Question
2:
“Would
the Fellowship review and re-affirm what constitutes an AA Group,
within the Fellowship in Great Britain with specific reference to
Traditions 4 - 6?
Background
Consider
the contribution to the carrying of the message, financial and
practical implications when deliberating each question.”
Extract:
“A.A.
groups had their fling at education, and when they began to publicly
whoop up the merits of this or that brand, people became confused.
Did A.A. fix drunks or was it an educational project? ” (Tradition
Six)
“Things
were fine until some of us AAs publicly disclosed our membership in
the educational group. Right away, the public got the idea that this
particular brand of alcoholic education and Alcoholics Anonymous were
one and the same thing. It took years to change this impression.”
(Bill W. AA Grapevine February 1958, The Language of the Heart page 225)
“So
we are constantly on the alert against the rise within AA of a paid
class of practitioners or missionaries.” (Bill W. AA Grapevine May 1946, The Language of the Heart page 27)
“And
already there have been a few alarming attempts at the public
solicitation of money in the name of Alcoholics Anonymous. Few AAs
will fail to imagine where such a course could lead us.” (Bill W.
AA Grapevine June 1946, The Language of the Heart page 31)
“We
must never let any immediate advantage, however attractive, blind us
to the possibility that we may be creating a disastrous precedent for
the future” (Bill W. AA Grapevine June 1946, The Language of the
Heart page 31)
“Conservative
AAs realize that business ventures or solicitations carrying the AA
endorsement are truly dangerous to us all. Were this practice to
become general, the lid would be off. Promoters, AA and otherwise,
would have a field day.” (Bill W. AA Grapevine May 1947, The Language of the Heart page 55)
“That
we must, at all costs, avoid the professionalization of AA; that
simple twelfth step work is never to be paid for; that AAs going into
alcohol therapy should never trade on their AA connection; that there
is not and never can be, any such thing as an “AA therapist.”
(Bill W. AA Grapevine June 1946, The Language of The Heart page 29)
The
principle “That we must, at all costs, avoid the
professionalization of AA” can be applied to any individual
alcoholic’s business title: “teacher,” “Historian,”
“Archivist” “Author,” “Missionary,” “Speaker.”
“Recovery merchandise manufacturer.” According to Tradition six
what constitutes an AA group would not give any actual or implied
endorsement to any AA member’s business, “no matter how good”,
even if this business was devoted to the same primary purpose of AA.
It would not give any actual or implied endorsement to literature,
work books, study guides etc; or foundations which publicly solicit
funds using the AA name; for this is, in the words of AA’s
Co-founder is “truly dangerous to us all.”
According
to Tradition, what constitutes an AA group in Great Britain would not
encourage a “paid class of practitioners or missionaries.” by
paying “expenses” for “speakers” or “missionaries” to
travel from the USA; especially bearing in mind Conference
Recommendation 2010:
“The
Committee would like to draw attention to Conference recommendation
of 1995 which reads: "that the practice of inviting speakers
from overseas and paying their expenses is in breach of Traditions 4
& 12." (Conference Voting: Unanimous)
Nor
would it encourage a “paid class of practitioners or missionaries.”
by encouraging the business of outside produced “Speaker”
recordings. The production of which within AA has its spiritual
consequences and human costs too:
“….Some
speakers are recorded without their knowledge or permission. For
instance, one friend of mine, a gay schoolteacher, was horrified to
discover that his AA talk had been recorded and sold without his
knowledge. Since part of his story included a description of how his
recovery from alcoholism helped him accept his sexual orientation, he
was concerned that his professional standing would be jeopardized if
the recording wound up in the wrong hands. Of course, the whole
situation could have been avoided if the taper simply had asked his
permission to record the talk. Another AA member I know, a clergyman,
delivered a rather earthy talk at an AA convention. Someone sent the
recording to his bishop, landing the clergyman in hot water.
Certainly, the tattletale was a large part of the problem here. But
if there's one place where we shouldn't have to worry about the
repercussions of our sharing, it's an AA meeting. So, what does
"anonymous" mean to members during these times of
ever-present audio recorders?
………..One
time, I walked into an AA convention where I was speaking and was
surprised to see the taper set up with dozens of pre-made labels with
my full name emblazoned on them. I told him to blot out my last name.
He begrudgingly complied. No one on the committee had mentioned that
they intended to record and sell my talk. Another time, I was seated
on the dais as a banquet speaker during another AA convention. The
tapers bustled about, setting up their recording system. Finally, I
said, "Is anyone going to ask me if it's all right to record my
talk?" They were perplexed by the question. From time to time, I
receive a telephone call from a convention program committee member
asking me to submit a recording of my talk so they can review it
before possibly inviting me to speak at their event. I always
decline, politely explaining that I don't audition to speak at
Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. Similarly, if we have to agree to be
recorded before being invited to tell our AA stories, then Alcoholics
Anonymous has lost its way. If I don't want my talk recorded, then
that should be the end of it. These days, I often see tapes and CDs
displayed on the internet, at AA conventions, and in recovery stores
that describe the speakers by category: Big Book Story, Celebrity,
History, Old-Timer, Humorous, Great Talk, name of rock group, nom de
plume, political position, name of television/movie character, etc.
This is a perversion of the spirit of anonymity. Evidently, many
audio recording businesses aren't familiar with the last page of the
"A.A. Guidelines on Conferences, Conventions and Roundups"
(available at www.aa.org), which makes suggestions about recording AA
speakers, including, "The strength of our anonymity Traditions
is reinforced by speakers who do not use their last names and by
taping companies or tapers whose labels and catalogs do not identify
speakers by last names, titles, service jobs or descriptions."
Some
tapers act as "booking agents" for AA meetings,
conventions, round-ups, and conferences. They're business people, and
they recommend, as speakers, those whose recordings sell lots of
copies: the polished, the sensational, the humorous, and the
well-known. Generally, tapers won't recommend speakers who won't
allow their talks to be recorded, because it's a bad business
decision for them. Sadly, this means that we are not exposed to the
full range of speakers in AA. I know many excellent speakers who have
been passed over, even though they carry a tremendous message of
recovery, unity, and service, because they prefer that their talks
not be recorded. I'd like to see AA wean itself from its dependence
on tapers. I don't think audio recording should be totally
eliminated, but I do think it should receive more oversight from
Tradition-minded convention committees and steering committees….”
Cheerio
The
Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)
