An upcoming event (as promoted on the Road to Recovery (Plymouth) cult website)
Yep, the Texas rodeo show’s coming to town—(minus Traditions 4 and 12). Topping the bill, the top hats of the Dallas Primary Purpose Group, no less. As these two most prestigious AA speakers trot the globe, the adulation of the audience is evidently raising their self esteem to such a high, that they can now rise above the rest of us plebs and break their anonymity at the public level, (for more info just Google Myers Raymer AA speaker or Chris Raymer AA speaker and all’s revealed, ----well, almost). Once you've have seen the internet ads, there’s no prize for guessing the unnamed Glasgow event will be another mind blowing performance of Primary Purpose "Big Book" sponsorship.---(Not to be confused with AA sponsorship, which doesn't blow minds.)
The event, whose theme doesn't say it is AA sponsorship but is nevertheless led by AA speakers (self appointed), highlights the Primary Purpose cult’s apparent limited capacity (or wilful economy) in being rigorously honest. And... when it comes to the voice of ultimate authority in AA --- A loving God as he may express himself in our group conscience, they're also apparently impaired in their capacity to hear.……. "The practice of inviting speakers from overseas violates traditions 4 and 12.”............ Nowadays, for the benefit of those in the fellowship with hearing disabilities, God (as you understand him, her or it) is patiently repeating himself............. "The practice of inviting speakers from overseas violates traditions 4 and 12.” (The General Service Conference, Great Britain, representing the voice of the AA group conscience in Great Britain ..... therefore representing the expression of a loving God as he may express himself in our group conscience........therefore representing the Ultimate Authority in AA, in Great Britain and the English speaking Continental Europe Region), has now found it necessary to make this same statement twice, in 1995 and 2010: "The practice of inviting speakers from overseas violates traditions 4 and 12.” ----PPG supporters note the full stop. Third time lucky... eh?
Now, moving on to Tradition 6, (lest problems of money, property and prestige divert us from our primary purpose)……
When it comes to putting money in the AA pot, the average AA is, according to Tradition 7, “as tight as the bark on a tree,” therefore it figures that if he spends his twenty quid recovery money on a door ticket for, lets say the “For Good and All Glasgow Trans-Atlantic Theatre Co.”, then he’s going to be short of a bob or 20 when it comes to his voluntary contributions to the AA pot. (Pounds diverted away from AA’s Primary Purpose to pay the expenses of the infamous Traditions breaking few). Moving on to property and money, a BBS sponsorship lecture would, no doubt, be incomplete without the mention of those other “Big Books,” the ones to guide the sponsor in the art of how to coerce the novice into surrendering to his sponsor's will and to the mission of “Big Book” Sponsorship.” First, the prospective sponsor will need to be a proud owner.--- He’ll need a “Big Book”, maybe the most expensive one from GSO, a hardback say, price £8.00, or then again for that extra approval with the mother superiors, he could be tempted to go for the posh leather cover version, a real snip at £52.00 ($85.00) from Myers Raymer (Lost and Found Bookbindary). Being new to the game he’s bound to get lost between the covers, so “Big Book” sponsorship has just the thing to get him found........ a group with a Primary Purpose BBS guide. And just where does a group get a BBS guide? .......Ah yes, the ever productive Myers Raymer, Myers Raymer Book Bindery Inc., price £10.00 ($17.00), courtesy of Myers R. PPG (Dallas Texas). ........ affordable price too, only a tad more expensive than GSO’s “Big Book". Then he’ll need a guide through the 12 steps, with the works of the inspiration behind the Dallas PPG, the scripture of the 13th apostle and teacher of the 12 steps no less, Joe McQ, price say £5.00(second hand) and his guide to carry his message of Big Book sponsorship, RRP £8.00. ----To help us see this diversion from AA's primary purpose a bit more clearly we did a quick "Big Book" column inventory of liabilities and assets concerning potential money flow arising per AA member attending the Glasgow sponsorship event (book prices/dollar conversions rounded to the nearest pound):
| Potential funds arising from the Glasgow event going to the AA Primary Purpose (AA Great Britain/GSO) per person attending | Potential funds arising from the Glasgow event diverted to the Primary Purpose (USA/PPG (Dallas, Texas)) per person attending |
| GSO Big Book purchase Hardback choice | Myers R (posh) Big Book purchase Leather cover choice | GSO Big Book purchase Hardback choice | Myers R (posh) Big Book purchase Leather cover choice |
Event entrance fee | -£20.00 | -£20.00 | £20.00 | £20.00 |
Literature sales: |
|
|
|
|
GSO Big Book | £8.00 | ….. | -£8.00 | …. |
Myers R leatherback Big Book | ….. | -£52.00 | …. | £52.00 |
Myers R PPG (Dallas) Big Book Study guide | -£10.00 | -£10.00 | £10.00 | £10.00 |
Joe McQ 12 step guide (second hand) | -£5.00 | -£5.00 | £5.00 | £5.00 |
Joe McQ Big Book Sponsor guide | -£8.00 | -£8.00 | £8.00 | £8.00 |
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|
|
|
|
Total | -£35.00 | -£95.00 | £35.00 | £95.00 |
There you go chaps, a win-win situation, a complete 12 step programme (not AA), based on the Big Book and now hijacking AA --- and to boot, there's a personal twist of AA history thrown in for free (No need to buy the 12+12 or AA comes of Age then.) ----Tut tut. All this competition at a time when we're being asked to increase our contributions to GSO and our AA literature purchases. (sales of which account for 39% of the UK AA income and which contribute to finance the AA service structure and overseas development, or in other words contribute to finance AA's primary purpose). So then, any time you're tempted nip along to your online bookshop and buy an AA member's glossy violation of tradition 4 (long form) for a quick fix from ego deflation, it might be better to think about the common welfare of AA and reach for the chocolate instead. (better still share it with a newcomer, and the chocolate.)
The absence of the AA label in the promotion of the Glasgow event does of course dodge the can of worms which could be opened up with the UK Conference recommendation 2010: “To prevent misrepresentation, events organised outside of the service structure cannot use the AA name or logo* or use the Confidential Directory as a mailing list."
The promoters’ smart move not to link the advertising of this event to AA is a nice try to “legalise” it with AA Traditions— our hats could be off to them, but for the worms still hooked and dangling on Traditions 4, 6 and 12. Divinely inspired to withstand the almost inexhaustible and invariable twisted rationalisations of every single alcoholic mind in the fellowship, they are as Bill W. described “spiritual truths” and consequently, spiritually water tight as a bottle of Southern Comfort.
--- And Oh yes, contrary to present day popular belief, size matters (ego that is) ------ so does what AA members do outside AA meetings. The Traditions cover any AA member’s shenanigans outside the AA service structure, whenever these could damage the fellowship. For example, try violating Tradition 12 by breaking your anonymity at the public level inside an AA meeting or event. (Difficult, unless you make recordings and play them on public media). Try violating Tradition 4, as an individual, or by getting your group’s internal affairs to affect other groups or AA as a whole, (Difficult, unless you write a book which could affect AA, or you get your group's affairs to go external). Try violating Tradition 6 by holding an event without lending the AA name, but which mixes AA with outside enterprise. Difficult, unless you don’t include the AA name on any promotional material, but then imply it is AA to the audience in the event. –--a round of applause here "For Good and all Glasgow" sponsorship event — Clever deception, but it doesn’t wash with the spiritual truths of Traditions 4, 6 and 12. So there you go, any event, AA name or no name at all, which is run by AA members and which affects other AA groups or AA as a whole, violates the spiritual truth of tradition 4. (We think the Glasgow event themed on sponsorship, or to be precise, cult sponsorship infiltration of AA, fits this bill).
Well, You can sit on the fence (uncomfortably we hope) or you can do something about it. While Texas cowboys chop the foundation of the fellowship and make a few bucks out of AA, while GSO settles for the dimes, there is the one buck that stops with you. You could just sit there and hope it all goes away, while the buck burns a hole in your pocket (or your conscience), or you could pass the buck to someone else, or pass it up the service structure to conference and GSO,(that’s good for a while because it gets talked about) but sooner or later, since final responsibility and authority in AA lies with the AA groups themselves (that means you), then you'll get the buck passed right back to down to you, like Conference 1995/2010: "The practice of inviting speakers from overseas violates traditions 4 and 12.” So what can you do if individuals persist on violating traditions 4 and 12? (We think six years since 1995 ticks the box for persistence) Well, you can pass the buck right back to where it came from, (as Bill W did with the gent he called the "poser" --the one who insisted on breaking his anonymity by giving public lectures 50% AA and 50% of his own religious convictions. (how history repeats with a twist)--- Bills answer to this "poser" was to threaten to get AA members to write several thousand letters to object if he went ahead with the lectures. ----(So, when AA members took the lid off anonymity, the protective mantle covering the fellowship and the spiritual foundation of our Traditions, Bill W. said, "Something had to be done." For more info--- AA Tradition how it developed pages 46-47). ---Note here, AA is self regulated (not unregulated) by the AA members themselves and when called upon by certain violations of Tradition, there's a time for each to don his or her jacket of guardian of our fellowship and of AA Traditions, as indicated in Guideline 17 and concept 12, warranty 5: "Feeling the weight of all these forces, certain members who run counter to to AA's Traditions sometimes say they are being censored or punished and that therefore they are being governed. It would appear, however, that AA's right to object calmly and privately to specific violations is at least equal to the rights of the violators to violate".
So if you're sitting on the fence (uncomfortably we hope), pessimistic or just plain apathetic with the notion that (thanks to the internet) one AA group has the power to spread its cult sponsorship tentacles across the world, (never mind Tradition 4), that going on experience elsewhere in the UK, this means a hijack of your intergroup telephone service by cult telephone responders and dangerous advice being given to newcomers to stop taking their prescribed medication, then you can do something about it. (We've found the optimism of the action is better than the pessimism of the thought). You can exercise your right (as a guardian of tradition) to object calmly and privately to specific violations, which is at least equal to the rights of the violators who violate. With today's persistent "posers" threatening our fellowship, we suggest that a few hundred thousand AA members, the world over, contact the following members, informing them that they are out of order with AA Tradition and Conference recommendations. (Try not be put off if you think Glasgow or Dallas is a long long way away and nothing to do with you, because one day a cult tentacle may land in your neighbourhood and you might be grateful of some support from elsewhere). Thanks to the internet, AA is now a global group with a global problem, which needs to be globally nipped in the bud by ordinary AA members like you.)
Contact Myers Raymer and inform him (politely) that you object to his breaking of his anonymity and AA Traditions; It would be better for AA as a whole if he cancelled his trip from the USA to Glasgow, Scotland; and forthwith, humbly confined his AA works to within the AA service structure in his locality (Like the other 2 to 3 million Alcoholics Anonymous around the World.)
Lost and Found Bookbindery,
327 Ingram Loop, Ingram,Texas 78025 USA
Raymer Bookbindery Inc.
885 Northfork Circle
Lewisville, TX 75057 USA
Primary Purpose Group of AA (Dallas) Texas
Contact Pamela, Ben and Donald, (the Glasgow event’s contacts) with a similar (polite) message that you object to their violating Traditions 4 and 12 and ask them (For good and for all) to cancel the event and ask those signed up for it to donate the twenty quid to GSO.
Pamela Tel/Text: 07920772896
Ben Tel/Text: 07828553462
Donald Tel/Text: 07957568371
For Good And For All PO Box 29340 Glasgow, G20 2BQ Scotland
Cheers,
The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)
