4 ms·

MLM is also a corporate sponsored cult and puts on ostentatious events. One commonality is how they tell you to remove negative influence, ie skeptical and conc

MLM is also a corporate sponsored cult and puts on ostentatious events. One commonality is how they tell you to remove negative influence, ie skeptical and concerned friends and family, as they hold you back from achieving success.

EGreg 4y ago
What about stuff like Tony Robbins (self-help) Landmark Forum (self-help MLM) Billy Graham (Christian revival) Joel Osteen (prosperity gospel) etc. They seem to help a lot of people with just mindset stuff
- itsmartapuntocm 4y ago
  Joel Osteen is great at helping people give him money in return for absolutely nothing.
- 23B1 4y ago
  If you have to pay to learn something, it's a grift. There's carve outs for technical fields, for people who are willing to pay a premium for speed, or personalized learning, or putative 'networking' of course.
  - EGreg 4y ago
    So college is a grift probably. Overpriced scarcity with education most people can get from the library for a buck fifty (to quote Good Will Hunting) or on the Internet these days. But enough people are still told to go to college and so much of it is subsidized by the government that it remains an institution that faces little market competition. And getting into an “ivy league” school is so prestigious that even super-millionaire celebrities with great networks feel they have to bribe admins so their kids can go. https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/pictures/college-admissions-scandal-where-are-they-now/amp/ https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/pictures/college-a... And public school is just a day care center to keep kids out of trouble so both their parents can work for corporations 10 hours a day. We’ve essentially created a prison environment for kids, and instead of fixing issues in it, we overdiagnose them with ADHD for fidgeting and prescribe amphetamines. Even Paul Graham noted these things: http://www.paulgraham.com/nerds.html http://www.paulgraham.com/nerds.html Also banks are a grift, for many people. The “American Dream” was co-opted where you are sold the idea now of “owning” a home, but to do so you “rent” money issued by a bank, and then work 30 years to pay it back with a lot of interest. The government has to print more money eventually or people will work harder and harder and default. Money printing is actually what frees people up from having to slave for corporations as much (as we can clearly see happened after 2020 with the great labor exodus).
    - simonw 4y ago
      Figuring out for yourself why college and Landmark Forum aren't the same grift is a useful life skill.
      - thunky 4y ago
        They were replying to the comment: If you have to pay to learn something, it's a grift Your response applies equally to it.
        seadan83 4y ago
        Seemingly that statement is just not logically true (just need to find one counter example) Perhaps corrected by saying: _sometimes_ it's a grift, or _often_ a grift, or IMO it is a grift.
- simonw 4y ago
  Those things are bad too.

EGreg 4y ago

What about stuff like Tony Robbins (self-help) Landmark Forum (self-help MLM) Billy Graham (Christian revival) Joel Osteen (prosperity gospel) etc. They seem to help a lot of people with just mindset stuff

itsmartapuntocm 4y ago
Joel Osteen is great at helping people give him money in return for absolutely nothing.
23B1 4y ago
If you have to pay to learn something, it's a grift. There's carve outs for technical fields, for people who are willing to pay a premium for speed, or personalized learning, or putative 'networking' of course.
- EGreg 4y ago
  So college is a grift probably. Overpriced scarcity with education most people can get from the library for a buck fifty (to quote Good Will Hunting) or on the Internet these days. But enough people are still told to go to college and so much of it is subsidized by the government that it remains an institution that faces little market competition. And getting into an “ivy league” school is so prestigious that even super-millionaire celebrities with great networks feel they have to bribe admins so their kids can go. https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/pictures/college-admissions-scandal-where-are-they-now/amp/ https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/pictures/college-a... And public school is just a day care center to keep kids out of trouble so both their parents can work for corporations 10 hours a day. We’ve essentially created a prison environment for kids, and instead of fixing issues in it, we overdiagnose them with ADHD for fidgeting and prescribe amphetamines. Even Paul Graham noted these things: http://www.paulgraham.com/nerds.html http://www.paulgraham.com/nerds.html Also banks are a grift, for many people. The “American Dream” was co-opted where you are sold the idea now of “owning” a home, but to do so you “rent” money issued by a bank, and then work 30 years to pay it back with a lot of interest. The government has to print more money eventually or people will work harder and harder and default. Money printing is actually what frees people up from having to slave for corporations as much (as we can clearly see happened after 2020 with the great labor exodus).
  - simonw 4y ago
    Figuring out for yourself why college and Landmark Forum aren't the same grift is a useful life skill.
    - thunky 4y ago
      They were replying to the comment: If you have to pay to learn something, it's a grift Your response applies equally to it.
      - seadan83 4y ago
        Seemingly that statement is just not logically true (just need to find one counter example) Perhaps corrected by saying: _sometimes_ it's a grift, or _often_ a grift, or IMO it is a grift.
simonw 4y ago
Those things are bad too.