infantile minds, and reliant on the maintenance of an absolute monopoly of information presented using a constant repetition of reality-inverting key words and images combined with pseudo-scientific mystification and closed-logic.
When analysed with the same level of intellectual rigour, many of the basic procedures and conditions required to establish cultic groups turn out not to be a mystery at all. They are revealed as only more-sophisticated versions of those which also propagate the benign ‘Santa’ deception. As such, they are frighteningly easy to replicate. However, the instigators of cults are anything but benign and, interestingly, many of their most-deluded subjects and convincing apologists turn out to be well-educated adults who have simply become incapable of facing the ego-destroying reality that they’ve been fooled by what is merely a game of make believe. No sane person would ever suggest trying to ban ‘Santa,’ and everyone lies to their children at some time to modify their behaviour, but consider the variety of destructive behaviour that an authoritarian adult (with hidden criminal objectives) could get dependent children to follow by exploiting their unconscious acceptance of the same imaginary, but nonetheless emotionally and intellectually overwhelming, narrative as total reality. The unpalatable truth is that, just by perverting the closed-logic rules of the game, anything - from theft by proxy to sexual, and/or violent, abuse - becomes possible.
Prior to publication, a number of people were given unfinished copies of the above document to appraise. Although no reader could refute its content, the reactions of a minority were split into two groups; these were as different as chalk and cheese. Those who had already survived a direct personal experience of cultism devoured it. Others, who had never knowingly encountered the phenomenon, found the booklet less easy to digest; they generally described its tone as ‘alarmist.’ One man (a middle-aged, American academic) was sure that it had been written by a naïve soul who had suddenly discovered the world to be a cruel place, and who now wanted to shout about it. Several years ago, when I was naïve, I might have agreed with him. In fact, I now blush when I remember a conversation I once had with a senior citizen of the Czech republic (a survivor of rule by the ‘Nazi’ and ‘Soviet’ myths), in which I coolly dismissed his passionate contention that any country whose own citizens mistakenly believed themselves to be immune to totalitarianism, faced the greatest risk of from it. Today, in the light of a traumatic personal encounter in Europe with the large, American-based cultic group known as 'Amway,' I have come to understand that I could not have been more wrong. However, many of the crass opinions which cultism continues to attract are completely predictable, because, even as adults, we all instinctively want to shut out of our minds any information that disturbs our habitual model of the world. Sadly, anyone who searches for the truth about cultism, and who then speaks plainly, is forced to ask a lot of people to think the unthinkable; so I make no apologies for this.
Another man started to read the document and decided that it contained ‘intemperate language.’ He felt sure that it was ‘going to be a sermon’ in which I would ‘attempt to impose ideas of morality’ on him. That opinion made me go back to my original text and remove any suggestion of preaching, because that’s the last thing I want to do. I don’t pretend to be perfect, and I fully recognise that morality is only what is generally regarded as an acceptable standard of behaviour by whatever culture we live in. I tried to base my investigation of cultism on quantifiable evidence, and my analysis on rules made by democratic institutions defining what is criminal, and/or unethical. I didn’t invent this evidence or write these rules, but I couldn’t escape the fact that cultism involves the subversion of traditional codes of morality. Like my wise Czech acquaintance, I have had the dubious privilege of witnessing for myself how unsuspecting individuals can be tricked into entering a counterfeit culture in which their existing perceptions of right and wrong are overturned and then made absolute. As a result, I now accept that apparently rational persons can suddenly abandon all reason and allow themselves to be systematically abused, exploited and even slaughtered whilst participating in the systematic abuse, exploitation and slaughter of others. In short, I am describing how it is possible to enslave any human being, but without the use of chains. This, in itself, is an ego-destroying reality which, self-evidently, many onlookers will wish to deny. However, when this reality is faced, at first it can become impossible to find appropriate words (other than expletives) to describe the results of cultism. Even presiding judges, in related cases, have felt it necessary to deliver verdicts using emotive terms such as ‘evil,’ ‘sinister,’ ‘depraved,’ ‘obnoxious,’ etc., to express publicly their own private outrage. Unfortunately, many other well-intentioned people have been, and continue to be, completely fooled by the seductive words and images shielding the instigators of cultism. The great paradox of the phenomenon is that persons under cultic influence will steadfastly claim to be absolutely righteous, even when all the quantifiable evidence proves their behaviour to be (at best) misguided, or (at worst) downright evil. Although they are demonstrably dissociated from external reality, cult adherents are always certain that they alone represent the ‘truth’ and they act accordingly.
In the above document, I have tried to demystify cultism by using an accurate, deconstructed vocabulary to describe the phenomenon. As a result of my own extensive investigation, I am entirely satisfied that all groups exhibiting the essential characteristics given previously, are manifestations of the same problem. The historical evidence has led me to the inescapable conclusion that the only real differences between cults are the exact motives and mental state of their leaders, and the length of time they survive before they face a well-informed and determined challenge.
Cultism is a trap. Obviously, anyone who only examines the bait in a trap and who remains unaware of its true purpose, risks getting caught themselves. Just like a mousetrap, the basic design for the cultic trap has remained the same down the centuries even if the presentation of the bait has become evermore sophisticated. Sadly, many commentators have found it impossible - when faced with the apparently illogical results of cultism - to abandon their existing academic, and professional, disciplines, which are anchored in the logic of the traditional world. Consequently, their understanding has often been made impossible by misplaced objectivity. However, it must be remembered that a counterfeit banknote might be 99.9 % perfect, but the bit that is not makes all of it a fake. Similarly, in order to have any chance of understanding cultism, it must be approached from the apparently subjective point of view that its results are always the product of a contagious deception, the victims of which unconsciously accept fiction as fact. Only then, can the phenomenon be examined with genuine objectivity. Once this vital principle has been learnt, the apparently authentic words and images reflected by persons under the influence of cultism - like those printed on counterfeit banknotes - are revealed as dangerous distractions. They should never be taken at face value and, therefore, I try to remind the reader of this at all times. Any commentator who repeats the reality-inverting shielding-terminology of any cultic group, but without detailed qualification (or heavy irony), demonstrates that he/she remains at a pitifully low-level of understanding.
Cultism is a trap. Obviously, anyone who only examines the bait in a trap and who remains unaware of its true purpose, risks getting caught themselves. Just like a mousetrap, the basic design for the cultic trap has remained the same down the centuries even if the presentation of the bait has become evermore sophisticated. Sadly, many commentators have found it impossible - when faced with the apparently illogical results of cultism - to abandon their existing academic, and professional, disciplines, which are anchored in the logic of the traditional world. Consequently, their understanding has often been made impossible by misplaced objectivity. However, it must be remembered that a counterfeit banknote might be 99.9 % perfect, but the bit that is not makes all of it a fake. Similarly, in order to have any chance of understanding cultism, it must be approached from the apparently subjective point of view that its results are always the product of a contagious deception, the victims of which unconsciously accept fiction as fact. Only then, can the phenomenon be examined with genuine objectivity. Once this vital principle has been learnt, the apparently authentic words and images reflected by persons under the influence of cultism - like those printed on counterfeit banknotes - are revealed as dangerous distractions. They should never be taken at face value and, therefore, I try to remind the reader of this at all times. Any commentator who repeats the reality-inverting shielding-terminology of any cultic group, but without detailed qualification (or heavy irony), demonstrates that he/she remains at a pitifully low-level of understanding.
In truth, if it wasn’t for its tragic consequences, then cultism would be nothing more than a sick joke. However, until an individual is confronted by a nightmarish change in the personality and behaviour of a loved-one, then they can never really appreciate the full horror of the phenomenon. I realised a long time ago that there are always some people who will never be able to accept what I describe, because, for them to do so, they would have to abandon too many self-deceptions supporting their own view of themselves. Like many others before me, a soul-destroying experience with members of my own family forced me to abandon most of mine. Then, through close contact with the survivors of various cults and my research into the deeper origins of ‘Nazism’ and the ‘New Global Terrorism,’ I came to the further, inescapable conclusion that it is actually impossible to exaggerate the potential menace posed by the creators of these counterfeit cultures, or their significance to the history and future of civilisation. I then found great comfort in the opinions of some of my critics, because the people who first tried to warn the world of the horror lurking behind an apparently absurd, little gang of sanctimonious charlatans - calling themselves the ‘National Socialist German Workers Party’ and led by a hitherto unknown, German Army veteran playing the comic-book role of ordinary man turned superman - were also dismissed as ‘alarmists.’
Whilst it remains generally misunderstood, cultism will continue to be an unnecessary threat to the lives, liberty and happiness of all communities, families and individuals all over the world.
David Brear (copyright 2018)
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It's amazing to see here in the 21st century the same kind of predatory cults that destroy lives, families and finances using an assortment of con games, religion, deception and brainwashing. No tactic or technique is spared in twisting people's minds with illusions, divisiveness, false religion and patriotism and outright lies. And we see it in so much of the far right wing nowadays. Up is down, black is white and anything showing to the contrary is "fake news" and the work of "the devil". Once indoctrinated, either financially or politically, it's fascinating to see how those ensnared seem completely unable to use critical thinking skills to weigh actual facts and evidence, even as they themselves sink deeper and deeper into debt and ruin. Their minds have been trained by those in charge to not "believe their lying ears and eyes" and instead to blindly trust whatever is being spoon fed to them by the cult masters. To those who can think clearly it's obvious how a certain group at the top are feasting on those below them and raiding the till all the while practicing what magicians call "misdirection" to deflect attention away from them to "others", be it people of other political thought, migrants or people of colour. And for those with blinders on they gleefully join in cursing them, all the while their masters grin and continue to pick their pockets while pretending to be their best friend. Seems quite appropriate in that kind of situation that Betsy DeVos, whose family has destroyed the lives of thousands, both in finances and families, is part of the current American administration. Led by a man whose narcissist personality and pathological lying has become the new "normal", as he screams "fake news" to anything that attempts to expose him for the lifetime con man that he is. If space aliens are watching us they surely are saying "they seem to have gone totally mad".
ReplyDeleteI can only hope that the world can break free of this dangerous path it has set upon.
~Dave
Dave - Yes, the world could do with another 'Age of Enlightenment,' but I fear that, in general, human beings have become increasingly gullible over the years, because successive generations are certain that they are far less gullible than previous generations.
DeleteHistory proves that the people who are the easiest to dupe, and keep duped, are always the people who are completely convinced that they cannot be duped.
A good question is: If other intellectually-developed life-forms really were to study the history of the human race, what would they label us? They would certainly find us to be ourageously comic, but ultimately tragic.
I'm not a fan of science-fiction, but isn't there a comic Sci-Fi scenario in which space aliens have adopted the term 'Humans' as by-word for pointless self-destruction, in the same way that we use the term 'Lemmings.'
As ever, many thanks David for another facinating post and for all your sleuthing. These British parliament guys must have been bought like our MLM caucus in DC? They can't be that dumb? How the fuck can this Brexit guy believe recruiting college kids and new mothers into MLMs is a good idea?
ReplyDeleteAnonymous - I would not be so sure that these British Conservative politicians have been bought like the 'MLM' caucus in Washington. They seem to have merely been devoid of common-sense. They have evidently been approached by deluded 'MLM' shills, and propagandists, who have manipulated them via their existing belief in free enterprise. Even so, they could have easily found the truth on the Net, but even if they had found the truth, they would have then had to do some serious thinking to accept it.
DeleteI've been asked what questions should be put to MPs Heaton-Harris and Boles?
ReplyDeleteMy questionnaire for 'MLM' adherents can easily be adapted for 'MLM' casual observers and useful idiots, but some of the questions don't need much change:
7. What prior knowledge did you have of 'MLM?'
8. What was your initial reaction when you encountered 'MLM?'
9. At the time you encountered 'MLM', what did you believe to be the success-rate of persons participating in'MLM' schemes (i.e. about what percentage of participants did you think made an overall net-income out of 'MLM')?
10. Were you ever shown any independent quantifiable evidence (e.g. income tax payment receipts) proving that anyone has ever made an overall net-income out of participating in 'MLM?'
11. Did you ever ask to see such evidence?
12. Could you give a brief explanation of what you understand by the term pyramid scheme or scam?
13. What would you say was the essential identifying characteristic of pyramid scams, Ponzi schemes, money circulation games, chain letter scams, etc.?
14. Were you given to believe that 'MLM' schemes are not pyramid scams, because they involve the sale of products, and/or services, to customers and end users, and offer money-back guarantees?
15. Were you given to believe that 'MLM' schemes cannot be frauds, because they have existed for decades and have been investigated and approved by governments around the world?
16. Were you given to believe that 'MLM' schemes cannot be frauds, because celebrities (including senior politicians) have endorsed 'MLM' schemes?
17. Were you given to believe that 'MLM' schemes cannot be frauds, because their sponsors have given money to charity?
An anonymous person has attempted to dump a pile of MLM propaganda on this article in the form of a comment. Blog readers are reminded that it is the stated policy of this Blog not to post any part of the pernicious 'MLM' fairy story without detailed qualification or heavy irony.
ReplyDelete________________________________________________________________________________
The anonymous commentator (who is using a manipulation technique known as 'gaslighting' in a transparent attempt to alter the perception of Blog readers) says:
'The UKDSA opposes pyramid schemes... David Brear is a well known nut job who doesn't know what he's talking about.'
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In reality, since the 1970s, what the so-called 'DSAs' say they do, and what they actually do, could not be more different. Today, the name 'Direct Selling Association,' is a complete inversion of reality.
When I complained to the so-called 'UKDSA' about 'Amway' being the front for a cult running a pyramid scheme in the 1990s (mistakenly believing the so-called 'UKDSA' to be legit), my name and contact details were passed to 'Amway UK Ltd.' It was at this time that I received a threatening letter from the company's lawyers which was also a transparent attempt to persuade me to question my own perception, sanity, etc.
In truth, so-called 'DSAs' have been part of a psychologically abusive (*gaslighting) system designed to make anyone complaining about 'DSA' members ('Amway', 'Herbalife', 'FLP', etc.) question their own perception, sanity, etc.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaslighting
*Gaslighting is a form of manipulation that seeks to sow seeds of doubt in a targeted individual or in members of a targeted group, hoping to make them question their own memory, perception, and sanity.
Stay strong David, you are anything but a “nut job”. Thank you for your dedication. In a world where the MLM fairy story has been taken for gospel by so many I can’t thank you enough for your commitment to the cause of truth and reasoned analysis.
ReplyDeleteThank-you for your support Anonymous.
DeleteAmway is a cult!
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbT1_SHqD3s
One wonders if the young woman who features in this video has filed a complaint against 'Amway' with the FTC.
DeleteAlmost every crooked cultic practise she describes in the video, is what the bosses of the 'Amway' racket in the UK promised a High Court judge that their company would no longer be doing.
"dupes" and "useful idiots", can't you find a less offensive way to describe people who don't agree with your opinions?
ReplyDeleteAnonymous - I have to say that your comment could be that of an 'MLM' dupe and useful idiot, but it could also be that of someone who has little understanding of the gravity of what Messrs. Heaton-Harris and Boles have done. In fact, I could equally have described this pair as: unwitting traitors to their employers, the British public.
DeleteThe irony of your comment is exquisite, because the offensive, non-rational, totalistic controlling-narratives of 'MLM cults have systematically excluded, and condemned, all rational persons dissenting from their 'positive' content, as: 'negatives', 'losers', 'whiners', 'liars', 'nay-sayers', 'quitters', 'enemies of free enterprise', 'nut-jobs,' etc. etc.
Please note, I don't just condemn these two British 'honorable' members of the UK parliament (who have thoughtlessly promoted the pernicious 'MLM lie) as 'dupes' and 'useful idiots,' I have presented an extensive, evidence-based, rational analysis explaining exactly why they have been useful idiots and dupes for billionaire American racketeers. Obviously, their natural reaction will most-certainly be to take offence at this description, but that that doesn't make it any less accurate.
Furthermore, I have generously offered Messrs. Heaton-Harris and Boles an opportunity to educate, and redeem, themselves, and to prove that they really are honorable men.
Sadly, in my experience, once a certain type of person has been duped, and/or coopted, by the peddlars of 'MLM' fairy story, his/her ego will then prevent his/her critical, and evaluative, faculties from functioning. Hopefully, this will not be the case with Messrs. Heaton-Harris and Boles.
That said, these two proud Conservative politicians are first going to have to admit publicly that they have played the role of dupes and useful idiots for criminals, in order for them to stop acting as dupes and useful idiots for criminals.
In the final analysis, if Messrs Heaton-Harris and Boles really are honorable men, then their prime concern will be to protect the UK public: not to protect themselves and their party.
Take Amway to court then and let’s see what happens,I can guess you will loose big time.
ReplyDeletemark cutts - You had a brief career as professional footballer (soccer player) and then you were under contract to 'Amway UK Ltd.' 1990-2010 as a so-called 'Independent Business Owner'. You now claim 'to be helping people' to set up their own 'Amway/MLM' businesses. You live in NW England.
DeleteIt's rare that an 'MLM' propagandist comes on this Blog using his/her real name, because (in the past) none of them have been able answer the most basic questions concerning the quantifiable resuts of their group's so -called 'income opportunity.'
So whilst you are here Mark (bearing in mind the UK Fraud Act 2006, section 3), could you please tell my readers:
1. How many persons in total have signed contracts with 'Amway' since the so-called 'Amway income opportunity' was first instigated in 1959/60?
2. How many of these many millions of signatories have managed to remain under contract to 'Amway' for more than: 1 year, 2 years, 3 years, 4 years, 5 years, etc.?
3. By extrapolation, what has been the overall net-loss/churn rate for participation in the so-called 'Amway income opportunity?'
4. What lawful reason can you supply to explain why you have no access to the key-information contained in the truthful answers to the above 3 questions, and why this key-information has never been made available to the public or to anyone signing an 'Amway' contract?
BTW Mark, the English verb to 'lose,' is spelled with one 'o'.
Lose, is what any 'MLM' boss would do if he/she were to be so foolish as to try to take me to court. This is why no 'MLM' boss has ever tried to sue me, because I would simply ask them the same common-sense questions I have asked you.
The UK Fraud Act 2006 has an entire section dealing with fraud (theft) by the withholding of key-information. I suggest you read, and digest, it.
mark cutts - After 2 weeks, I take it that you will not be responding to these most-basic questions concerning the quantifiable results of the so-called 'Amway Income Opportunity.'
Deletemark cutts - A Blog reader has asked me to ask you what have you got to say about the 1997 Polish 'Amway' documentary; particularly the part where the 'Amway' shill challenges the Ambot congregation by saying:
ReplyDeleteIf an American pastor (Jim Jones) could get around 1000 people to drink poison, surely you can find and handful of people to sign up for this ('Amway').
Click on the link to the film everyone! The shill really did compare Amway to a mass suicide. No wonder Amway tried to stop the film being shown on Polish TV.
DeleteAnonymous - It is outrageous that an 'Amway' shill made this revealing statement, but it also shows that 'MLM' racketeers haven't really cared about what they say, because no one in law enforcement has been monitoring their criminal activities.
DeleteDespite what has been generally reported in the media, what happened in 'Jonestown' was most certainly not a mass-suicide. Many of the victims were infants and babies, who were injected/fed with poison by their deluded parents. The adult victims had been trained to obey Jim Jones' commands and they were acting under the guided-delusion that 'Jonestown' was about to be invaded by FBI agents, and US miltary, who were going to torture/kill them and their children. Most of them simply obeyed Jones command and drank the poison, but others were forced to do so or shot.
Jones had previously rehearsed the mass killing of his followers. He told them to drink what they thought was poison to test their loyalty.
The core 'Jonestown' victims' model of reality, and resulting self-destructive behaviour, were controlled by a fictitious narrative which Jones had constantly repeated as fact.
In exactly the same way, core-'Amway' victims' model of reality, and resulting self-destructive behaviour, have been controlled by a fictitious narrative which the 'Amway' bosses have constantly repeated as fact.
I have previously said that chronic 'Amway/MLM' victims have been duped into committing financial suicide.
I have been falsely-labelled as 'extreme in my opinions' for merely pointing out this self-evident, but unacceptable, truth.