Some thoughts on integrity.

in integrity •  2 years ago 

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Someone dear to me, someone good, and who goes out of her way to be a force for good in the world, is dating someone who is, by modern standards "accomplished".

The person in whom she is interested owns a business and is "successful", and well to do.

This particular person made their wealth being a "top seller" in an MLM. (Yeah, one of the skeevy MLM's, and you are forgiven in advance in you're thinking "Wait, there's a non-skeevy MLM??")

He is very good at what he does. To be specific, he is very good at persuading people to pay money to become a pyramid scheme rep. For most MLMs, the bulk of the sales revenue doesn't come from selling to end customers, it comes from persuading desperate, vulnerable people to buy large volumes of product in the hopes of reselling it to friends, family, and anyone they may have gone to highschool with. Even for that portion of sales that is to end customers, those sales come from being very good (and very charming, and very caring, and very warm) in the process of persuading people to pay exorbitant amount of money for products that can't possibly do what they imply they can do.

I have advised her not to date him. She resisted of course, because he's quite warm and charming. He would have to be, in order to be a top seller in a pyramid scheme.

Whether or not she continues to date him, he won't be allowed in my home or on my property. I can't claim I am the arbiter of right and wrong, but I believe very strongly that there should be a "bottom"... a point at which human beings have breached the social contract (and basic human decency) beyond the point at which they are welcome in the society of others.

We live in an era of "anything goes"... and in some respect, I'm delighted by it. I love that society has, in large, told Mrs. Grundy to go take a flying leap: people I admire will Love whom they please, dress as they please, work as they please, and be who they are.

On the other hand "acceptance" ought not extend to people who are actively working towards (and making a living at!) making the world a worse place. There should be no room in our lives for people who believe that taking advantage of (and committing fraud upon) poor and disadvantaged people is "success".

I'm tempted to say "That's just my two cents"... but it's not. I'm actively hoping you'll give real consideration to what kind of human beings are worth having in your life.

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