An Observation About Amway?
http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=192279&page=8
It's refreshing to see so many good people on this forum telling the truth about Amway. It looks like the pro-Amway shills here and on other sites are becoming increasingly outnumbered and desperate. I've read through this entire thread and think it is hilarious how many times the shill has to move the goal-posts or play word games to make Amway look like an amazing business opportunity.
I was originally introduced to Amway many years ago in my late teens by an uncle of mine. I attended a few of their seminars, and was impressed at first. But the whole thing started to seem ridiculous and unrealistic and so I didn't get involved any further. Also, I'm not that materialistic, so Amway's message doesn't appeal to me. I wish my uncle had been more skeptical.
My uncle was very devoted to Amway for a few years. He bought all their products(especially the tapes and books), tried to get others to buy them, and also tried to recruit all his family and friends into his new religion. He eventually lost money and friends and alienated himself from much of his family.
Already heavily in debt, he eventually fell for another, even bigger get-rich-quick scam shortly after quitting Amway(to Amway's credit, they don't threaten to kill anyone for leaving Amway). This one robbed him of his entire life savings. The scammers got away with it because they knew how to play him right(he met one of them through Amway). His wife divorced him soon after.
As if this wasn't enough, after making a modest financial recovery with his business over the course of several years, he loses it all to yet another scam. He had to borrow heavily from the few friends he had left since no bank would ever give him a loan, and almost no one in the family has anything to do with him anymore. I haven't seen him for 15 years.
One thing I wonder about my uncle is if all those seminars and inspirational tapes and books softened him up to fall for all those other scams he fell for after quitting Amway(he didn't have a reputation for being gullible before joining Amway, though he was never that bright to begin with). If I remember correctly, he tended to blame himself for failing at Amway, and may have never understood that it was a big scam or at least not a good business opportunity.
I still remember those crazy seminars and how they told everyone that joining the Amway cult will likely lead to yachts, exotic vacations surrounded by hot bikini babes, and shiny expensive cars, among other symbols of wealth. Everyone is told at the seminars and in the "tools" that they have all this unfulfilled potential, but to realize this potential we must avoid those small-minded "dream killers"(skeptical family members and friends).
The story about my stupid uncle is true. There are many other people out there just like him who have fallen for Amway and others MLMs. The few people I've met who claimed they were very successful at Amway usually seemed sleazy or I would find out years later they were up to their eyeballs in debt.
The person who said before that the people who regularly attend these seminars are mostly fools and misfits was spot on.
2 comments:
This particular post about someone's uncle touches on a subject that is very rarely mentioned at any of the anti-Amway or anti-MLM blogs.
Many persons who have been financially and personally ruined by Amway are nevertheless loyal to it, and either rejoin it after having quit once before, or join a similar MLM racket later on. This is baffling, since it is irrational to repeat a major mistake after the bad consequences of that mistake are clear to you.
What is going on? If Amway is wrecking your life, why stay in it? Or if you have quit the racket, why go back to join it again, or to join some other MLM scheme?
It can't be a desire for money, because you're NOT GETTING ANY MONEY. I can only assume that there is a much deeper psychological need that Amway fulfills for some people, and that the entire Amway scam is motivated and driven by this psychological compulsion.
Why did Anna Banana's husband rejoin Amway, after having been financially burned by it? Why does Joe Cool's medical friend still remain in Amway after years of bleeding cash? Why do some people quit Amway and them join an even more stupid outfit like Monavie or Herbalife?
Can anyone explain any of this?
It might be related to what's called the Stockholm syndrome. That's where a kidnapping victim begins to feel some sympathy to the perpetrator, although I can't imagine why. Possibly because they wind up related to them in some manner, despite the circumstances.
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