“There
are actually 2 brands or strains of the cult here. One is led by a
man called Patrick who is sponsored by a Scottish old timer called
Don who was a sponsee of David B and attended the Joys of Recovery in
the old days before Vision[s] was established. The groups Patrick
influences are much more toned down. They preach the 6 [suggestions]
things and 14 defects version of step 4 etc, but it is not as "cult
like" as the Vision[s]. However having said that, Patrick is
getting worse and more extreme. He is mesmerized by Dennis and has
swallowed the yarn about AA being less successful than it was because
of the mainstream of AA adopting treatment centre ideas and not doing
the steps properly.”
“Then we
have our "Happy Dennis", who is, I think, still sponsored
by David [Icons] C. His groups are off the Richter scale in happy
talk. People are expected to jump up and down for joy after they say
the serenity prayer. Also the last time I attended one of his groups,
on Saturday morning at Bayham Road, Dennis was sharing that he was
"supercalifragilisticexpialidociously happy" (!!!!) He
also "jumps" every time he speaks to you, to show you how
happy he is. From a distance it looks like he has a permanent bad
case of hiccoughs. (!!!!)
Finally to
Denis' execrable sponsor - the Icon. You mentioned his so-called "way
of beauty" (a fascist concept if ever there was) . Have you seen
his TV series [web show] ?? ...
He
rubbishes modern art in a most ignorant way. And in the program about
the art of other cultures he successfully insults Buddhism and Hindu
art saying that he wouldn't have it in his house or even his garden,
but would (mercifully!!) stop short or smashing it with a hammer!!
Wow, how good of him! You really couldn't make up this level of
arrogance. It reflects everything ….. regarding his prejudice
against "eastern" art and philosophy and his obsession with
extreme Catholicism. So sad he also pushes this puke-inducing garbage
into the domain of AA !!”
An Ealing
cult meeting:
“There
were about 30 people present. On each chair there was a copy of a
little yellow booklet (A6 size) of about 28 pages entitled " BIG
BOOK QUOTES" and containing selected quotations from the Big
Book taken from every chapter of the first 164 pages (main text)
plus a few pages from the stories section of the book.....
The format
of the meeting was that a passage from the Big Book was read out (on
this occasion it was a few pages from Bill's Story) However I did
notice that at least half of the meeting (which largely consisted of
young men in their early days/years), were looking at and reading
from the yellow BIG BOOK QUOTES rather than from a copy of our AA
Big Book.
After the
passage was read out, they were instructed by Dennis (aka "happy
Dennis" or "Mad Dennis" depending on your
perspective) to share according to his numbered selected quotes from
his compilation of BIG BOOK QUOTES. This was to be their reference
for sharing in the meeting. The format is explained in the little
yellow booklet. The yellow book of course has been compiled and
concocted by Mad Dennis himself. …..... And on the back cover,
the website of our modern-and-pagan-art-iconoclast extreme Catholic
friend David C........, …..... is advertised - apparently "we"
find it a very good website to look at!! Who "we" are is
not fully explained.
In
addition to the yellow book of quotations there was a PINK CARD [Ealing cult meeting list] on
the literature table. The literature table was not very well supplied
with the full range of AA literature by the way.”
“Dennis
F is a VERY self-willed and somewhat childish, yet charismatic
individual. He uses very flamboyant and exaggerated language. He
says things like "I'm very very very very very very happy... and
I'm even more happy than that" etc. Then he giggles in a
childish way. Ken Dodd is a good comparison, but not so benign.
Dennis has no humility whatsoever. For him, humility is just a
morning pose (kneeling posture) and then he gets up and dedicates
himself to control and domination ...”
“The
best comparison I can make about Dennis is he talks fast like someone
hypermanic. He is always "happy" but I would call it mania
more than happiness. It isn’t a sober happy anyway. He is an
attention seeker and a control freak and has been since day one. His
idea of humility is that you get on your knees - in other words
humility is a pose or a posture not a modus operandi or an attitude.
He giggles childishly and makes up doggerel "poetry" about
being happy etc. He constantly misquotes the literature to suit his
own ends. He is overbearing and domineering. He is a narcissist - he
wants everyone to agree with him and to be a reflection of himself.
In other words he is a typical cult guru with a personality
disorder.......”
Comment:
It's nice to know that AA is in such safe and SANE hands!
Cheerio
The Fellas
(Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)
PS We have
received some complaints about the Monday Step 3 7 and 11 meeting
held at Richmond Bridge at 6.15pm (?)
