FL thread 2

[mortil2]

To follow on so to not lose what is such an interesting thread

and more from the FLbot... gah...

Also have another juice plus lady. Although I don't think she is selling just shouting how great it is in one post then complaining how miserable in the next.

I'm not sure that there is a type that is more vulnerable to falling for pyramid schemes. I imagine that presented in the right way and at the right time by the right person, we could all take it up.

I'm not sure that there is a type that is more vulnerable to falling for pyramid schemes. I imagine that presented in the right way and at the right time by the right person, we could all take one up.

Not sure what happened there.

Stitch I agree. Look at all the supposedly learned captains of industry, politicians and the like who have unwittingly found themselves endorsing these cons. It's all about finding your weak spot. They have an answer for just about everything and will wear you down.

Stitchintime - Although 'MLM' rackets comprise pyramid schemes (dissimulated as viable, and lawful, 'direct selling business opportunities'), these have been run in conjunction with cultic or totalitarian advance fee frauds (dissimulated as 'optional: step-by-step self-betterment/ training/ motivation/ positive thinking programs, recruitment leads,' etc.).

Cultic or totalitarian racketeering is only the peddling of the illusion of a future secure Utopian existence, to those vulnerable individuals who (for all manner of reasons and at various times) will always need to believe that it's true. It is the world's oldest, and most profitable, self-perpetuating fraud, but its external presentation/bait, continues to evolve in order to keep ensaring the widest possible range of victims and to keep one jump ahead of law enforcement agents and legislators.

Countless millions of individuals continue to swallow the bait and walk into 'MLM' cults, certain in the knowledge that they would be far too sophisticated to fall for a 'religious', 'political', 'extra terrestrial', etc., cult.

In reality, in cultic rackets, the endlessly-complex, and progressively-expensive, thought-stopping, closed-logic, pseudo-scientific hocus-pocus (which is always presented as an exclusive secret knowledge via which Utopia is to be achieved), can be dressed up as almost anything. The more kitsch the pseudo-science appears, the less dangerous the cult can seem to casual observers, but so-called 'MLM' has been to groups like 'Forever Living', 'Amway', 'Herbalife', etc.: exactly what so-called 'Dianetics' has been to 'Scientology.'

To put this into perspective, imagine if there were 1400 groups registered as various 'Churches' in the USA, and around the globe, all peddling so-called 'Dianetics.' However, this is effectively the situation we've currently got with 'MLM' cults. The reason for this, is, unlike so-called 'Dianetics' and 'Scientology,' no group has ever tried to claim so-called 'MLM' as its exclusive intellectual property.

There are certain observers (myself included) who now think that this extraordinary, and rapidly-expanding, fragmentation of the 'MLM' version of cultic/ totalitarian Utopian fairy story, might actually bring about its downfall.

bettyberry - wow, so classy, FL!

Surprise surprise - no response to the email sent to the FL compliance people. Yet.

The compliance people are probably too busy dealing with all the sellers putting their wares on eBay. I just searched on eBay uk for forever living and there were over 3000 items on there.

www.facebook.com/foreverlivingproductsuk/posts/10151644716402673

Forever would like to remind Distributors that company policy states sales of Forever products on sites such as eBay and Amazon is strictly prohibited. We would like to assure you that Forever has recently increased its resources to address this issue and is doing everything possible to prevent its products being listed. Repeat offenders risk losing their Distributorship.

Consumers who purchase products from these sites cannot be guaranteed authenticity of the product, risk receiving faulty goods or goods that are passed their sell-by date. These consumers are not protected by the 60-day money back guarantee policy, and as a result will not receive the high level of customer service, including after-sales service, that Forever prides itself on. Nothing can replace the high levels of customer service experienced as a result of buying directly from a Forever Distributor.

Please be aware that Head Office is aware of the current eBay listings, and is working through each case.

Stitchintime. So true. At low points we are all vulnerable. Especially when those recruiting us truly believe in the solution. One of the difficulties in combating MLMs is that you need to have the support of those who have been harmed. Those in the cult will swear blind to its efficacy of course.

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Forever-Living-Clean-9-/151753534687?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item2355372cdf

oooh. you can get Clean 9 for only 56 pounds!

mind boggles at how much FL stuff is on ebay

Obviously the only reason you can't sell it on ebay is because they want you to go to them to sell your products back so they can try to reel you back in?

You will never guess which other cult doesn't want its exorbitantly-priced pseudo-scientific kit off-loaded on e-bay by impoverished ex-adherents?

www.religionnewsblog.com/20710/scientology-ebay-e-meter

Ha! oh thats not surprising at all! No wonder really is it? Surely though once you have purchased something you are legally allowed to do with it as you wish?

It is an interesting area. Just have to look at the big tech companies locking phones and consoles when people who have paid for them improve them for their own needs.

the winning bid was 72 pounds and there were 7 bids.

you're welcome

When the wider 'Scientology' racket is examined, the question of who has the legal right to sell secondhand so-called 'e-meters,' seems unimportant: for according to L. Ron Hubbard's comic-book fantasies, the 'e-meter' is an exclusive device for detecting the presence of evil (but invisible) extra-terrestrial influence's in the human mind and body.

In simple terms, the so-called 'e-meter' is an absurd, but potentially lethal, fiction peddled as fact, but then the same common-sense description applies to the rest of the 'Scientology' racket.

mlmtheamericandreammadenightmare.blogspot.fr/2014/10/fake-bomb-dector-gang-jailed-in-uk-but.html

agreed Eyespying I can see why people would want to buy them. I have a friend who purchased one just to prove how they work (or don't work!) and that there is no possible way they can detect trauma in the body or rid it of anything. Knowing the tools of the enemy and all that.

He gives the local scientologists a lot of grief here!

FL Aloe cures fibromyalgia.

note her claims are still up..still waiting for FL to 'fire" her

But she isn't claiming that it cures the condition. If she was, she would be breaking the law. She says that she feels better.It's just a testimonial. Dangerous stuff in its own way. You can't challenge it really can you? if she says she feels better, then she says she feels better.

i was being tongue in cheek with 'cures' but it's still implying that FL shite improved her condition.

Stitchintime1 the placebo affect is interesting. In some of these testimonials the desire for it to work almost guarantees some improvement be it physical or psychological. Just a teeny tiny glimmer of improvement is something to sing about even if its just a brief remission or a good week.

The wanting to believe something simple will fix a long standing illness is a common thing that's why folk swear by all kinds of hooey like bach flower remidies, using crystal healing, realigning the chakras even dipping into 'magic' and using prayer as a way to heal their ills.

When you graft a pyramid scheme onto an updated medicine show, you get a hybrid 'MLM' racket - peddling both economic and medical placebos to vulnerable persons who desperately need to believe that these are effective.

Observe how 'FLP' shills testify on stage, that they have been cured of poverty (as well as various physical and mental illnesses).

Another factor which is common to all 'MLM' cultic rackets, is the introduction of blame-the-victim closed logic i.e. victims are told that in order for the 'step-by-step plan' to work, they must develop a '100% positive' mindset and believe totally that it will work. Thus when, inevitably, victims can't get into the 'MLM' Utopia, they are conditioned systematically to accept that failure was entirely their own fault.

Sorry. Missed the irony. It's clever though to concentrate on feelings
Makes them harder to challenges.

Indeed it does. Nobody wants to tell someone their feelings are false. Their experiences are not valid. It's a scary area to navigate. Advertisers attack it all the time tbh. Prey on our feelings to get us to donate to charity, to buy something we don't need. But the upside to advertising- they are regulated.

These home businesses really aren't regulated so much. You can see the private(?) ads the FL and other home business ladies post online more often than not cross a line but that's also why they use the testimonials. It's someone's opinion on a product and it's never intended to be taken as fact yet so many people do. 'It fixed her so it'll fix me' and eyespying is right. If it doesn't work for you you Are encouraged to try harder, try again, told you didn't do it for long enough, didn't take enough. Told it's the wrong combo of products etc

Still riles me up a laxative wa suggested for my IBS and bee pollen for hayfever an dust mite allergy! I'm the irrational one for suggesting it doesn't work hehe