One of our readers shares what its like being inside the
Amway cult. Also known as the condensed version of this blog!
Everything I've read here rings true of Amway being a cult. I was an Ambot for
two years before I realized the horrible truth and woke up from my brainwashed
state and got out after losing almost $3000 and losing some family and friends
too.
Amway is definitely a cult. The lovebombing, the "us vs. them" creed,
having your upline jam down your throat constantly to obey, don't question,
blindly do what your told because it will enable you to "hang loose in
Hawaii" and "party in Paris" and a bunch of other pipe dreams.
One of Amway's textbook brainwashing techniques used heavily is to have you
attend the major functions or rallies where you are a captive audience
bombarded with one "godlike leader" after another with only brief
breaks for food. You are told to stay in your seat for sometimes 12 hours plus
and then you are ordered to attend a "special meeting" with your
upline diamond; these meetings were often from after 12midnight to after 2am.
If you tried to explain that you were exhausted from sleep deprivation by this
point and didn't want to attend the meeting you would be called a loser and not
really a part of the team. By this time after 14 hours of being subjected to
constant sensory inputs (speakers, loud music, singing and chanting over and
over, giant screen videos, etc.) you're ability to think clearly and for
yourself is almost gone and ripe for having more brainwashing that you have to
stay in Amway and no matter how much money you losing on Amway products and
more brainwashing tape cassettes, just keep "showing the plan" and
you'll be able to "walk on the beaches" too. These are all classic
methods used by cults to keep members in line and not think for themselves.
I'm glad I got out when I did. Oh yeah, one other note - as soon as I got out
not one person who was still in Amway ever tried to contact me again. So much
for Amway being compromised of "the most loving and friendly people"
Hi Anna. Yup, that's so true. I was briefly with another, different "Multi Level Marketing" cult some years back. Fortunately it didn't take me long to figure it out. For one thing I missed my friends. Whether it's the Amway cult or one of the others like them out there your friends are good to them for one thing and one thing only: to recruit them (and their money) into the cult. Happily I wasn't gone very long and my friends were there waiting for me once I got out.
ReplyDeleteHi Ray. At least you can recognize it now. Many people who were in MLMs for a short time don't recognize the cult tactics that were used on them. I didn't realize the whole cult thing either for awhile but I sure as hell knew something was very wrong with Amway and it was frightening the control the fucking assholes in the Amway upline had on my husband. When I started connecting with others online and reading more about it - the whole cult thing was so clear. Well at least your friends waited you out! All cults try to separate their followers from friends and family, the people who might have some influence and make them see what they've got involved with.
DeletePsychologists and doctors who do research into cultic practices and habits have in recent years begun to recognize that there is a special category of cults that can be termed "business cults."
ReplyDeleteMost MLMs are business cults. They involve the ferocious brainwashing of members, a complete rejection of any rational thinking or questioning, and isolation from anyone (friend or family) who does not accept the ideas and promises of the business cult.
They only differ from the ordinary religious cults when it comes to material goods. Most religious cults are otherwordly and ascetic. But business cult MLMs are fanatically fixated on making money.
Amway is unusual, in that right from the beginning DeVos and Van Andel insisted on linking the business with an evangelical Christian message called "The Prosperity Gospel." This is the absurd notion that God wants you to be rich, and will make you a prosperous person if you follow all the rules and regulations of your up-line. This idea is sick and blasphemous, and no serious Christian theologian (whether Catholic, Protestant, or Orthodox) will defend it.
Unfortunately, America is a land of crazy cults, and has been so right from the beginning. Mormons, Holy Rollers, Shakers, Bible-belt lunatics, Synanon, Jim Jones, Heaven's Gate -- it's a basic flaw in the American character to fall for cultic promises.
Anonymous - that's a good break down of how cults differ. Amway is the granddaddy of business cults. Other MLM cults have followed the Amway scheme.
DeleteAmway is a cult of greed based on the founders religious beliefs that everyone should be rich.
Amway is all about sell the hope not the soap. Yup Amway is just another fucked up crazy religious cult. That operates a business selling goods on the side.
Amway and WWDB is highly, highly emotionally dysfunctional. And they're cults.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous - Amway and WWDB are worse than highly dysfunctional! Amway the Cult of Greed. Where the masses worship the Great Amway God and then sit around bragging about how they're all going to be rich one day and how they'll laugh HUA HUA HUA at all the people who were too stupid to get it.
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