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.”
“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)
See
also AA Minority Report 2013
