3 ms·
I prefer to think of it as more of a MLM or pyramid scheme than a cult.
by bonniemuffin 8y ago
I prefer to think of it as more of a MLM or pyramid scheme than a cult.
- woodpanel 8y agoMLM you say? Ok, let me see - peddling in private homes (friends and family)? check! - using social connections as marketing channel (classmates, friends and family)? check! - promising benefits, while customers have to pay upfront and wait years for see their investment (never) pay off? check! - turning customers to promoters (work environments turn away applicants without XYZ degree)? check! - kick-back/ROI is distributed in ways that are "opaque" at best for customers? check!
- marmaduke 8y agoAny political party checks all those boxes.
- woodpanel 8y agoReally? Do you pay thousands of dollars each year to, and spend your first non-child-labor years for any political party? If so, then yes that party must be a cult :-)
- bonniemuffin 8y agoYeah, exactly. Specifically the bit where tenured faculty really need the cheap labor of PhD students, so they're incentivized to paint a rosy picture of the tenure-track prospects to encourage students to enter PhD programs -- "look at me! I achieved the dream!". Yet in reality the chance of these students reaching the tenure track are slim to none, and in fact the only way to be successful is by pulling more people into the pyramid below you to stand on. Much like how successful MLM sellers are incentivized to bring more and more sellers into the program under them ("look at me! I achieved the dream!"), even though the chance of any of those new sellers actually becoming successful are slim to none, and in fact the only way to be successful is by pulling more people into the pyramid below you to stand on.
- agumonkey 8y agopeer reviewed MLM please