« Ask Michael Moore to do a movie about Quixtar | Main | A bit personal »
August 26, 2003
Talkin' bout my motivation
By QBlog in
I've been thinking a lot about motives lately. Sometimes, understanding the motives behind an action can be more important than understanding the action itself. A physician, motivated by greed, may recommend and perform unnecessary surgeries. A newspaper mogul, motivated by a desire to increase circulation, may distort the facts and sensationalize the issues. An advertiser, seeking an advantage over the competition, may misrepresent his product.
Understanding the motives behind such actions can provide a context in which the true nature of those actions can be determined. I have always believed that it's important to understand motives and it is that belief, in part, which led to my immediate mistrust of my wife's IBO upline almost 2 years ago.
They seemed like nice people, all of them, but I kept wondering, "Why are you REALLY telling us we need to go on this trip, buy these tapes or get this water filter?" Whenever I brought up the "conflict of interest" question I was quickly dismissed with the line: "we want you to succeed because if you succeed, we succeed. It is this so called 'conflict of interest' which ensures that you get the very best advice and guidance."
Upon reflection that reasoning sounds vaguely similar to DoubleSpeak, a term coined in Orwell's 1984. I never bought that explanation and still don't. Sure, it's true to a point but humans are notoriously short-sighted and often opt for immediate gain at the expense of long term satisfaction (remember Esau and Jacob?). Why should I believe that these upline IBOs from Texas and Illinois would be any different?
My desire to understand motives has recently led me on a sort of personal mission to learn the true motivation of those posting on various Web sites and discussion boards. What motivates that ex-IBO to slam Quixtar day after day? Why is this IBO praising Team of Destiny and cursing the AMOs? Is there a hidden agenda that motivates that man to publish information critical of MLMs? Some of the answers seem obvious, others more elusive.
Hell, you may have your own questions about my motives for hosting this site, and you should. You should think critically. Try to understand why people are doing what they're doing in order to fully comprehend the value of their actions. But that's not an easy thing to do. To really understand someone's motives you first need all the facts, all the information.
Once you fully understand an individual's history, background, experiences, character and flaws then you can make a better determination about his motives. This is why I work to find, expose and share information about Quixtar, its associates, history, background, flaws and successes. My desire is to fully understand (as much as possible) the information so I can better ascertain the motives behind the actions. It is also why I maintain a critical eye on the information and discussions posted on the Web. I understand the value of some of that information but I maintain an objective perspective on the "why" regarding its existence. And you should too.