This sounds like the script from Becoming a God in Central Florida- which I thought was an exaggerated fiction- like the Righteous Gemstones for religion. I am sad that so many families became entangled in this predatory company.
Really like the explicit throughline the writer draws from Christian fundamentalism / ethnonationalism to these pyramid schemes + how their architects helped spearhead parts of our current fcked up political reality.
Man, this article unlocked some memories for me. My mom worked a lot and my dad was in and out of hospitals, so we frequently stayed with a couple of family friends who had kids around our age. So much of the weirdness mentioned in this article is stuff I witnessed firsthand but didn't understand at the time: referring to Amway as 'the business', the Reagan worship, parents constantly talking about 'when we're millionaires' while their kids were in clothes that didnt fit and their house was literally falling apart. I remember listening to the rallies on tape any time we were in the car and having to make random drives across the county to pick up boxes at the Amway warehouse in Ada.
While they never got as deeply into it as the family described in the article, it just about tore their family apart. The couple would argue about money to the point of tears almost every day in front of us kids. Their sales pitches alienated them from my parents and most of the other adults in our families' social circle. It wasn't until I saw the John Oliver episode about MLMs in my late teens that I made the connections with what I had witnessed.
We're not close, but we attended their kids' weddings and see them from time to time. They are no longer involved with Amway AFAIK, and the couple seems to have a happier and healthier relationship than they used to.
There's a great book called Little Bosses Everywhere that draws a direct line from the start of multi-level marketing to how conservatives are trying to remake America today. A lot of the political advocacy practiced by the DeVos family and others really comes down to A. making sure they have a never-ending pipeline of rubes they can scam into Amway - undermining public education goes a long way toward this goal; and B. making sure the government never regulates multi-level marketing, which is badly in need of regulation.
I don't know how many people I've known in my life, at this point, that got roped into some MLM (Amway, Mary Kay, Herbalife, etc.) because they fell for a sales pitch and signed up before they looked up the company online. For the author's family, that wasn't an option; nowadays I do not understand people who will sign themselves up for a "business opportunity" without doing a simple Google search. Everything you need to know about these companies is on the internet and we need to do better education of consumers about how to research something before putting their money into it.
Amway is a cult. That’s why the woman couldn’t get out. She would’ve needed real deprogramming. The antiMLM sub has many stories about people who’ve lost in pyramid schemes, also known as multilevel marketing. Many are very very culty.
Before I even clicked the link, I knew it was Amway. I’ve known several smart, rational people who got sucked into this horrible scam and had to claw their way out.
Logical-Campaign-290 | 7 hours ago
Merry Christmas everyone. Non paywall https://archive.is/OVXyl
Bob584326 | 6 hours ago
Thank you!
[OP] bil-sabab | 6 hours ago
thx
Slapdash_Susie | 6 hours ago
This sounds like the script from Becoming a God in Central Florida- which I thought was an exaggerated fiction- like the Righteous Gemstones for religion. I am sad that so many families became entangled in this predatory company.
bunnycrush_ | 4 hours ago
Really like the explicit throughline the writer draws from Christian fundamentalism / ethnonationalism to these pyramid schemes + how their architects helped spearhead parts of our current fcked up political reality.
Yggdrasil- | 3 hours ago
Man, this article unlocked some memories for me. My mom worked a lot and my dad was in and out of hospitals, so we frequently stayed with a couple of family friends who had kids around our age. So much of the weirdness mentioned in this article is stuff I witnessed firsthand but didn't understand at the time: referring to Amway as 'the business', the Reagan worship, parents constantly talking about 'when we're millionaires' while their kids were in clothes that didnt fit and their house was literally falling apart. I remember listening to the rallies on tape any time we were in the car and having to make random drives across the county to pick up boxes at the Amway warehouse in Ada.
While they never got as deeply into it as the family described in the article, it just about tore their family apart. The couple would argue about money to the point of tears almost every day in front of us kids. Their sales pitches alienated them from my parents and most of the other adults in our families' social circle. It wasn't until I saw the John Oliver episode about MLMs in my late teens that I made the connections with what I had witnessed.
Anyway, fuck Amway and fuck MLMs.
GiveMeCheesecake | 26 minutes ago
Are you still friends with them? Did they get out of it okay?
Yggdrasil- | 12 minutes ago
We're not close, but we attended their kids' weddings and see them from time to time. They are no longer involved with Amway AFAIK, and the couple seems to have a happier and healthier relationship than they used to.
Scary_Manner_6712 | 3 hours ago
There's a great book called Little Bosses Everywhere that draws a direct line from the start of multi-level marketing to how conservatives are trying to remake America today. A lot of the political advocacy practiced by the DeVos family and others really comes down to A. making sure they have a never-ending pipeline of rubes they can scam into Amway - undermining public education goes a long way toward this goal; and B. making sure the government never regulates multi-level marketing, which is badly in need of regulation.
I don't know how many people I've known in my life, at this point, that got roped into some MLM (Amway, Mary Kay, Herbalife, etc.) because they fell for a sales pitch and signed up before they looked up the company online. For the author's family, that wasn't an option; nowadays I do not understand people who will sign themselves up for a "business opportunity" without doing a simple Google search. Everything you need to know about these companies is on the internet and we need to do better education of consumers about how to research something before putting their money into it.
Powerful-Patient-765 | 4 hours ago
Amway is a cult. That’s why the woman couldn’t get out. She would’ve needed real deprogramming. The antiMLM sub has many stories about people who’ve lost in pyramid schemes, also known as multilevel marketing. Many are very very culty.
sodabubbles1281 | 4 hours ago
Wow. This is overwhelmingly sad. And the overt parallels to Trumpism… wow
latswipe | 3 hours ago
my favorite element of this story, and very strangely overlooked by its author, is that her mother's boss was her upline.
a fool and his money is one big party -- the immortal, the bard, Robert Kiyosaki
BeeSweet4835 | 5 hours ago
Wow. I did not know this. Thank you.
maria_tex | 4 hours ago
Very interesting read!
casapantalones | 2 hours ago
Before I even clicked the link, I knew it was Amway. I’ve known several smart, rational people who got sucked into this horrible scam and had to claw their way out.