'Amway'-style 'MLM' imperialism is only dangerous whilst it remains largely-unrecognised

Shyam

As you know, Corporate Frauds Watch has again been visited by a Californian, Mr. Kasey Chang. This unhelpful, egocentric, fellow steadfastly pretends to be opposed to scams, but (in effect) without citing one shred of quantifiable evidence to support his existing beliefs, he too continues blithely to accept the 'MLM income opportunity' fairytale that the members of numerous latter-day gangs of pedlars (arbitrarily and falsely defined as 'Independent MLM Business Owners') not only earn money from lawfully selling goods themselves, but also from recruiting their own sub-gangs of pedlars who can also earn money from lawfully selling goods and from also recruiting their own sub-gangs of pedlars, etc. ad infinitum. Thus, Mr. Chang (in effect) also blithely accepts that even if the members of these mythical, geometrically-expanding, latter-day gangs and sub-gangs of profitable pedlars' manage to find some genuine customers, they then illogically endeavour to destroy their own lawful clientele by tranforming it into their own unlawful competition.

Contrary to the latest false and defamatory statements that Mr. Chang has posted on his own Blog, I do not hold the simplistic belief that 'MLM is evil' nor am I engaged in a 'crusade.' Furthermore, I am not condemning Mr. Chang for refusing to agree with me (as he imagines). What I have actually invited Mr. Chang to do, is what I invite all readers to do - to think using accurate, deconstructed (certainly not grandiose) English. If Mr. Chang had been intellectually-equipped to accept my invitation, then he could have evolved and realized that (in practice) so-called 'MLM income opportunities' have quite obviously all been dissimulated money circulation schemes, because the quantifiable evidence (in the form of the tax record) proves that, for the previous 50+ years, effectively none of all the tens of millions of hopeful latter-day pedlars who have been constantly churned through countless, copy-cat, so-called 'MLM income opportunities' has paid any income tax deriving from net-profits earned lawfully by regularly peddling goods, and/or services, to the public. The whole 'MLM' phenomenon has been an absurd lie. 

That said, the deeper explanation of 'MLM income opportunity' fraud as a new form of imperialism (disguised as benign American capitalism), seems to have struck a chord with many of your free-thinking readers (including senior Indian law enforcement agents). Whilst it remains largely-unrecognised, this contemporary adaptation of an age-old phenomenon is, without question, an ongoing threat to democracy and the rule of law.

Imperialists don't need physically to acquire dependent territories to extend their own, and/or their country's, influence. Traditionally, diplomacy, trade, culture, religious conversion, etc., have all been used as weapons by imperialists.

Tellingly, at the dark heart of the parallel 'Amway' State, and of its many copy-cats, has lain the absurd, but nonetheless pernicious, sacred, economic pseudo-science commonly-referred to a 'Multi-Level Marketing.' The instigators of the worst 'MLM income opportunity' frauds have sought to overwhelm their victims emotionally and intellectually by pretending that progressive initiation into their own superior knowledge (coupled with total belief in its authenticity and unconditional deference to the authority of its higher initiates) will defeat a negative force and lead to future, exclusive redemption in a secure Utopian existence of universal prosperity, freedom and happiness. By making total belief a prerequisite of future redemption, 'MLM' victims are drawn into a closed-logic trap (i.e. failure to achieve redemption is solely the fault of the individual who didn't believe totally). Typically, obedient 'MLM'  initiates have been granted ego-inflating 'positive' names, and/or ranks, and/or titles, whilst non-initiates have been referred to using 'negative'  dehumanizing terms ('losers', 'dream-stealers', "whiners', 'ignorant critics', 'anti-MLM zealots', 'communists', etc.). Although initiation can first appear to be reasonbaly-priced and benefits achievable, the 'MLM' pseudo-science gradually becomes evermore costly and mystifying. Ultimately, it is completely incomprehensible and its anecdotal benefits are never quantifiable. The self-righteous euphoria and relentless enthusiasm of the most-deluded 'MLM' proselytizers can be highly infectious and deeply misleading. They are invariably convinced that their own economic salvation also depends on saving others from poverty.

Wealthy US-based criminogenic oganizations, like 'Amway,' officially occupy no territory and they have no armed forces. Yet their self-appointed sovereign rulers have been engaged in widespread psychological and economic warfare against their fellow citizens and against the citizens of America's allies. These pernicious, anti-democratic organizations have operated exactly like imperialist, totalitarian States (i.e. they are centrally-controlled and require of their core-adherents an absolute subservience to the group and its leadership above all other persons). By definition, everything within a totalitarian State becomes arbitrarily divided by its leadership into'totally negative (pure and good) versus totally positive (impure and evil).' The core-subjects of a totalitarian State are always bonded by their unconscious acceptance of the self-gratifying, but wholly imaginary, scenario that they alone represent a positve force of purity and absolute rigteousness derived from their leadership's exclusive access to a superior knowledge, and that they alone oppose a negative force of impurity and absolute evil.

The deluded little fellow, Rajesh, who has recently sprung to 'Amway's' defence on Corporate Frauds Watch, wielding only anecdotal evidence, is a perfect example of the unquestioning, totalitarian mind-set. Notice how Rajesh doesn't offer to produce his own 'Amway'-related audited accounts (particularly, his income tax receipts) to disprove our analysis. 
David Brear (copyright 2011)