MLM Survivors Club: Re: [MLM Survivors Club] "mlm junkies"

Monday, January 28, 2008

Re: [MLM Survivors Club] "mlm junkies"

Actually, after my long point-for-point rebuttal, I think I'll just put
it a little more concisely:

Steve, you are too busy being right to look at what's actually
happening.

Hal

On Monday 28 January 2008, steve.indepass wrote:
> Hi folks
>
> I keep seeing people refer to themselves as "mlm junkies".
>
> I made some comments a while back about mlm and addiction - and got
> roasted for suggesting that mlm 'use' (like drug use) was a coping
> strategy of people with low or damaged self-esteem. My comments were
> seen as unhelpful generalisations, lacking in empathy and somewhat
> insulting to the innocent 'victims' of mlm - all of whom, supposedly
> had healthy self-esteem that was then destroyed by the evil of mlm.
>
> I am totally anti-mlm. In the UK, I actively do what I can to expose
> the side of the argument that pro-mlmers want to keep hidden from
> their prospects.
>
> I also have experience of addiction - having, like countless
> millions, been a 'junkie' using cigarettes, cannabis and alcohol
> throughout the larger part of my life until I decided to quit it all
> some 3 years ago. For me, those substances were a 'self-medication'
> for a pain; a discomfort - an agonising lack of self-worth and
> self-esteem.
>
> In addiction, the drug isn't to blame for the users' lack of
> self-esteem. Sure, it helps to make it worse. But the drug is the
> 'medication' to deal with the inner emptiness, the pain the addict
> already feels.
>
> I've spent a few years watching and researching all kinds of mlms,
> reading the testimony of people who have been in mlms (such as this
> site) and gaining direct experience of mlm people. Countless people
> have described themselves as being 'mlm junkies' and if there's one
> common pattern I've seen, it's that most serial mlm-ers behave like
> addicts or 'gamblers' (addicts by another name).
>
> Like addicts, 'mlm junkies' search for a 'fix' in mlm, don't find it,
> feel more ashamed and in pain, and keep searching for another mlm to
> fix that pain. Despite all the evidence to the contrary, the 'mlm
> junkie' retains a core belief that there IS one mlm out there that
> will fix him / her.
>
> In previous posts, I suggested that rather than being responsible for
> creating poor self-esteem in serial mlmers, just maybe mlm was set up
> to exploit what was already there. That caused a bit of a reaction.
> Maybe that's hard to stomach because it's much easier to someone to
> be a victim of mlm in the same way that it would be much easier to
> blame my using chemicals on the dealers who sold them to me; or the
> bar or the supermarket.
>
> Why am I posting again about this? Because like any addiction,
> unless people take responsibility for what drives them to use 'stuff'
> as a way to avoid facing their inner pain, the industry (drugs,
> gambling or mlm) will continue to thrive. This morning, I picked up
> two more posts here saying 'I'm a mlm junkie' - and the response from
> the forum, once again, was 'It has nothing to do with you - you are
> the victim of evil people'.