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Steven Hassan, PhD

5 Nov, 9 tweets, 3 min read

@politico

Want to guess what U.S. Senator gets money from multi-level marketing cults?

Kyrsten Sinema

As was reported in @politico today, Sinema has taken money from the parent company of Amway (cult), the executive chair of Mary Kay (cult) and Herbalife (cult).
politico.com/news/2021/11/0…

But this just scratches the surface. Sinema has taken money from countless other "nutrition" and "beauty" MLM's. Every one of these entities is associated with the controversial Direct Selling Association, the trade group that promotes multilevel marketing.

https://twitter.com/CultExpert/status/1451614490554941447?s=20

Though these groups may appear harmless (if not a little annoying), a great percentage of MLM's are actually authoritarian commercial cults.

(For a deep dive on MLMs, and WHY I label them "cults," read the thread below. It will catch you up 👍):

https://twitter.com/CultExpert/status/1451614490554941447?s=20

Alticor, the parent company of Amway that has given Sinema money, is owned by...wait for it...the DeVos family!

Yes. The family of Betsy DeVos and Erik Prince that is singlehandedly working to eliminate public education gives money to Kyrsten Sinema. americanprogress.org/issues/default…

Why do these MLM cults like Sinema so much?

Because she is one of the ONLY Democrats against the pro-union Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act. This bill would make it more difficult to classify workers as independent contractors (which MLM cults definitely don't like).

@Hailey_Fuchs

But there's a point of nuance that @Hailey_Fuchs's very good @politico article didn't quite capture...

MLM's WANT the public to think that the issues people are communicating about rideshare companies are the SAME as the issues they have with MLM's.

But they are not the same.

Rideshare companies have very real structural issues that must be addressed (namely, that their drivers are independent contractors & don't have the protection that full time employees have).

But..

Drivers are at least paid. Most of the "work" people do in MLM's is never paid!

Most of the work people do for MLM's isn't “selling” but relentlessly recruiting, replacing and indoctrinating more contract recruiters. Do they get paid for all of this time? Of course not. Are they involved in an authoritarian cult that only enriches people at the top?

Yep.

So yes. The industry of predatory authoritarian commercial cults that continues to prey on people and ruin lives has purchased a U.S. Senator.

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More from @CultExpert

Steven Hassan, PhD

@CultExpert

4 Nov

Drug and alcohol treatment programs can often be LIFE-SAVING.

But it's important to stringently investigate WHO these groups are.

Why?

Because there's a long legacy of CULT behavior inside these groups. Obviously I'm not talking about ALL programs, but many.

Let's discuss..🧵

One of the FIRST drug treatment programs in existence was a group called "Synanon." This group was founded in 1958 by a man named Charles Dederich.

Dederich pioneered using ex-addicts as “counselors.” He promoted a “tough love” approach and established a “culture of recovery.”

Synanon “Treatment” centered on something called “The Game.” In essence, this was a “hot seat” tactic (used by many other cults) where members sit in a circle, and the target is psychologically attacked by the group. The goal is to “break" them. People regularly felt humiliated.

Read 21 tweets

Steven Hassan, PhD

@CultExpert

29 Oct

Want to know if a group is a destructive cult? Are you able to recognize ethical vs. unethical influence?

My Influence Continuum can help!

I developed this visual aid years ago to make it easier for people to discern ethical vs. unethical influence.

Let's take a look: 👇

On the LEFT side of this chart, we have ETHICAL influence (also known as "constructive" or "healthy" influence). Everything that appears on this left side of the spectrum is positive and non-problematic.

On the RIGHT side of this chart, we have UNETHICAL influence (also known as "destructive" or "unhealthy" influence). Everything that appears on this right side of the spectrum is problematic and cause for concern.

The influence continuum is divided up into 3 sections...

Read 12 tweets

Steven Hassan, PhD

@CultExpert

28 Oct

I was in the Moonies. The Moonies are a Korean cult. Today I'm going to tell you about ANOTHER Korean cult called Shincheonji.

Shincheonji, like the Moonies, are a pseudo-Christian doomsday cult. The cult was founded by Lee Man-hee in the 1980s.

Lee claims to have a special ability to interpret Christian scripture, and claims that HIS interpretations are the ONLY legitimate ones. He also claims he is immortal and salvation can only be obtained through belief in him rather than in Jesus Christ (sound familiar?).

Like many other cults, Shincheonji DECEPTIVELY recruits. They hold events but DON'T tell people they are attending a Shincheonji event. They hold "Bible studies" that provide academically weak instruction (not based on any legitimate Biblical interpretation).

Read 9 tweets

Steven Hassan, PhD

@CultExpert

27 Oct

5 years ago TODAY, hundreds of militarized police descended on a small camp of Indigenous water protectors that stood directly in the path of the Dakota Access Pipeline. The officers forcibly evicted residents and arrested 142 people. Medics and journalists were also arrested.

This violent confrontation between law enforcement and the water protectors showed in glaring detail the COORDINATION between federal, local, state police & private security in suppressing protest.

It's important to remember WHY people were protesting.

This pipeline, like so many other pipelines, cut through land the pipeline company didn't have the authority to claim. Treaties were (as they've always been) completely ignored. In this case, the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie.

Read 12 tweets

Steven Hassan, PhD

@CultExpert

22 Oct

Have you ever had a friend from high school who is involved in multi-level marketing? Their feeds become a wash of inspirational quotes and videos trying to sell & recruit others.

Did you know that many multi-level marketing schemes are actually CULTS?

Let's talk about it: 🧵

There are 5 main types of cults:

Religious cults
Psychotherapy/educational cults
Political cults
Cults of personality
Commercial cults

Multi-level marketing when it's predatory falls into the "commercial cult" category. These cults prey on people's desire for wealth & power.

Like other authoritarian cults, predatory multi-level marketing has a pyramid structure with members at the bottom making money for people further up the pyramid. Quite regularly, most of the money people make (which doesn't occur 99% of the time btw) is from recruiting others.

Read 10 tweets

Steven Hassan, PhD

@CultExpert

21 Oct

Facebook is reportedly CHANGING the focus of their company.

Their new focus?

Building the "metaverse."

FB is building a digital platform enhanced by augmented & virtual reality where people interact through digital avatars.

Why do I find this problematic? Let me tell you:

Of ALL the things Facebook could be working on right now, why is building a virtual reality world even a priority?

Here's a better, more pressing list of items they should instead focus on:

-Protect people’s personal data. This of course would require a change in their model of using people’s information to sell things to them but this is what the public wants and their current model is highly unethical.

Read 8 tweets

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