Charles Snook’s recently sent 10-page recruitment letter made it clear that he was wanted by a mysterious and elite organization called the League.
“We know a lot about you,” the letter said. “You’d be surprised how much we know.”
The league hadn’t reached out before, he said, because Snook wasn’t ready to learn everything the league could teach him about gaining wealth and power. that has changed.
“You are no longer critical or negative,” the letter said. “You don’t feel sorry for yourself anymore.”
he is no longer alive.
snook died in a pennsylvania nursing home nearly a year ago at the age of 98.
“I wouldn’t say my father was a troublemaker,” Snook’s son Greg told me. “He made a modest living with a photography studio. he took pictures of people in high school.”
In other words, maybe he wasn’t the first candidate you’d think of for a secret society that bills itself as “the most exclusive, privileged, and powerful organization that ever existed.” the letter was not signed, but the sender said that he or she was “one of the most famous people in the world.”
“I don’t mean to brag,” the sender boasted, “but I have all the wealth, power, sex, and authority I’ll ever need.”
Before we continue, two questions.
a snail mail launch? that’s so 20th century.
And who believes this kind of thing?
“a lot of people,” replied stephen greenspan, a psychologist and author of “annals of gullibility: why we get duped and how to avoid it.”
He said that even when it should be obvious that something seems too good to be true, people often suppress common sense in favor of believing that their good fortune will be the exception. “Gullibility is part of human nature,” Greenspan said. “It’s human nature to trust.”
I’m not saying the league is a total scam. it is quite possible that some people will get valuable advice and ideas from the thing.
In any case, this wasn’t my first run-in with these guys. Several years ago, I wrote about an almost identical letter circulating from what was then called the society.
A new look seems warranted as they are once again courting the unsuspecting with promises of free information that the letter promises is “not a joke, trick, hoax, innuendo or scam.” — which should immediately arouse suspicion that all of these things are.
The fact that a dead man has been “on our radar for quite some time” also makes one question the veracity of the league’s outreach efforts.
“That happens sometimes,” acknowledged Mark Hamilton, whom I contacted by cell phone at a coffee shop near his home in Henderson, Nevada. “it’s unavoidable.”
Hamilton, 57, runs integrated management associates, which does business as neothink and neo-tech publisher, which sends out league and society letters.
he is the son of frank r. wallace, aka wallace ward, a chemist and professional poker player who hamilton says read ayn rand’s “atlas shrug” and invented his own libertarian/objectivist philosophy, called neotechnology.
wallace was convicted of income tax evasion in 1997. he died in 2006 at age 73.
Hamilton said his efforts, called neothinking, represent ways his father’s philosophy can be applied to the real world. for example, time management.
“Deadlines really improve productivity,” Hamilton explained. “They make you more efficient and focused.” that insight led to the development of what he calls the “mini-day system” and the “essence split.”
Undoubtedly, neothinking is much more than that. To be honest, I haven’t read any of Hamilton’s books, which are the bread and butter of Integrated Management Associates.
It works like this: People receive the 10-page hiring letter. Those intrigued (or flattered) enough by the overture return an accompanying membership certificate, which results in them receiving a 56-page booklet that includes hints of the neothinking information available in Hamilton’s books.
going deeper requires a significant financial investment.
The first book in the NeoThink series (all 1,200 pages) sells for $135.50, Hamilton said. most of the remaining nine volumes in the set sell for $99.95 each, except for a 3,000-page tome that costs $300.
Hamilton bristled when I suggested that regardless of the value of his books, his sales pitch might be a bit misleading. he responded with what might be called the defense of lucky charms.
“I’ve seen cereal commercials with a leprechaun running around chasing a rabbit,” Hamilton said. “Obviously it’s fantasy. everyone knows there are no leprechauns chasing rabbits.
“If I show you a bowl of cereal and say it tastes good, people won’t buy it. you need the goblin.”
the letter of the league is the leprechaun. books are the vitamin-fortified combination of frozen oatmeal and colored marshmallow bits.
Hamilton also wanted you to know that “there is a very dangerous philosophy running through the country that doing business and making a profit is wrong and very bad.”
“all the values we have, couldn’t exist if someone, somewhere, wasn’t making money,” he said. “The only way values exist is when someone makes a profit.”
I seem to remember reading something similar in “atlas shrugged” or “the spring”. it is true that I once saw selfishness and self-interest as virtues. then I stopped being a teenager.
if nothing else, hamilton said that the league and neothink “are not something made up”, and that selecting people worthy of being members of the league is “a very, very complicated thing”.
“By the time someone receives our letter, we’ve spent a lot of time and money determining what kind of person they are,” he said. “We are looking for people who are looking for something: seekers. it is a very complicated process.”
snook’s son said the following:
“When they send a letter like this to a dead man, you get the feeling that everything in there is probably nonsense.”
david lazarus column is published on tuesdays and fridays. You can also see him daily on channel 5 of ktla-tv and follow him on twitter @davidlaz. Please send your suggestions or comments to david.lazarus@latimes.com.
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