AA MINORITY REPORT 2017 (revised)

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Saturday 30 November 2013

Court mandated attendance (CMA) or 'chit' system (contd)


We quote:

As for the current background on the CMA’s path way to AA:

Basically, the “court slip” system usually consists of someone getting a drunk driving citation, upon sentencing the Judge order’s the Probation Department to perform an alcohol assessment (the Judge used to just sentence them directly to AA but the US Constitution says that is 'verboten' under the first Amendment “separation of church and state”). The probation department’s Alcohol assessment almost always comes back with the need for AA meetings (average of 3 a week). It never comes back that the State should pay for in patient treatment ($$$$)! Weird that all those drunk drivers in my state and NONE needs detox ($$$$) and very few need nothing other than to wake up and not drive when they have had two drinks???

More background on the court slip system, we have a group in the States called Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD). They will sit in the court room and if the Judge is not harsh on the convicted Drunk Driver they will launch a letter to the editor writing campaign at election time. Yes our lower level Judges are elected. The probation department does not want MADD to be able to say that they could have prevented a death by sentencing a probationer to AA so................. they send everyone to AA. That way their backsides are covered in the event the probationer re-offends and kills someone.

The Judges need the backing of the Sheriffs (who run the jails) at election time. If you are a Judge and the Sheriff comes out for your opponent, you might have a hard time getting re-elected. So the Judges protect the Sheriffs jail budget by not sending anyone to jail! So our affiliation is with politics, money, religion, outside agencies of the court and MADD! A side note about MADD, their secondary cause is to stop underage drinking which is a form of alcohol reform and temperance.

Finally, the system keeps expanding. We now get teenagers who got caught after the football game sharing a bottle of wine. We have gotten wife beaters, shoplifters, speeders and delinquent child support parties. We have people who can’t see their kids for visitation unless they have a signed court slip for the week before.

Second final note and question, as I have said before we are now averaging 50% CMA’s (some far worse) in our CLOSED meetings. What levels are you hearing about from others who have contacted you about this matter? Do they have CMA’s in CLOSED meetings? What levels are you experiencing under the chit system? Are they in CLOSED meetings?

Third final note, I have visited areas that have primarily OPEN meetings and the court slip system is not working there either. Open discussion meetings were originally set up to provide information for the curious problem drinker. That party would come to an OPEN discussion meeting and learn about alcoholism and our solution. After a few meetings they would decide if AA was for them. If it was, they would join. The key was, if it wasn’t for them they went on and did what they wanted to do. Many times that was to go drink with the words of AA ringing in their ears. Many came back after a while and join AA forever. They didn’t show up for 3 meetings a week for 1 year. OPEN discussion meetings used to have about one curious party a month, the other weeks they just functioned as a AA meeting.......

Feel free to incorporate any of this information into your blog. It is true to the best of my knowledge and some of the background information on the functions of the Courts comes from parties who have worked in the system.

Thanks,”


We would be interested to hear from other AA members with regard to their own experience and/or observations of the CMA ('chit') system (good or bad). We can be contacted at our email address here. Confidentiality assured

Cheers

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)

PS Our thanks to this member (US) for their contribution to the debate

Friday 29 November 2013

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is a Cult? (contd)


See here for original blog entry
Under Readers' comments
Wow I cant believe you mentioned that Clancy guy! The superstar of So Cal. I used to attend a mtg in Huntington Beach Cali, and I had just moved there from Long Island. I went to my regular mtg and it was sooo crowded but somehow I squeezed into a chair along the wall. I asked this older man why it was so crowded and he said because Clancy was speaking. So I said whos Clancy and the guy was beside himself. He couldnt believe that I had never heard of the man. Then I find out that the guy has like a whole cult of AAers following his policies which include no facial hair and you must wear a jacket and tie whenever you speak or celebrate. So I forget about Clancy ( I have a life after all) and moved back to NY. I take a vacation down to fort lauderdale Florida and go to a meeting on a HOT summer night. It must have been in the 90's in the room and there was a speaker there who was wearing a suit and just melting! You could see the sweat dripping out of sleeves. Everybody else was in shorts and Tank tops or anything to keep cool. And then he shares that he has to wear this suit cause his sponser is Clancy and he requires him to. The guy had over ten years if I remember correctly. Man did I feel sorry for that poor guy. Now thats taking direction. Only in the rooms.”


Comment: You couldn't make it up could you! Well you could but who'd believe you?
Cheers
The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)

Thursday 28 November 2013

Conference Questions (2013) forum discussion (contd)



Question 2:

Would Conference consider what response can be given to Groups who refuse to accept the group conscience of Intergroup/Region?

[See also: The Traditions, Preamble and Concepts]

As background to this topic I thought it would be good to include some archive AA Grapevine articles relating to the Synanon cult, since history tends to repeat itself. I think it will always be a challenge for each new generation of AA to continue to repeat constructive history, rather than the destructive; especially in this present time when there is a movement in AA using an outside published watered down history and sponsorship guides which claim the AA program has been watered down and claim to be the “original” program, but are in fact themselves watered down versions with personal opinions of the authors harping back to the Oxford Group; combining “tough love” treatment center program sponsorship with Big Book Study. As far as I am concerned the only original, unwatered down AA program and history is published by AA World Services Inc. and AA Grapevine Inc.

From the extracts of the AA Grapevine articles: “Dear Editors”, (June 1968) and “The Enemy of Continuing Sobriety” (March 1975) it can be understood that the operation of Tradition Two in AA is reliant on the expression of individual AA member’s consciences. Without this expression and leadership in AA to counter the expression of divisive change, there is no active principle in Tradition Two. A silent expression in our group conscience is no expression in our group conscience.

The extracts from the AA Grapevine article “40-hour Marathon Meetings” shows how some AA groups were being influenced by the Synanon Cult in 1968. The introduction to the Twelve Concepts for World Service reminds us all that “We are sure that each group of workers in world service will be tempted to try all sorts of innovations that may often produce little more than painful repetition earlier mistakes. Therefore it will be an important objective of these Concepts to forestall such repetitions by holding the experiences of the past clearly before us.”

“40-hour Marathon Meetings” (AA Grapevine March 1968) (Extracts)
". . .The long hours in marathon bid fair to open the heart. . .
IT'S EASY to assume that we aren't going to see much change in the AA way of doing business in years to come. There are signs this is much too easy an assumption.
From the East Coast and the West Coast come separate reports[1] of a new kind of small, intense AA meeting, not confined to AA members, but including anyone who will abide by the rules of the meeting. The purpose of these meetings is self-inventory: how I am doing now……
….The main emphasis is on truth--the whole truth, not the abridged version which has become expected and appropriate at AA open meetings. Ah, you say, that's all very well, but you surely don't mean the whole truth, do you? Sex, perversions included. Thefts. Slanders. The really nasty stuff?
Evidently those proposing the new meetings do mean just that: the whole truth, including all the etceteras, as corrective for an AA which is tending to become conventional, even evasive. They propose the whole truth as a resource especially for those with a terrible burden of guilt which they can no longer lay down in public in AA.
As one reads the history of AA, it seems evident that in the beginning, among the close, small groups of the first days, any guilt could be unloaded. The price for freedom from the guilt was willingness to change, willingness to stop doing whatever was producing the guilt--starting with stopping drinking…..
…….The new meetings are designed to put all those participating in them in a position to furnish real help to a member wanting to change. The group is going to ask him for a commitment to stop whatever he is doing wrong, and it will expect him to report back regularly to the group on progress--admitting failure, without breast-beating, when he has failed…….
…….You're alarmed, you say? This is much too much invasion of privacy by the group? Not so. Remember, one is a member of the group by free choice. One is in the group precisely to get the help the group offers. …….
……The quintessence of the new kind of meetings is the "marathon." Evidently the idea for these comes most directly and recently from the programs for narcotics addicts called Synanon and Daytop. Both of these came out of AA, as a matter of historical development, but they are changed in important ways from the original AA program. The parentage is still evident, however, and nowhere more so than in the appeal to rigorous honesty. The climate of Synanon and Daytop, as best one can tell from reports and from minimal direct exposure, is much closer to the tone and intention of the fifth chapter of AA's Big Book than are most AA meetings today. While AA has waxed genteel, and eager to avoid discussion of unpleasant truths, drug addicts are willing--indeed obliged--to go to any lengths of honesty to be rid of their sociopathic or psychopathic behavior patterns.
Thus the marathon--forty hours of continuous meeting with a five-hour sleep-break halfway through. In two experiences of mine--one in a non-AA and one in an AA setting--thirty-five hours has proved barely sufficient for the "Fifth Steps" of some sixteen people assembled for the adventure. Marathons, unexpectedly, do not prove physically exhausting. One gets a second wind after eight or ten hours. (Food is provided at regular mealtimes.)………”

1*See Pages 6 and 9 --Ed.
Anonymous”
 

“Dear Editors:" (AA Grapevine June 1968) (Extracts)
"I believe there are 'winds' and 'winds' and some of them are far from beneficial."

"Those winds again: In the March issue of the Grapevine, under the general head "Winds of Change," there were three articles and an editorial concerning new kinds of meetings devoted to telling the total truth about oneself in a group. Not very many editorial features in the Grapevine produce as much comment in the form of letters and full-length manuscripts as this one has. Some but not all of the comment is contra--contra the idea of such meetings, and contra the editorial, which found in them a kind of harking-back to AA's beginnings in the Oxford Group. Herewith we print what had come in up to the printer's deadline for this issue, in the form of a super "Letters to the Editors" section. It warms our editorial heart to see such interest in Grapevine pages.--The Editors”

“………So, in order of appearance, let us first concern ourselves with the "Forty-hour Marathon Meetings." The content of this material is concerned with the advantage of rigorous "honesty" that must accrue if the participant in this therapy is to benefit. So let us be honest. On page 5, paragraph 2, the writer states "Evidently the idea for these (marathons) comes most directly and recently from the programs for narcotics addicts called Synanon and Daytop." Would it not be more in keeping with "honesty" if the author had given details on his attendance at such meetings in an "AA setting," where any personal interest he may have in furthering use of marathons might have appeared? He does indeed describe, in the last paragraph of his article, the type of alcoholic who appears to find this therapy most beneficial, namely, "the long-term slipper--the AA failure." If the author is such a "slipper" and he finds that forty hours of alcoholic talkathons "bid fair to open his heart," then more power to him. But let us have a few clarifying statements for the AA "seeker" or newcomer, who may feel that he has strayed into the wrong pew if he reads this GV issue.
The fact is that programs for narcotic addicts are primarily concerned with young people from urban ghetto areas--our most tragic and underprivileged minority groups. They just do not represent the much larger alcoholic population, and indeed it is for this reason that both Synanon and Daytop have modified the AA program, just as we, in our turn, had to depart from the Oxford Group and evolve our own recovery principles, which are greatly different.
This reference brings me to the "quintessence" of the point of view expressed by the writers on the marathon and on the Fifth Step meetings. The writer of the first states that the "climate" of the addict's marathon is "much closer to the tone and intention of the fifth chapter of AA's Big Book than are most AA meetings today." He further suggests that "thirty-five hours has proved barely sufficient for the 'Fifth Steps' of some sixteen people assembled for the adventure." The Seeker Anonymous of the "Fifth Step Meeting" article suggests (page 8, paragraph 4) that there should be a Fifth Step group that should be "open and mixed"--parents, spouses, children, etc. Well, I would like to suggest to both of these writers that they first read the Fifth Step itself: "Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs." Are these two members proposing a new Fifth Step? How would they like to define it?--since they are clearly purposing to change it. In the book Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, the exact reason for the wording of this Step in this precise way has been unmistakably spelled out by Bill W. Any investigation of AA history or of Bill's written and spoken words would have elicited the historical fact that it was because of the "Absolutes" of the Oxford Group that Bill realized very early in AA that "open confession" and Absolute Truth, Honesty, etc. could not, would not work for the alcoholic. It was on this very issue that AA in its formative days split from the Oxford Group, and Bill is the first to say that without this split we would not have survived. Clearly, the writers of these two articles have read a different AA history and different AA literature, and have had different experiences--indeed, they appear to have heard a different Bill W. than I have…….
……I, therefore, find this kind of spiritual arrogance out of place in an official AA magazine which is read by vulnerable newcomers. It is even possible that many of them and many of us still find our main "hang-ups" quite solvable within the framework of the AA program if we truly and continuously remain a viable part of its mainstream." M. V. B. Chappaqua, New York
 

“Around AA - Items of AA Information and Experience” (AA Grapevine March 1968) (Extract)
Bootstrap Operations
“….These experiences of these people, some of them in the service professions like social work and the ministry, some of them part of bootstrap operations like Alcoholics Anonymous and Synanon, some of them just ordinary traffic cops, bus conductors, doctors, lawyers, or Indian chiefs, demonstrate that the new morality of self-indulgence (which is really the absence of any morality) is at the outset a sheer fraud; that the older program of virtue for its own sake is far more difficult to follow but much more rewarding in the end.”
John Mulholland and George N.
 

“I Have Walked down Those Same Streets” (AA Grapevine September 1971) (Extracts)
To a daughter in trouble comes this message of love--a sharing of experience to remind and comfort us all
"DEAR ALLISON:
This is probably the hardest and most important letter I have ever had to write. I am trying to communicate to you that I not only love you and care about you, but truly understand your problems--because I have had similar troubles in my own life……..
…..For me, Alcoholics Anonymous was the answer. For you? This is something you must decide for yourself. The Synanon program and the experiments conducted at Day-top both have been successful for many. Would either help you? Well, go and find out…….
…Mother”

“About Alcoholism - Alcoholism Information, Research and Treatment” (AA Grapevine May 1972) (Extracts)
"Alcoholism and other addictions as they affect women will be the theme of the Spring Conference of the Michigan Alcohol and Addiction Association, to be held May 7-8-9 at the Pantlind Hotel in Lansing, Mich….
…..Two panel discussions, both under the theme heading "The Addicted Woman," will consider different types of drug addiction. Alcohol will be the concern of the first, with an all-female panel comprising four AAs and one Al-Anon. Heroin and other "hard drugs" will be discussed by a Synanon panel.
For further information, write: Box 61, Lansing, Mich."

“The Enemy of Continuing Sobriety” (AA Grapevine March 1975) (Extracts)
"There are many esoteric practices that lead us into self-indulgence. AA is a program for reducing ego
SOME YEARS ago at a participation meeting, I heard a young man hold forth on "not going for this 'Get rid of your ego' stuff." He was deliberately trying to build up his ego, develop more self-awareness, express himself, cultivate his own me-ness. I disagreed with and was made uneasy by this line of thinking……
…..A currently fashionable phrase keeps popping up lately among the AA people I see: people-pleaser. Those who claim this designation are always "former" people-pleasers. Now they are pleasing themselves, thinking of what they want to do, and being "good" to themselves. One of the "former people-pleasers" blithely stated one evening at a meeting on the topic of tolerance that, since joining AA, she had learned to become intolerant; that is, she no longer had to tolerate anything she didn't like….
…..I refer the "people-pleasers" to page 61 of Alcoholics Anonymous: "He may be kind, considerate, patient, generous; even modest and self-sacrificing. . . .The show doesn't come off very well. He begins to think life doesn't treat him right. He decides to exert himself more. He becomes, on the next occasion, still more demanding or gracious, as the case may be. . . .What is his basic trouble? Is he not really a self-seeker even when trying to be kind? Is he not a victim of the delusion that he can wrest satisfaction and happiness out of this world if he only manages well?. . .Our actor is self-centered--egocentric." In fact, "doing for others" may be a form of domination--i.e., selfishness.The Big Book doesn't fool around at way stations of subtle forms of ego-feeding. It goes straight to the source of our troubles: self-centeredness……
…..In Alcoholics Anonymous, I think we rather consistently do just what the Al-Anons were talking about: stick to the Twelve Steps. But occasionally one does hear remarks like those I reported at the start of this article. For example, transactional analysis is big in this area now, and we frequently hear references to the "games" people play. Existentialist philosophy was in style some years back; then Esalen-type groups were in. And the Synanon games had their day…..
……..Nevertheless, old Alcoholics Anonymous has gone right along, year in and year out, disregarding current fads, providing nothing but the basic and bluntly realistic message that it started out with. Let's face it--most of us, after we have been detoxified or the hangover has worn off, are perfectly capable of taking in that message, even if we refuse, or are too weak, to act on it immediately. The AA program may seem simplistic to people who enjoy intellectualization or mechanistic "game" theories, and its diagnosis of selfish self-indulgence and "self-will run riot" as key factors in alcoholism may be distasteful. But if you want to get well and stay well, we have in AA an approach, a method, a therapy, that is different from and more effective than any other I have encountered in all my years of reading and studying in the field of psychology, starting long before Alcoholics Anonymous was born, and continuing ever since."
B.M. Saratoga, California

“About Alcoholism” (AA Grapevine June 1975)
"Two Hospital Programs
Many of these items are contrary to AA philosophy. Their publication here does not mean that the Grapevine endorses or approves them; they are offered solely for your information.
A combination of the approaches used by Synanon and Alcoholics Anonymous has led to development of a third type of treatment which can be especially effective with both narcotics and alcohol abusers.
Samuel W. Anglin of the Veterans Administration Hospital in Washington, D.C., noted that the combined treatment is of special value for recovering narcotics addicts who develop a dependency on alcohol, and for polydrug abusers. The approach has been used at the hospital for more than a year "with a relatively high degree of success," he reported.
Among specific benefits he cited were
The former addict's problems of overcoming loneliness and gaining social growth are eased by participation in the recovery network of Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous; Synanon's intense behavior-modification techniques speed up the alcoholic's realization he is an alcoholic and not just a "heavy drinker"; with the combined treatment, costs are dramatically reduced, since only one facility, one staff, one training program are required. Self-help aspect also leads to cost reduction; in the single setting, individuals receive preventive education on a variety of drugs they may not be familiar with and are also more likely to encounter individuals from other generations and other cultures."
The Journal (Addiction Research Fou)

“Are There Magic Answers?” (AA Grapevine June 1979) (Extracts) "He found what he needed in the AA program"
"WHEN I CAME into AA fourteen years ago, it was fashionable for some members to go to other groups outside AA for "extra" help……
….I finally went to Recovery, Inc., and Synanon and Daytop Village and group therapy and Overeaters Anonymous, and quickly stopped going to all of them. I belonged in AA. By the time I went elsewhere for magic answers, I had already begun to find them in the program of Alcoholics Anonymous, which is tailored perfectly for me. I was then sober long enough to realize that compulsively joining other groups was not the answer"….. E. S. Manhattan, New York


For information on the Synanon cult and its derivatives internet search “Synanon” “Straight Inc.” “Daytop Village” and “The Dark Legacy of a Re-hab Cult” I think There needs to be a greater understanding of the cultic influence that has shaped the drug and alcohol treatment industry since drug and alcohol rehabilitation programmes have been using modified Twelve Step programs combined with derivatives of the confrontational “tough love” models from the notorious Synanon cult. I also think there needs to be a greater understanding of how this continuing cultic influence in the treatment industry is feeding back into AA. ”

Cheerio

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)

Wednesday 27 November 2013

AA Back to Basics


A tip-off to all London intergroups via the unofficial grapevine

Coming up soon….
The Messiah Complex World Tour’…

Undiluted’ Cult Workshop

Kingston United Reformed Church
Richard Mayo Centre
Eden Street
Kingston Upon Thames, KT1 1HZ
March 7- 9, 2014

Details of the world tour: http://www.aabacktobasics.org/
And a flyer for the Kingston event….



Yep, Wally P’s back on stage in 2014, with his brand new “Messiah Complex World Tour’’ coming to London in March with the ‘UNDILUTED’ show in Kingston. (Not be confused with Russell Brand’s ‘The Messiah Complex World Tour’ at the O2 Academy, Brixton, 9th March, 2014). Like Wally, comedian Russell Brand is also back on stage with his brand new show -- "Messiah Complex". (A 'Messiah Complex' is a mental disorder where the sufferer thinks they might be God, and we think the show’s going to be hilarious) Now then, here’s a coincidence - Two ‘Messiah Complex’ comedy shows coming to town in one weekend! - an act of Providence even?  For details of the Russell Brand show see below.

With Wally P’s double act however, there’s the serious downside to any hilarity generated. AA groups in the UK may need to brace themselves for a fresh infiltration of hyped up cocaine addicts/ alcoholics infected with the ‘Wally Messiah Complex’, followed by a mass exodus of alcoholics to Rational Recovery. Symptoms of those so afflicted may be recognised by overt displays of “double think,” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doublethink and “duckspeak.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Newspeak_words The worst infected cases may also exude a vociferous harping back to the Oxford Group’s successful 75% failure in sobering up alcoholics - a classic example of the contradictory terms typically ejaculated in “duckspeak.”

Here’s a little insight into how the double-thinking, duck-speaking, Wally cult complex works in the USA, (an AA member’s post on our aacultwatch forum
(‘Back to Basics Movement’ thread, 22/02/11)

In this USA area, about 2 1/2 years ago in 2008, a Yellow cover book - "Back to Basics " by Wally P., began to be passed around; soon many were buying it and some malcontented people from a few AA groups began to gather to discuss the book. They were generally outspoken and not recieved well by AA groups and the strong opposition seemed to bond the malcontents to each other. They had a fixed idea of how the 12 steps should be done, an out of balance view of AA history and statistics. Like claiming that AA once had 75% success rate; and futher claimed AA lost that sucess rate when AA became organized!

The movement has grown more active and now "seeds" meetings and discussion rooms with individuals who push thier views. Now, there seems to be an organized effort for 6 to 10 "Back to Basics" people to meet before a target meeting - they split up a few small groups - go to various tables or each Meeting Room and steer discussions into issues which give them a format to present half truths and thier "sprituality" claims.

Many of us "regular" AA people are concerned. It seems to me that your experiences are similar and may be repeated here in this USA area. I found your "Cultwatch" site on the Bing search engine. The information is valuable and appreciated by me and I have passed the web address on to a DCM friend.”



(Not anonymous) cult leader Wally Paton (pictured on left, with side kick) in Dallas, 12/7/01. (Photo Courtesy of Wally’s Faith With Works Publishing Company) http://www.aabacktobasics.org/Faith%20With%20Works%20Pub%20Co/index.html 


Comment: Our usual thanks to the AA member who alerted us to this cocaine addict’s enterprising event. Wally P’s Back to Basics, is a multi purpose 12 Step cult - not to be confused with Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous.

Of course, the twisting of history through an educational programme in which certain historical facts are selectively chosen whilst others are carefully erased, in order to present a half truth which is then laced with a few lies, is not a new idea. It is a well known method of millieu control http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milieu_control used by politicians, conmen, bankers, insurance brokers, cult leaders and totalitarian regimes, in order to control the masses. As George Orwell once wrote,

“…And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed – if all records told the same tale – then the lie passed into history and became truth. ‘Who controls the past,’ ran the Party slogan, ‘controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.’ And yet the past, though of its nature alterable, never had been altered. Whatever was true now was true from everlasting to everlasting. It was quite simple. All that was needed was an unending series of victories over your own memory. ‘Reality control’, they called it: in Newspeak, doublethink.” - George Orwell, (Nineteen Eighty-Four, part I, chapter III)
Since we’re still happily living in the uncontrolled reality of ‘oldspeak,’ our memories remind us of a number of things, too many in fact, to put on the blog all in one go. So we’ve decided to run a series of “Back to Basics Specials” between now and March 2014. In the mean time though, why not get back to basics and ponder the undiluted (or should we say uncensored) ‘oldspeak’ of the AA Co-founders in 1939 and 1940, as they appear in AA Conference Approved literature?

Have definitely shaken off the shackles of the Oxford Group.” –Dr. Bob, 2nd January 1940 (Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers p. 218)

1. The principle of aggressive evangelism so prominent as an Oxford Group attitude had to be dropped in order to get any result with alcoholics. Experience showed that this principle, which may have been absolutely vital to the success of the Oxford Group, would seldom touch neurotics of our hue.” …. ….“3. The principles of honesty, purity, unselfishness, and love are as much a goal for A.A. members and are as much practiced by them as by any other group of people; yet we found that when the word ‘absolute’ was put in front of these atttributes, they either turned people away by the hundreds or gave a temporary spiritual inflation resulting in collapse.” “4. It was discovered that all forms of coercion, both direct, and indirect, had to be dropped….” –Bill W., 30th October 1940. (Extracts, Pass It On p.172)

After you’ve had time to ponder, we also suggest taking a tip out of the undiluted Big Book p.102 http://www.aa.org/bigbookonline/en_bigbook_chapt7.pdf (the page we havent seen quoted by Wally) Then plan to pop along to one of the legitimate (non cult) social events to be held in London on the weekend, March 7- 9, 2014. There’s lots to choose from, but heres a few suggestions.

Russell Brand: “The Messiah Complex World Tour” 9th March 2014, O2 Academy Brixton

Ellie Goulding
9th March 2014, The O2, theo2.co.uk 


Mark Thomas: “100 Acts of Minor Dissent”

8th Mar 2014, Leicester Square Theatre  http://www.londondrum.com/events/?p=21492

The Stranglers
8th Mar 2014, Hammersmith Apollo http://www.londondrum.com/events/?p=23505 


Verdi’s “Rigoletto”
7th Mar 2014, London Coliseum


Might see you at the O2 Academy, we’re going to have a fun weekend!

Cheerio,

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)


P.S. If any of these entertainments don’t grab your fancy, you could always nip along to the “most sordid spot on earth” (Big Book p. 102) - We’ll leave that one to your imagination! Or you can see more of Wally P. for free in AA Minority Report 2013. Click here

Tuesday 26 November 2013

Alcohol research


Alcoholics Anonymous as a Community Resource, Lee JP, Social Work, Vol.5 (4), pp 20-26, 1960



PS For AA Minority Report 2013 click here

Monday 25 November 2013

Court mandated attendance (CMA) or 'chit' system (contd)


We quote:

Fellas:

In response to the recent post (Friday November 22) about my previous post: Thank you for your comments and your points of view. While I think we have plenty of overlap in our points of view, please allow me an opportunity to express further my thoughts on CMA’s, the cults and their roles in this matter.

My comment “Watering Down” is an easy one to clarify. Closed meetings (yes CLOSED meetings) in my area are currently averaging 40-50% attendance by parties that are court ordered or ordered by some other outside entity. Strictly from a mathematical perspective this would be indicative of a “watering down”. I do believe that the existing members response to this phenomena resulted in a cultural watering down as well. Neither of these statements mean I desire a “pure” AA of Olde Tymes that has gone astray. Truth be told, I desire an AA that follows its own Traditions. An AA where I can attend a “closed meeting” with a minimal threat of there being parties that did not share my desire to stay sober and help others to achieve sobriety. An AA that takes the responsibility of my anonymity seriously.

However, I do believe that the actions of groups in my area have provided “cult” groups with a steady stream of new members. Not the CMA’s, who I don’t believe to be at all vulnerable but from AA members who are reacting to their meetings being changed and influenced by outside agencies. These local groups were no longer exclusively inhabited by people who met the simple requirement of a desire to stop drinking. While it was a simple requirement, it was still an important one. One the whole fellowship was based upon. I agree with you that some group members erroneously assume that a mythical AA of Olde Tymes had gone astray. Then the Cults offer them an option of a more structured AA. That offer has the illusion of eliminating the issue of parties in attendance who do not have a desire to stop drinking and all the problems that tends to bring.

All of the Cult Groups mentioned in this blog (Primary Purpose, Joe and Charlie, Back to Basics, etc.) have taken off in our area since the numbers of CMA’s have reached epidemic proportions. It is an age old process where parties react to things being out of control by exercising more control. The Cults promise to provide more structure by controlling how people share, by how they do the steps and by controlling what meetings they go to.

I believe that the CMA’s being sentenced to AA have aborted the original non-cult AA process. This was an AA that was not dogmatic but more based in; if you want what we have you will be ready to take certain suggestions. That there is a lot of latitude in our twelve steps and that we do not need to enforce anything. John Barleycorn is our enforcer. Perhaps even more powerful, take what you can use and leave the rest. True attraction and not promotion. AA isn’t for everyone and you may need some other method of staying sober. You decide if you need help and if ours is the solution for you. This has been aborted by the influence of outside entities. Entities who say you will go to AA meetings until we say so and if you don’t you will be sent to jail. By the way, once you get out of jail you will go back to the same meetings you had rejected.

So I agree that the Cults uses the phrase “watering down” to promote their brand of AA but I also believe that AA abandoning its Traditions and its original non-cult process has provided the cults with all the ammunition they need to profit from the phrase.”


We would be interested to hear from other AA members with regard to their own experience and/or observations of the CMA ('chit') system (good or bad). We can be contacted at our email address here. Confidentiality assured

Cheers

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)

PS Our thanks to this member for their contribution to the debate

Sunday 24 November 2013

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is a Cult? (contd)


See here for original blog entry

Under Readers' comments

I haven't drank in 4 years, and I had a really bad drinking problem and a miserable life. I was a mess, bussing tables in a restaurant, college dropout, could hardly keep up with bills - etc. If it weren't for AA I'm pretty sure I'd still be drinking. I found the most amazing and life changing discoveries and attitudes -- using the steps and meetings as a SPRINGBOARD (It did not come directly from them, although they definitely have a good benefit). I read a lot of outside literature and changed so much for the better in these last 4 years. However, I've noticed SO many people who never get past dogma and slogans. I know some people with 30 years who are just grumpy and self-deprecating through and through. I also discovered, and I'm so glad I was spared this, that there are genuine, hands down, no question about it cults inside of AA. It's not every single person in the program, probably a very small percentage, but the way AA is set up it unfortunately lends itself to this sort of problem.
Sponsorship is really helpful in the beginning, but the reliance on that sponsor should naturally decline as time goes on. However, and It's very unfortunate to say this, but when I run into a newcomer who needs guidance, and for whatever reason doesn't ask me (I don't push myself on people -- even in a passive aggressive way that some AAs do), I can think of very few people to direct him to.
If there is one thing that I dislike about AA it's the prevalent anti-intellectualism. Some of my greatest growth came from questioning and meditating on my problems, not pushing them out of my mind and writing it off with something like, "My best thinking got me here!" I still get a lot out of AA, and I seriously believed that if I didn't have a big group of sober people around me I wouldn't have stopped drinking, but it's very unfortunate to see the intellectual/personality casualties.”
Cheers
The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)

Saturday 23 November 2013

Conference Questions (2013) forum discussion (contd)



Question 2:

Would Conference consider what response can be given to Groups who refuse to accept the group conscience of Intergroup/Region?

[See also: The Traditions, Preamble and Concepts]

Regarding …..'s comment, I think there needs to be more of an understanding of the difference between “minority opinion”, “minority groups” and a “tyranny of very small minorities invested with absolute power” because there are three types of minority in AA. “Minority opinion” and a “tyranny of very small minorities invested with absolute power.” are both described in Concept V. One is to be heard, the other guarded against. “Minority groups” are described in Dr. Bob and the Good Old Timers chapter XIX, “Minority groups within A.A. gain acceptance.” These “minority groups” refer to the inclusion of individual alcoholics belonging to social, religious and ethnic minority groups in society at large, including minority groups such as the physically disabled.

“Minority opinion” is to be heard; individual alcoholics belonging to “minority groups” are to be protected, as stated in Concept XII, warranty Six: “that care will be observed to protect all minorities” However, groups that are a “tyranny of very small minorities invested with absolute power” are to be guarded against, as stated in Concept XII, Warranty Six “…that our conference will be ever prudently be on guard against tyrannies great and small, whether these be found in the majority or in the minority.”

Concept V also states that “…the greatest danger to democracy would always be the “tyranny” of apathetic, self-seeking, uniformed, or angry majorities.” that “The well-heard minority, therefore, is our chief protection against an uninformed, misinformed, hasty or angry majority.” 

Because an apathetic, self-seeking, uninformed, misinformed, hasty or angry majority in a society can create a power vacuum in which there is no authority in the majority, this vacuum will inevitably be filled with “..the even worse tyranny of very small minorities invested with absolute power.” The well-heard minority therefore also protects against the rise of “a tyranny of very small minorities invested with absolute power.”

I agree with …..... Allowing power driving narcissistic personalities to mislead AA groups of largely uninformed or misinformed newcomers in defiance of the wider AA group conscience is not helping these individuals with their illness but enabling it to flourish. It is also enabling a “tyranny of very small minorities invested with absolute power” to flourish. Relating this to Dr. Harry Tiebout’s description of the personality traits of the typical alcoholic, in “THERAPEUTIC MECHANISM OF ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS” (Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age Appendix E:b) If an alcoholic’s idea of a power greater than himself is simply a romantic concept imagined and rationalised within his own illness of narcissistic delusions of grandeur, then it is up to the wider AA group conscience and those serving in service structure to demonstrate to him the actual reality of a power greater than himself; otherwise Alcoholics Anonymous will have lost its therapeutic mechanism. It will also have lost the binding force of unity in AA; the "but one authority" in Tradition Two.”

Cheerio

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)

Friday 22 November 2013

Court mandated attendance (CMA) or 'chit' system (contd)


Another member from the States writes:

I do not think the influence of CMA has been any kind of 'watering down.' [see here]

Such language implies a 'pure' AA of olde tymes which has gone astray. You fellas seem to grasp that that idea is an excuse for authoritarians within AA.

I suspect the 'court card' thing started at the suggestion of individual groups in different places. In California (as far as I understand) courts were allowed to require people to seek 'treatment' and since AA is free, all their unwilling referrals tended to come to AA meetings.

Now many treatment centers and employers give people 'get well cards' to bring to meetings also. There is ONE local treatment center that not only asks its inmates to get a card signed. They REQUIRE them to get a sponsor. A sponsor who will agree to REPORT TO THE TREATMENT CENTER if the inmate relapses!

I think attendance at AA meetings by people who have outside authorities breathing down the back of their neck, and coming out of treatment centers that claim to be 12 Step, is a major source of cult influence. These people are even more vulnerable than most newcomers, AND the 'organized' cult meetings will court the favor and referrals of such institutions.

AA should not be subject to the 'non establishment' problems. The literature has enough religious disclaimers. But in the US, aggressive religiosity is a corrosive influence in AA. There are many parts of the country where Evangelical Christianity, of the worst sort, has effectively taken over local groups and intergroups.”

We would be interested to hear from other AA members with regard to their own experience and/or observations of the CMA ('chit') system (good or bad). We can be contacted at our email address here. Confidentiality assured

Cheers

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)

PS Our thanks to this member for their contribution to the debate

Thursday 21 November 2013

Alcohol research


Talking Out of Alcoholism: Results of a Survey of Alcoholics Anonymous in England and Wales, Henry S and Robinson D, Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, Vol. 28, 414-419, July 1978


SUMMARY. A national survey of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) produced data on the way AA members talk about their experiences and the role this plays in achieving and maintaining sobriety. The survey was based on self-completion questionnaires given to one in four members attending meetings of a one in ten random sample of AA groups operating in England and Wales. Only 1.8 per cent of current members had never spoken regularly. Hearing other people's personal stories was felt by members to be the most useful part of AA meetings. At some time 81.9 per cent of members had told their own story and their was some relationship between dropping out and not telling personal stories. The great majority of those who had told stories reported changes in their content over time; 58.0 per cent of these changes involved a shift of emphasis from drinking to recovery. The result suggest that AA enables people to change the way they perceive and evaluate themselves it enables them to talk themselves out of alcoholism.

All we can hope to do, by talking about (a person's) experience is change his attitude...Who am I to say he is wrong? I must be tolerant and accept that this is how he is thinking. It may be a barrier to his recovery and all I can hope to do is influence his thinking and outlook .... by talking. You kick a ball around long enough and you'll have a game, won't you? Talk, talk, talk and because you talk you start a man thinking.

Bill, General Secretary of Alcoholics Anonymous in Great Britain”

PS For AA Minority Report 2013 click here

Wednesday 20 November 2013

Court mandated attendance (CMA) or 'chit' system (contd)


A member from the States writes:

Fellas,

Thank you for taking the time to respond. I also thank for your service to AA. There has been a large scale watering down of AA in the last three decades. I it is easy for us who have suffered through the “court slip issue” to point a finger at that being the source. I assume it can all fall under the general debate that is similar to which came first, the chicken or the egg. My guess is that we all can remember the days when we were told to take what we can use and leave the rest. This is at the heart of just sharing our experience, strength and hope. Those who were here could be confident in saying that because they knew if you have a desire to stop drinking you would have a vested interest in analyzing what you want to keep and the net result would be you would keep a lot of what was being said. Once we let people in who do not have desire to stop drinking all bets are off. They have vested interest in finding an easier softer way; not in finding a pathway to sobriety.

I suspect the gurus and dogmatists who you refer to as a problem are in part afraid of losing the AA that they were raised in. Once they have a cause to fight for, they allow their ego’s to run ramshod. Some use the dogmatic approach to justify the affiliation with Courts. How have I discovered this? I have to work every day to keep my own ego in check as I attempt to address the Tradition breaks that I see........

The reason I don’t “just” go with stronger traditions based meetings in our area is that I believe that other like minded parties would come to them and this would leave even weaker AA behind. I do remain concerned of what grade of meeting the next drunk who truly wants sobriety will find and I don’t want it left to chance. Where we differ from other areas is that we have had this problem for 25+ years and we have Judges that have gotten National recognition for their “Sobriety Court” and they have gone hog wild. Our “closed” meetings average 50% court mandated parties. Some convenience meetings average 90%. By convenience meetings I mean a meeting at a clubhouse that exists for no other reason than to handle the overflow caused by this issue.

So many members have no first hand experience of AA of any other kind and they attack any who object.

Thanks for your time and any efforts you may make to put me in contact with others who are attempting to deal with this matter.”

Our response:

Hi …..,

Thank you for your mail.

Firstly may we assure you that you are by no means alone in your concerns about the introduction and implementation of the 'chit' system (or CMA) within AA. We have long campaigned against its employment in Great Britain arguing similarly that it runs directly contrary to our traditions (non-endorsement, non-affilation etc) but so far to no avail. We have had plenty of emails from the States already on the subject all of which condemn the practice and cite examples of the abuses stemming both directly from its employment (primarly fraud) and indirectly (those to which you have already alluded). We suspect one of the reasons for its growing popularity with politicians on both sides of the Atlantic is that AA represents a free 'dumping ground' for anyone with even the slightest hint of a drinking problem. No thought is spared as to whether these 'referrals' would be at all suited to AA or AA to them. (It is our understanding moreover that such action ((in the US) is a violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. ie. it is unconstitutional). Moreover we believe that those in AA who support this policy are motivated in part by a misconceived desire to boost AA attendance figures in order to counter the static or even declining numbers.

Incidentally your proposal to form Tradition based meetings seems hardly controversial. It may be that other groups will follow suit once they see how these work in practice.

With regard to our campaign it is mostly directed at the abuses being perpetrated within AA by dogmatists who have so perverted the programme (and fellowship) as to render these virtually unrecognisable. In particular the elevation of the 'sponsor' to a position formerly occupied by a Higher Power is pernicious and leads to all sorts of abuses eg, bullying, anti-medication (prescribed), anti-therapy, local 'gurus', Big Book experts etc We refer you to the blog for more information on this.

As for the minority report we refer you to the following link: The AA Service Manual combined with the Twelve Concepts for World Service and Concept V in particular. Here you will see reference to "minority reports" in the introductory comments. You will see that any AA member has the right to submit a report for consideration by the conference if that member (or members) believes the majority may be in the wrong. We suggest you read through this and if you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact us.”

We would be interested to hear from other AA members with regard to their own experience and/or observations of the CMA ('chit') system (good or bad). We can be contacted at our email address here. Confidentiality assured

Cheers

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)

PS Our thanks to this member for their contribution to the debate

Tuesday 19 November 2013

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is a Cult? (contd)


See here for original blog entry

Under Readers' comments
A Squandered Spiritual Inheritance.......
When Bill Wilson brought “ [The] Varieties of Religious Experience” into the mix as an intellectual justification for the AA Program, he appears to have missed one of the basic points of the William James text: authentic religious traditions are always rooted in some transformative experience—not belief or faith. Unfortunately, Wilson’s spiritual naïveté had him taking the unfortunate path of most religions: turning a powerful individual experience of “God” (let’s give the benefit of the doubt and allow a little leeway with the vocabulary) into a collective belief or faith in God. He interpreted his white-light Towns’ hospital experience with the limited set of conceptual tools at his disposal—thus, the Big Book and the quasi-cult it spawned.
But, as James’ demonstrates, other equally sacred interpretations of such transformative events are possible without all the baggage we associate with fundamental religion at its worse. Religion as spiritual experience is not the exclusive province of the God-worshipper. So, a reformed AA can embrace its roots in a spiritual experience that heals the alcoholic while encouraging its members to freely interpret—or not interpret—the experience any way they want. (Dr Bob had his Jesus; Jimmy Burwell had his atheism.) Within this progressive environment, recovery becomes an empirically-driven questioning of what it is the Twelve Steps were designed to do rather than what they say with Wilson’s limited theological vocabulary.
Back to Basics,”( absolutely no connection, Mary!) Dick B., the author of “Gresham’s Law & Alcoholics Anonymous” (“24 magazine,” 1976)[and see Gresham's Law and Alcoholics Anonymous – a critique] & others falsely assume that long ago there was some authentic, powerful AA teaching and that all we need to do to solve all of the Fellowship’s current problems is to get back to the garden. No such teaching ever existed as AA; there are no good ole days. What the AA pioneers did deliver was a fragmentary teaching and a challenge, an extravagant challenge, for future generations to put the pieces together for themselves. That challenged has been ignored, and a spiritual inheritance has been squandered. Fortunately, the story continues…
Cheers
The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)