Update to “multi fellowship Big Book” event

The latest - in a typical murky saga emanating from Plymouth - is that the event is NOT in fact the work of our pointed headed friends (for a change).... We're informed by Drug Addicts Anonymous that it's actually organised by the partner of a now deceased DAA member. However we note that the flier has been circulated around AA members and, as part of its design, bears the AA logo. This might lead the unwary to believe it is in some way associated with Alcoholics Anonymous … it ISN'T... and a disclaimer to that effect would be helpful in ensuring that newcomers especially are not led to believe otherwise....

Cheers

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)

Thanks to our various correspondents for setting us straight... (yeah ...we did a moral inventory, rang our sponsor, got on our knees etc etc....)

Plymouth Road to Recovery cult group host multi-fellowship Big Book event

It seems that Wayne P and his cohorts, no longer content merely with 13 stepping and generally 'grooming' (ie. abusing) newcomers (even getting them pregnant from time to time!), ripping off AA and perverting its principles, have decided to go into the Big Book business. Apparently the locals are invited to join other fellowships (what happened to the Traditions? Oh yeah We forgot....they wouldn't apply in a cult group would they!) at the above venue (slightly edited .. we don't want to encourage them) where they will be subjected to the 'expertise' of various imported (and no doubt carefully vetted) 'authorities' (but see Dr Bob, The Fundamentals – In Retrospect, AA Grapevine, 1948 esp. “no special interpretations” para. 3) . Along the way they will be startled to learn that the AA message has now become so distorted (or diluted – take your pick) that hardly anyone gets sober any more.... and even if by some extraordinary accident of fate (eg. attending AA meetings) they do it will be the 'wrong' kind of sobriety.... blah di blah di blah – you get our gist we think!

Cheers

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)

PS Thanks to our correspondents

PPS If you want our opinion (yeah yeah .. we know all about opinions) … or even a suggestion perhaps …you might more profitably employ your time finding yourself a piece of newly painted wall and watching it dry! We assure you that this will be incomparably more interesting (and sobering) than attending the above farce!!

Twelve Steps to Danger: How Alcoholics Anonymous Can Be a Playground for Violence-Prone Members

“Karla Brada Mendez thought that she was getting a second chance on life when she started going to AA meetings. But instead she met Eric Allen Earle, an AA old-timer with a violent past.........”

Source: ProPublica: Journalism in the Public Interest

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)

PS Thanks to our AA correspondents for bringing this article to our attention

Is AA to blame for ‘13th Step’ slaying, as lawsuit claims?

See link

American Bar Association Journal

Comment: The consequences of a failure by AA members to take effective action against sexual predators …. and the 'chit' (court mandated attendance) system

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)

What a wag Wayne is!!

He's joking of course …. isn't he?

Cheers

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)

Ooops! 'Outings' backfire!

Anyhoo..... someone tells us there's a site out there trying to ape us (our emphasis) although simians generally show a deal more intelligence than is exemplified by the rather flaccid output on display! Seemingly one of the pointed head ones has actually managed to scrAPE together slightly more than the standard issue brace of brain cells and is attempting to 'out' the aacultwatch team online.... Well we should be grateful .. at least it's finally dawned on them that there's actually considerably more than one of us! It only took them eight or so years to figure it out! Still we decided to take a gander and much to our surprise it seems that the team is larger than we thought …. that is if the site is to be believed … (a bit of a long shot we know!). Most of the entries seem to have been cobbled together from our listing of Twitter followers (some of whom by no means support our efforts) to which have been added a few random web searches (easy enough if you know what you're doing) the whole 'bulked' out with some highly imaginative 'biographical' details.... But interestingly one entry in particular stands out … a couple based down in the Herne Bay area.... According to one of our many correspondents far from this duo being supporters of aacultwatch they are in fact somewhat the opposite... quite rabid cult members by all accounts! Both are ex-Tankerton (what used to be the local cult 'hotspot'). Even more interesting though is the woman's connection with the current chairman of East Kent Intergroup …. one Mark F (otherwise known as Poetry Mark). Now by all accounts Mark is something of a wanderer .. he likes to travel about a bit. Fiirst it was Strood (West Kent's local branch of the cult).... but then quite unaccountably he decided to transfer his attention to Tankerton in East Kent …Now these perambulatory habits might have to do with Mark's somewhat amatory not to say predatory inclinations.. but then they might not..... Either way we're told that Mark really likes to hit on women newcomers .. and when we say hit we mean HIT! (geddit!).... And it would seem that one of the women Mark really liked to HIT was the very same woman mentioned on the 'ape' site..... It's all pretty unfortunate .. and not a little sleazy ...(a bit like the site) but there you have it.....But we won't be posting any contact details, phone numbers etc... We like to keep it just a little bit classy!

So keep up the good work 'ape'man (or woman)....! Long may the 'outing' continue!

Exeunt to the strains of the Kinks “Apeman”.....

“I think I'm sophisticated
'Cos I'm living my life like a good homosapien.......... 

Cheers 

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)

The 'chit' system

The Winner’s Group

(a saga)

We quote:

“Here's a real life story. A great meeting was held every week for 20 years. The courts sent first one court slip person, he stayed for 6 months and left. Nobody really noticed but he never participated and he left. Then came 2 and 3 at a time. Same thing but everyone thought we were supposed to welcome people "no matter how they got there" the Oldtimers said it wasn't right but we all shouted them down just like we did when those Oldtimers talked about singleness of purpose. Then the court mandated people came in 5's and 6's. One stayed sober! He didn't really live the program but by golly he was sober and we could really shut those Oldtimers up. Then the meeting reached critical mass of 50% people who were on court paper. Things were getting crazy but we told the Oldtimer to be quiet after all didn't we get the court people to stop texting during the meeting and almost all of them were saying "I have desire to not drink" when they identified themselves (tip of the hat to the probation department that taught them to say that). Many members now had no experience with what AA could be like if everyone there had made a decision to go to any length to stay sober. But the group told anyone that said anything that this is the "new" AA and they had better get with the times. We were reminded that one or two of the now over one hundred court slips had stayed sober. Members that sought to create the fellowship they craved left and tried to form new meetings. Now the percentage of court mandated reached 70%. More people left. Some formed underground meetings because they were tired of the flak they got when the asked that AA as a whole take a look at the problem. What happen next? That great meeting folded! This is a real life story. The group was called the "Winners Group and it met every Thursday night at 8 PM. It saved lives for 20 years and is gone.”

Comment: A success for the 'chit' system spells a disaster for AA. If we allow the courts (ie. government) to treat AA as a 'dumping ground' for anyone they think might have a drinking problem this is the probable outcome. All it requires is that the government neglect its duties, AA its traditions

Cheers

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)

PS Our thanks to our correspondent

Regarding the so-called Six Daily suggestions.....

We quote:

“From what I have learned recently this phone conversation happens a quite a lot around the cult meetings that promote the so-called “Six (or more, depending on the cult group) Daily Suggestions”. These “suggestions” have been made up by the cult and are foisted upon the unwary and unfortunate newcomer. This is how it goes....

Cult member rings newcomer.

Newcomer answers phone.

Newcomer says: “Hello”

Cult member says: “Hi. I'm just ringing you to complete one of my 6 daily suggestions. Bye.” (Cult member then hangs up phone)

Newcomer is left confused and pissed off at the unwanted intrusion.

This is what happens when a list of daily tasks, made up by a cult loony, supposedly based upon the Steps, but which in fact is not AA approved or endorsed, The performance of these tasks or suggestions becomes nothing more than a banal chore. Naive cult members in early days who have little or no experience of the Steps or the real program of AA, are ordered to 12-step newcomers over the phone when they are clearly not ready to do any such thing. Some cult members have been known to ring newcomers at ridiculous times in the morning e.g. 6am, or even earlier, thus disturbing sleep and the family members of the newcomer. I am told that Happy Dennis in London is a particular offender. It was reported to me that he rings people up at ludicrously early hours of the morning and recites his cringe-awful “poetry” to them. His rhyming rubbish is comparable to the sort of doggerel you would find in the cheapest box of Christmas crackers at a bottom bargain basement shop. Something you read with embarrassment and want to throw away as quickly as possible. He also sends “happy clappy” texts to AA contact numbers he finds in Share magazine for new meetings that are set up around the country (cult or non-cult). In my opinion he is a pest and has no right to send people unsolicited messages to strangers. I understand from one AA member I know in another part of the country that at least one of his texts has been answered with a firm “ f””k off, you nutter” Apparently Happy Dennis has concocted a Daily Suggestion card which contains a lot more than Six Suggestions. Next time I am in that area of London I will try to get my hands on one of his cards. As soon as I do I will scan it and send it to you guys. I also understand that group money (which is AA money) is used to pay for the printing of these cards.

The Six (or more) Daily Suggestion card is a fraud perpetrated on the newcomer. It is not AA literature. It never will be AA literature. In fact it contradicts AA literature. Handing this card to the newcomer in the name of AA is misrepresenting the fellowship and the AA program to the newcomer. Nowhere in AA literature does it say we have to “get on our knees” twice per day. Nowhere does AA say we must ring 2 newcomers every day. Nowhere does AA say we have to have 2 home groups. Nowhere does AA say that we must do everything a sponsor says. Nowhere does AA say we must read the Just For Today card every day. Actually, the whole point of the Just for Today card is to practice it, not just to read it. Someone still drinking could be reading the Just For Today card and still fulfil one or more of the six daily suggestions !

None of the longest sober people known to me do the Six Daily Suggestions. Why” Because you don't need to do them in order to stay sober, and 99.999% of sober AA members would testify to that. The Six Daily Suggestion card complicates the program for the newcomer. It creates for him or her a daily burden which becomes nothing more than a tedious and banal check-list to be completed in order to win approval from a group and a sponsor. And therein, I believe, lies the true purpose of the card. It is all about recruitment to a group/gang/cult in AA. Doing repetitive tasks assigned by a leader is one of the hallmarks of a cult.

Thanks to the aacultwatch team for their work in exposing the cult nonsense that is weakening AA and destroying its reputation. "

Cheers

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)

PS Thanks to our correspondent

Bill Wilson talking about the Traditions - Tradition Seven

Cheers

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous ...and rather fond of the Traditions too!)