Sometimes it happens to the nicest of people and it often happens slowly and subtly. These are the signs that you are becoming indoctrinated, and you are likely annoying your friends and loved ones at this point. I hope this helps you. But seriously, the Amway IBOs begin to believe anything upline tells them and they begin to act out what they are taught and are in danger of becoming Amway zombies. The uplines uses clever psychology in my way of looking at things. They make small talk about things most people can agree about such as high taxes, inflation, etc. Then they subtly slide in the talk about Amway being your best chance to stay ahead of the curve, or to even possibly get rich. Then they convince you eventually that Amway is your only hope. Here is the result once you get hooked;
*You're driven to recruit everyone you know. You may even resort to deception or outright lies to get people to meetings and functions. Before you know it, your family and friends avoid you like the plague. You end up spending time at malls and other public places such as Starbucks desperately stalking and scouting for recruits. Much of your time is spent doing this activity when you're not getting more brainwashed at rah rah meetings.
*You're encouraged to develop an unreasonable, irrational zeal for the products. Even so far as to justify the quality of toilet paper or laundry detergent to call the products prestigious. You may even argue the quality of energy drinks or about phytonutrients, something you may not even know about. You even argue about concentration values in dish soap or shampoo.*A whole bunch of demands, promises, subtle threats of failure if you don't try hard enough are made in the promotional material and motivational seminars. i.e. If you quit, you are a loser destined to die broke and unhappy. Or you let someone steal your dream. These ridiculous claims are how your upline keeps you hooked. There is constant pressure to never quit and to keep on pimping Amway to recruits.
*Because the system is touted as the way you're going to make yourself fantastically rich, you're under constant pressure to drop any conflicting or competing interests such as your bowling league or golf club. Nothing else in life has importance except for the quest of financial freedom. All activities in your life must enhance your Amway business and have an affect on your financial future. No other activities matter to you unless it affects your dream filled Amway financial future.
*Your upline soon becomes your most trusted friend. Your thoughts and feelings are shaped in part by the cds, meetings and functions.
Do you recognize these behaviors? Hopefully you aren't displaying these behaviors.
Amway depends very heavily on the brainwashing of its IBOs, and this job is carried out largely by an IBO's immediate up-line, and by the Platinum above him. Occasionally a Diamond shows up in town to reinforce the process, and the mandatory attendance at yearly "functions" is where the brainwashing becomes very intense.
ReplyDeleteWhat's ironic is that all the energy and pressure to brainwash IBOs is one hundred times greater that the energy that is put into selling Amway products to the general public. In fact, some AMO subsystems hardly emphasize the sale of products at all. But the pressure on IBOs to eat sleep, drink, and dream Amway, and to recruit fanatically, is never absent.
Amway isn't a business at all. It is an aggressive buying club held together by a rather nasty cultism and propaganda.