This is a realization I came to after years of telling myself it was a business that didn’t work out for me from which I had learned a lot.
Then after that I realized it was a pyramid scheme and would refer to it as such to my husband.
And finally, after listening to podcasts and watching documentaries about cults, I arrived at the conclusion that I was in a cult.
Cults are Sneaky
I want to clarify this because I believe MLM’s are just sneaky cults. They pretend to be upstanding businesses, but they use many of the mind control tactics of cults.
The traditional view of cults seems to be a focused on a small religious group of people that might even live together (Cambridge Dictionary). I will admit that the sole focus of the group I was in was not religion (although large quarterly gatherings had “optional” Sunday church services) and we did not live together, BUT…
…a big but. I still consider it a cult. (See what Psychology Today has to say or Vice or Huff Post about the difference between MLMs and cults.) Honestly, I don’t see why there is a difference and I do see the definition changing in the future.
SO, here is a short list of reasons why I believe my MLM was a cult:
- They started us young–18 in fact.
- We were encouraged to cut out family or friends who “just didn’t get it”
- We were supposed to listen to CDs to (brainwash ourselves) to get into the right mindset. I listened to them constantly. It got so that I didn’t understand current cultural references. I didn’t even own a television.
- Speaking of which–watching tv or listening to the radio was discouraged unless it was Christian music (we have better things to do! wash your brain!)
- Sleep deprivation is one tactic I only recently realized the cult used. Those who stayed up late working on their business were praised. Meetings multiple times per week often went late into the night.
- Negativity was discouraged (aka questioning “the business”). I remember plastering a smile on my face and talking about makeup and dresses. Barf.
- You could and were encouraged to confess all your deepest thoughts and fears to your upline, or the person above you in the pyramid.
- We had a unified goal of “going diamond” which was pretty abstract, but essentially to make money.
- People who did things like quit their job to do the cult were “edified.”
- When someone left the cult, we didn’t talk to them. Kind of unofficially, but that’s what happened. They were “out of the business,” the poor soul. Unofficially shunned.
- Women and men were often separated and learned traditional relationship duties (aka super sexist).
- There were different levels of meetings. Those who had been in longer or were at higher ranks went to exclusive meetings that the underlings couldn’t handle.
If all of that doesn’t convince you, just wait. I created the blog to tell you my story. Or rather bits of stories that come up in my brain of crazy things that happened in the cult.
I just can’t believe I was in a cult.
