FFWD Weekly
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Letters by FFWD Readers Re: Pyramid scheme targets women, by Chad Saunders (April 13) I am responding to the flood of negative press about the women’s investment clubs which are becoming popular around the country. Your article encouraged me to write. I am a member of such a group and therefore I am speaking from experience. Why is society so quick to leap to conclusions that if something (in this case a concept) is too good to be true, then it cannot possibly be so? We give information at every meeting and a full disclosure of how we operate. Everyone benefits. The media have created a stereotype portraying group leaders who are slick smooth talkers. They lure unsuspecting victims who are then quickly parted from their $5,000 cash. This is untrue. The cash is freely given by an informed member. It is a choice to join. This money has already been taxed and now it will be spent and put back into the system. Two examples are charity donations and education funds. Are you aware there are men’s groups which include police and lawyers and operate the same way we do? Why target women? My suggestion to those who are on some kind of modern day "witch hunt" is to go and find someone who is really a dangerous criminal and leave us women to look after ourselves. F. Linders, Calgary Re: Pyramid scheme story beneficial, by G. True (Letters, May 4) Let me get this straight – a group of friends who gather together and give gifts (whether it be of money or objects it matters not) to one another in such a fashion that there is no hierarchy – no one person profits over another – this is somehow immoral and illegal? Yet the working person’s dollar that is "devalued" by such gatherings is not, regardless of the manner by which it is earned, whether it be by raping the land, exploiting other lives (human or otherwise), profiting over others by outrageously unfair pay scales, etc.? Who is G. True trying to kid? This belief system is what is "true"ly immoral and unethical. The need to keep the class system entrenched in our world societies is why we are on a quick road to self-destruction; this is due to the greed of the profiteers – the working person’s dollar if you will. Genetic manipulation is being touted as the savior of our social ills, yet it is nothing more than a new and creative way of extracting dollars from the masses – without their approval, to be funneled directly to the shareholders of this evil industry (at a potentially catastrophic cost to the environment, our health, etc.). The thugs in Alberta’s legislature are actively being paid to destroy one of the most vital social nets we have, health care, and the way they are refusing to work within the democratic process to accomplish their self-serving aims makes every penny they are paid tainted. Every time one sells or buys a product made from the abuse of others in the so-called Third World nations or their lands makes them guilty of immoral gains. The reality is that people create a myth to justify keeping others "in their place." Devaluing the working person’s dollar indeed. Perhaps True has been worshipping at the Church of Dollar for too long to recognize that compassion and friendship can actually benefit people – if the value of the dollar is threatened in some people’s minds from groups such as these, so be it. M. Alvarez-Toye, Calgary

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