What if a shadowy organization told you that they’ve been discreetly keeping tabs on you and have come to the conclusion that you’re exactly the kind of person who should be privy to their secrets of wealth and power?
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what if that organization promised the success and youthful vitality of investment guru warren buffett and viacom boss sumner redstone, who already possess these secrets?
What if all this could be yours absolutely free?
“I think it’s a scam,” said Jim York, 60, of Los Angeles, who recently received a 10-page letter from a recruiter who identified himself only as Bill.
The organization, which calls itself a society, is the front for an Ayn Rand-inspired movement that has existed since the 1980s in various guises, including neotech, neothink, nouveau tech, and novatech.
the founder of neo-tech, frank r. Wallace, whose real name was Wallace Ward, was a chemist-turned-author who was convicted of tax evasion in 1997. He died in 2006 at age 73.
but his “you can do it” notions and marketing techniques live on.
the letter york received represents one of the most elaborate sales pitches I have come across. At 10 pages long, it’s nothing short of ambitious.
and its content, with repeated references to york by his first name and hints of intimate knowledge of his activities, reflect a hard-selling aggressiveness that makes uber-huckster ron popeil seem shy on comparison.
york’s letter informs you that he’s “been on our radar for quite some time.”
“It is our business to watch people. not for nefarious purposes. but we like to increase our ranks so that we can be even stronger,” the letter says.
bill, the recruiter, notes that york is a chip off the old block. “I don’t want to brag,” he writes, “but I have all the wealth, power, sex, and authority I’ll ever need.”
Still, he is “oath-bound” to seek out the most worthy individuals to join the ranks of society, and York is among a relative handful of members chosen for this year.
all you have to do is mail the society’s “membership invitation certificate” to a dallas post office box or fax it to a dallas phone number, and you’ll receive a free copy of the secrets of the group.
Depending on the card, these include how to win tons of money, seduce whoever you choose, increase your intelligence, please others, beat the odds in poker, and lose as much weight as you want.
great secrets, right? And not at all the kind of thing that seems designed to capture the imagination of introverts with self-esteem issues and desperate for a sense of popularity and belonging.
The internet is full of comments from people who have received identical letters. but it is not an easy task to find the people behind the society. that the dallas address and fax number, for example, are a dead end. They are for a Texas company that handles the group’s correspondence.
It took me a bit of digging, but I was finally able to track down a man who goes by the pseudonym mark hamilton but is actually the son of the founder of neo-tech. operates out of henderson, nev.
Hamilton, 55, acknowledged being the current standard-bearer of the neotech movement and the source of the society letters, which he admitted are sales pitches that lead people to receive free brochures that explain neotech ideas more fully. detail. .
The pamphlets, in turn, are intended to entice people to spend $135.50 on a 1,200-page manuscript that Hamilton wrote and described as “faction: mixing fact with fiction.” He said that, like his father, he was very inspired by Rand’s “atlas shrug.”
I asked if sending people a 10-page letter purporting to be an invitation to join a super-secret organization is the most honest way to sell a book.
“This is our business model,” Hamilton responded. “this is how we sell them.”
I asked him if he felt comfortable saying in the letter that he would “share the secrets of the society with you…absolutely free!”
Hamilton acknowledged that full access to the society’s secrets will cost $135.50, not mentioning additional charges for other work, but said the “top secret” of the movement was included in the free booklet.
what is it? Hamilton said that it is the secret of self-leadership. he described it as knowing how not to be a follower, but to take the lead and “forge your own path.”
What about the letter’s claim that only a “chosen few” are worthy of membership in society? Hamilton admitted that about 200,000 copies of the letter are mailed each year, but said the recipients were carefully chosen from mailing lists obtained by his company, neo-tech publishing.
for example, he said, a person who subscribes to forbes or fortune magazines and has also ordered a copy of rand’s “the fountainhead” from the book of the month club (all data neo- tech) be considered a prime candidate for the partnership charter.
said the society now has “a few hundred thousand” members who meet from time to time to share their plans for fame and fortune. But even though Buffett and Redstone are mentioned prominently in the partnership letter, Hamilton said neither is a member of the group.
“I’ve spent years studying these people,” he said. “they know very clearly these secrets.”
and that tells you all you need to know: these aren’t really secrets. they are common sense approaches to life that people can discover for themselves.
Hamilton told me that he is about to try a new strategy. he’s going to give away almost all the secrets of neotech for free online in the hope that people will be so impressed that he’ll want to splurge on leather-bound copies.
You can call that self-leadership. or self-delusion.
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.