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 deprivation 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 appear 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?
3 comments:
Many IBOs have joined Amway precisely because they were hungry for hopes, dreams, and fantasies. And they are addicted to such things (partially out of deep need, and partially as a result of the expert lying and manipulation that they receive from their up-line).
So when it comes to a choice between the actual truth and Amway fantasies, most IBOs will choose the fantasies. It's exactly what a drug addict will do when choosing between drug use and rehabilitation.
In this sense, your Amway up-line functions just like a street-level drug pusher. He feeds you the fantasies you need, as long as you keep on paying him his monthly money. What he wants is to keep you hooked forever, as a paying customer. And he certainly doesn't want you to hear anything about rehabilitation.
You mentioned information deprivation in your first paragraph. Don't forget sleep deprivation at major functions. That's what we dealt with in URA.
In Amway, truth is "negative" if it makes you feel bad, or if it dampens your enthusiasm.
That's why the Amway bigshot Howie Danzig won't admit that his first wife Susan ever existed. Divorce is "negative," so you have to pretend that it never happened.
Persons with severe mental problems think this way. They cannot accept anything as reality if it contradicts their desires or their self-esteem.
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