'A little learning is a dangerous thing'

Shyam 

Your free-thinking readers have recently been treated to the self-proclaimed, enlightened thoughts of a pair of absurd 'MLM' fantasists. Out of the kindness of their hearts, they gave us the benefit of their second-hand, great wisdom in many different fields of human endeavour, from fast food and nutrition, to Indian jurisprudence, morality, philosophy, religion, atheism, politics, mathematics, economics, etc. Perhaps the most confusing aspect of all of this, was Nikhil Bhatia's repeated references to the original, American 'personal success' guru, Napoleon Hill http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_Hill , the author of 'Think and Grow Rich.' Down the years, almost every transient 'MLM' adherent has been advised to buy a copy of this life-changing tome, which perhaps explains why it has sold more than 30 millions copies since 1937 (but mostly since 1960). 

Napoleon Hill was, in fact, a failed law student turned journalist who, in 1908, was commissioned by the steel magnate turned philanthropist, Andrew Carnegiehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Carnegie to interview hundreds of high-achievers. Based on these interviews, Hill, in collaboration with Carnegie, later came up with what they claimed was a 'law of success.' Many people have observed that all Hill and Carnegie discovered was the self-evident truth that very successful (as opposed to very talented) individuals, are invariably self-diciplined, highly organized, optimistic and focused, and filled with limitless energy and self-belief. In reality, Carnegie's possessed all these qualities, but his own initial success was also largely-due to his having absolutely no moral objection to profiting from the American Civil War. In 1901, Carnegie (the son of poor Scottish immigrants to the USA, and who began working in a factory in the 1840s) sold his steel company for half a billion dollars and then proceeded to give 350 millions dollars to good causes (particularly, in the field of public education). He was apparently filled with remorse. 

At no point in 'Think and Grow Rich' could Napoleon Hill have suggested that joining a'Multi-Level Marketing' scheme is a pathway to success, because, at the time he was writing his book, this particular, deceptive label for an age-old criminogenic phenomenon, was yet to be coined. Ironically, in the year that 'Think and Grow Rich'was first published, one of the richest (and apparently most-successful) men in the world was Adolf Hitler- the de facto King of Germany, and best selling author of 'My Struggle.' Exactly how Hitler ( a penniless ex-soldier) had become so rich and powerful so rapidly, was completely beyond the intellectual capacity of Napoleon Hill. Consequently, he made absolutely no reference to Hitler in 'Think and Grow Rich.'Indeed, for obvious reasons, in 1937, Napoleon Hill completely failed to warn his readers about charlatans who pretend to possess a superior, or superhuman, knowledge, and who are prepared to share this knowledge with the rest of humanity (for a price). 

Hitler was a narcissistic charlatan, and energetic public speaker, who had quickly risen to the top in an existing gang of like-minded charlatans. These deluded racketeers all steadfastly pretended moral and intellectual authority. During the 'Great Depression' of the early 1930s, a handful of 'Nazi' bosses rapidly acquired a vast fortune by peddling millions of ill-informed recruits the unoriginal lie (presented in publications, recordings and pay-to-enter meetings) that by joining and building their group, any ordinary man could transform into a superman, just like their group's rags-to-riches 'Leader,' Adolf Hitler. 

Unfortunately, the hidden criminal objectives of the billionaire 'Nazi' bosses were completely unthinkable to their poor recruits. 

David Brear (Copyright 2011)