One of the silly things many IBOs are taught is to avoid anything negative, and that includes family and friends if necessary. I believe this is taught today by uplines and it was certainly a point of emphasis even in my days as an IBO. The upline diamond would say that the world of full of negatives and that we as people take in too much of these negatives. Therefore, the IBOs were told to avoid television, newspapers and other forms of communication with the outside world. The group was also told to avoid people who speak negatively about Amway. For this reason, many people have considered Amway groups such as WWDB or N21 as cultish or cult-like. (information deprevation or information control). The Amway IBOs worship the Diamond leaders, they do not question them and they are treated almost "God like".
I can agree that you surely don't want to only take in negatives as it can wear you down, but not seeing the news or reading about current events in the paper or watching the news on TV simply makes you apathetic and uninformed. For example, wouldn't you want and need to know if there was a storm heading your way? I live in Hawaii and we occasionally have hurricanes. Avoiding news could be very detrimental to your family and home. If you lived in the midwest of the US, wouldn't you want and need to know if a tornado was headed your way? Do you avoid the doctor because his assessment of your health might not be "positive"? For these reasons, I believe that many Amwayers walk around wearing a mask with a false smile, trying to overly positive.
Another important thing that many IBOs cannot distinguish is the difference between negative and the truth. If your wife asks you if her new dress makes her look fat, the truth might be that the new dress indeed makes her appear fat. That answer may be uncomfortable for you to deliver, but the truth is the truth. The truth at times can be positive or negative but it is still the truth.
Most IBOs earn less than $100 a month. That is the truth. Most IBOs lose money if they participate in functions and standing orders and such. That is the truth. Most IBOs will never even sponsor a downline. That is the truth. Most IBOs, filled with motivation and dreams, will never see those dreams fulfilled. That is the truth. Many upline diamonds, who advise IBOs to purchase tools and attend functions, and fill the IBO's heads full of dreams, make significant incomes from the sale of tools and functions. That is also the truth. In a 1 year timespan, approximately 50% of IBOs will quit. That is the truth. Many things about Amway, unfortunately, are true, even if it may seem negative.
Is it negative to tell the truth? Or can IBOs not handle the truth?
The driving force behind MLMs is the "Power of Positive Thinking" crap. This crackpot philosophy insists that you must never lose hope, never stop looking on the bright side, never recognize that a plan or an enterprise has failed. Every book touting MLM thinking is fiercely committed to this idea. That's why "quitters" or "losers" are so hated in MLM circles.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes -- if certain facts about your MLM are unquestionably negative, you are told that you must reinterpret those facts, explain away those facts, or ignore those facts. For an MLM fanatic, the truth is what you BELIEVE, not what you actually perceive.
It takes a bizarre kind of self-hypnosis to achieve this viewpoint, but anyone who is pushing an MLM scheme knows that doing so is absolutely crucial to maintain the business's structure and viability. You MUST convince prospective recruits that truth is not based in objective reality, but in the subjective perception of the individual. That's why they make such a big fuss about having "an employee mentality."