[net.religion] AMWAY

lbg@gitpyr.UUCP (Lee B Grey, Programmer Extraordinaire) (09/11/85)

[  I hope you choke on it  ]

I was introduced to AMWAY last night.  Before last night, I would have said
that the whole thing was a scam.  I mean, have you ever met anyone who owns
an AMWAY product?  With 1 million distributors and ~300 million Americans,
there is a salesman for every 300 of us.  Who is buying their stuff????

Despite my initial bias and inborn skepticism, I listened.  By the end of the
night, I was either brainwashed by my own greed, hypnotized by the guy's
white-board technique, or fairly impressed by the content of his presentation.

Today, a friend of mine and I did rather extensive research and turned up very
little dirt on AMWAY.  So, I am turning to you...MY FRIENDS.

Has anyone out there had any experience with AMWAY?  Do you actually know of
anyone who was/is involved?  Any AMWAY customers?  Is getting involved with
AMWAY like getting involved with the KGB or the Mafia, i.e. once you're in,
you'll never get yourself uninvolved?  

The whole thing sounds very enticing, but, what can you expect from people who
are in it up to their eyeballs?  I want informed, unbiased information.  Can
you help me?  I am not looking for good news.  Or bad news.  Just the truth.

Please respond to me through mail.  If anyone asks, I will summarize and 
repost, assuming I get a response.

Thanks, a lot.

Lee Grey

P.S.  I keep picturing myself getting involved in this awful organization, but
no one knows it is awful but the people who are in.  Only they're not telling.
Like the first story in Stephen King's Cat's Eye, where your "friends" help you
quit smoking and over-eating.

padraig@utastro.UUCP (Padraig Houlahan) (09/14/85)

> [  I hope you choke on it  ]
> 
> I was introduced to AMWAY last night.  Before last night, I would have said
> that the whole thing was a scam.  I mean, have you ever met anyone who owns
> an AMWAY product?  With 1 million distributors and ~300 million Americans,
> there is a salesman for every 300 of us.  Who is buying their stuff????
> 
> Despite my initial bias and inborn skepticism, I listened.  By the end of the
> night, I was either brainwashed by my own greed, hypnotized by the guy's
> white-board technique, or fairly impressed by the content of his presentation.
> 
> Today, a friend of mine and I did rather extensive research and turned up very
> little dirt on AMWAY.  So, I am turning to you...MY FRIENDS.
> 
> Has anyone out there had any experience with AMWAY?  Do you actually know of
> anyone who was/is involved?  Any AMWAY customers?  Is getting involved with
> AMWAY like getting involved with the KGB or the Mafia, i.e. once you're in,
> you'll never get yourself uninvolved?  

You might know more about it than you realize since you have chosen to
put your question to this newsgroup. The similarities between emotional highs
produced by mass groupings of worshipers, and amway pep rallies are quite
impressive. This is not to say that amway is religious, but that the practices
of such groups are designed toward "guiding" their members along various
modes of thinking.

Padraig Houlahan.

gnome@olivee.UUCP (Gary Traveis) (09/18/85)

> > that the whole thing was a scam.  I mean, have you ever met anyone who owns
> > an AMWAY product?  With 1 million distributors and ~300 million Americans,
> 
> You might know more about it than you realize since you have chosen to
> put your question to this newsgroup. The similarities between emotional highs
> produced by mass groupings of worshipers, and amway pep rallies are quite
> impressive. This is not to say that amway is religious, but that the practices
> of such groups are designed toward "guiding" their members along various
> modes of thinking.
> 
> Padraig Houlahan.

I don't know if their method of achieving success and happiness
is really that valid but their products are really good (I have
some stuff made by Amway).

They link a lot of their lifestyles to God and Country.
I don't know of any Pagan Amway distributors... hhhmmm...

That idea is either wierd or funny -- but I don't know why!

Gary
(a BAP)
(Born Again Pagan)

shindman@utcs.uucp (Paul Shindman) (09/19/85)

In article <483@olivee.UUCP> gnome@olivee.UUCP (Gary Traveis) writes:
>
>I don't know if their method of achieving success and happiness
>is really that valid but their products are really good (I have
>some stuff made by Amway).
>
>They link a lot of their lifestyles to God and Country.

Are their methods valid? Do they *really* link their lifestyles to
the Big Guy and the Stars and Stripes???

Sorry folks, but Amway is just as corrupt as the next guy. The Amway
corporation was convicted a couple of years ago of defrauding the
Canadian government of millions by undervaluing goods they shipped
across the border.  Amway, by the way, pleaded guilty so as to avoid
even more embarassing scrutiny under the public eye.
-- 
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Paul Shindman, U of T Computing Services, Toronto (416) 978-6878
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