Whilst perusing the AA Conference questions forum site (continuing our series on that subject) we came across the following entry:
This contributor signs in under the name of a well-known First World War German fighter ace, a denomination which we fancy contains who knows how many delusions of grandeur! Anyhoo! In response to a former forum contributor our 'fighter pilot' makes reference to "AACultWatch" seemingly finding something sinister in the fact that a number of links cited by the said contributor appear on our site. Now it is true to say that we are 'busy little bees' when it comes to surfing the world wide web. We do like to keep abreast of current events insofar as they reflect on the fellowship. Nevertheless we don't suffer from the illusion that we're the only members of AA capable of getting access to such information. Indeed one of the points being made in this particular part of the forum discussion is that AA is attracting quite a lot of negative publicity (mainly due to the conduct of the cult which parasite-like has attached itself to the fellowship), most of which is easily accessible on the net. You don't have to search long and hard to dig up something, whether it be sexual misconduct, abuse, financial exploitation, factionalism etc which casts AA in an extremely poor light. There are a lot of people out there who really don't like Alcoholics Anonymous or view us with a great deal of suspicion. Now rather than playing the victim and protesting that they don't understand us perhaps it might be a good idea if we did something called 'an inventory' and put 'our own house in order'. To start with rather than playing an entirely supine role and 'dealing' the 'no controversy' card whenever anything unpleasant comes up perhaps we might try confronting these issues, and get INTO ACTION instead. Delisting these groups (as they have already done in Ireland) and putting some distance between them and us might go some way towards mitigating their adverse impact on the fellowship. Additionally when it comes to the 'commercialisation' of the fellowship members might stop buying the 'tat' we alluded to in previous blog entries. If nobody purchases the stuff then there are no profits to be made and these enterprises go out of business. Similarly we could dispense with the services of 'circuit speakers' and other so-called 'personalities'. If nobody turns up for a Clancy 'performance' then he'll have no one left to massage his ego (which incidentally might do him some good). Remember! It's supposed to be about “principles before personalities'. When it comes to literature we really don't need any work books, guides, or endless audio files from Big Book 'experts' parading their extensive prejudices and ignorance ie. Joe and Charlie, Dick B, Wally P, sundry Primary Purpose exponents, Clancy (again!) et al. AA already provides perfectly adequate conference approved literature (a large proportion of which can be accessed for free) covering what people need to know about the fellowship and the recovery programme (although some more discussion on the distinctions to be drawn between the terms 'spiritual' and 'religious' might be helpful). Finally AA groups and members can do significantly more to safeguard newcomers against the various types of predators who use AA as their feeding ground. So-called 13 steppers (sexual predators) can be publicly 'outed', advised to desist from their activities or face being banned from groups. For too long the rights of the 'victim' have been subordinate to those of their abuser. The defence that banning someone from a meeting effectively sentences them to death is clearly ludicrous. Actions have consequences and there can be no exception for this kind of conduct. Similarly there exist guidelines on bullying and harassment (which cover most of the activities of the cult). These should be clearly displayed in meetings, the attention of the members present drawn to them, and most importantly – IMPLEMENTED. When it comes to the precise relationship that should exist between AA members the AA preamble should be cited viz. : “Alcoholics Anonymous is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from alcoholism.”
(our emphases)
There is nothing here to suggest any kind of hierarchy within the AA membership. There are no bosses, no 'experts', no superior caste (spiritual or otherwise), no one to 'tell you what to do', no one to 'sponsor' you (even our “leaders” are “but trusted servants”). In fact you will note the key word which defines the relationship is “share” and NOT direct, control, manipulate, coerce, abuse, blackmail, threaten, undermine, suborn etc. All that AA members do is “share” what they know. The rest remains in the hands of the listener and his/her personal concept of a Higher Power/principle. End of.
Finally, and coming back to our budding 'fighter ace', he seems to have formed the impression that we ourselves are something of a “cult”. It's difficult to see how he arrives at this conclusion given that we don't seem to meet any of the commonly accepted criteria. Moreover he asserts that we “insist[ing] on an almost fanatical adherence to dogma”. Oh dear. He doesn't seem to have read anything on the site. Maybe he's not quite got IT. In fact we're pretty much about the EXACT OPPOSITE (or maybe he means we're FANATICALLY OPPOSED to dogma of any kind! Who can tell!) Still, possessed of this level of confusion and unable apparently even to stumble his way towards our 'mission statement' (no we don't really call it that!) cunningly hidden away on our Home page (top right hand side), we fear that his future as a fighter pilot is seriously in jeopardy. Here we state:
“Finally we seek to restore AA to a healthily disorganised state where no faction within the Fellowship may seek to impose its will upon the rest, and that the rights of the individual are always upheld”
On this basis as dogmatists we'd be useless, and as a cult a complete non-starter. Perhaps our aeronaut is suffering from what might be called “contempt prior to investigation”?
Cheerio
The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous ….. and not a cult!)
PS Good luck with the flying lessons!
