West Kent - no – we haven't forgotten you!

Business as usual in cult land. The Gravesend Tuesday Beginners meeting (cult) is now turning away drunks and telling them to get a detox before they come back. We have to admit this at least might be a step in the right direction for the cult - not the bit about turning away drunks we hasten to add … Now what is the name of the fellowship? Ah yes! Alcoholics Anonymous. Goodness gracious! We shouldn't be letting in drunks at all!! What are things coming to? People like that!! (that was irony by the way for any cult members reading this – and we know you are!!). No. It's rather that they seem to have abandoned handing out medical advice and are leaving this to the professionals for a change!! Maybe Gavin the Plumber wasn't on duty that night! (it's an in-joke in West Kent.... or maybe Gavin is the in-joke in West Kent– who knows!! ..... But we digress....).... Never fear though - old habits die hard.....(as do newcomers in the cult's grip!) …. they are still being advised to stay away from AA meetings by members of the Tuesday cult group (Note: Gravesend Thursday is the ONLY genuine AA meeting in that locality). And now....

…..there's a rumour going round (as they do tend to do in AA) that word of cult activities is even starting to percolate into the rarefied realms of AA Southern Region (the dreaded “c” word has even appeared in the Conference questions discussion forum on the official AA website: http://www.aa-conference.org.uk/conforum/). Denial of course is a powerful obstacle to the truth (as most AA members have discovered from long and painful experience). However this particular set of blinkers does not apply solely to the disease with which we all have to deal. It is also a significant barrier when it comes to facing up to the reality of cult activities here in Great Britain as well as in other parts of the world. For those of us who have survived the cult's depredations it is blindingly obvious what their agenda is. However for other members of AA who do not possess the corresponding experience it is a difficult matter indeed to recognise, let alone acknowledge, that there exists in the midst of our society a relatively small - though not insignificant in terms of their destructive impact - group of individuals who are hell-bent on undermining the hard won inclusive values of Alcoholics Anonymous, and whose primary purpose is to replace these with their own dogma-driven, personality-obsessed and entirely exclusive interpretation of that noble and generous philosophy which has sustained Alcoholics Anonymous for so long and so effectively across the world. Despite its frequent claims to the contrary the cult has no interest whatsoever in sustaining AA unity, has little or no respect for the traditions and other guidelines that inform our fellowship, and is even less concerned for the welfare of those newly arrived at our doors. After all an authoritarian code can take no account of the individual and brooks no opposition; the cult “sponsor” MUST rule supreme in all matters within this form of dictatorship - their word is LAW! Remember – and these are not our words but straight from cult central command:

“It is suggested that you phone your sponsor and do exactly what he tells you. If you don’t have a sponsor try each day to do something about finding one”.

Cheerio

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)

PS. It might be wise to remember when using the Meeting Finder facility on the Great Britain AA website (or the national printed versions) that inclusion does not guarantee that the listing is a genuine AA meeting. Pretty well any one can set up a meeting, call it AA, and there exists no means of establishing whether it is in fact the 'real deal'. It is better to rely on local Where to Finds (produced by the corresponding intergroup (except of course where these too have been compromised by cult participation)). Finally the best way to verify if a meeting adheres to AA principles is to ask around. Those members that insist that you must only go to a certain group (or set of groups) and not others in the area are almost certainly cult members, and their recommendations are pointing in the direction of cult meetings. On the other hand AA members can go to whatever meetings they like – it's called freedom of choice!