The AA Preamble – contd

Now we will consider the introductory phrase: “Alcoholics Anonymous”. This should be a clue as to our 'target market' ie. alcoholics, and how we conduct ourselves generally, and in the public sphere. Although our sole membership requirement is that a potential candidate should have a “desire to stop drinking” (self-determined and self-diagnosed) it should be evident that AA deals only with chronic problem drinkers who have an established alcohol addiction and who are unable to return to what might be termed 'normal' or 'social' drinking. We are not talking about those who have an 'acute' problem, who may have developed some difficulties along the way but are able to moderate their alcohol consumption subsequently. For the former case there is really only one sure solution currently available: complete lifelong abstinence from alcohol in any quantity and in any form. For the latter there may be a number of possible treatment options none of which involves such drastic action. Accompanying lifelong (physical abstinence) there is a need also for the individual concerned to evolve some form of attitude adjustment to avoid the possibility of relapse. AA offers ONE method for developing such a change of perspective: the 12 step recovery programme. It should be mentioned here that AA makes no claim to a monopoly on recovery. Individuals within AA might make such assertions. Fortunately neither they nor anyone else speaks for the fellowship. We have no gurus (but our membership does include those who THINK they are). We deal ONLY with the alcohol problem and with no other type of addiction nor are we qualified to offer any advice on these. We have but one primary purpose as stated in our preamble.

Now we come to the the question of anonymity. This is elaborated upon in the 11^th and 12^th of AA's Traditions: 

“Eleven—Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio and films.” (short form) 

“11.—Our relations with the general public should be characterized by personal anonymity. We think A.A. ought to avoid sensational advertising. Our names and pictures as A.A. members ought not be broadcast, filmed, or publicly printed. Our public relations should be guided by the principle of attraction rather than promotion. There is never need to praise ourselves. We feel it better to let our friends recommend us.” (long form) 

“Twelve—Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our Traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.” (short form) 

“12.—And finally, we of Alcoholics Anonymous believe that the principle of anonymity has an immense spiritual significance. It reminds us that we are to place principles before personalities; that we are actually to practice a genuine humility. This to the end that our great blessings may never spoil us; that we shall forever live in thankful contemplation of Him who presides over us all.” (long form)

For our part we regard Tradition 11 merely as a specific application of the general principle outlined in Tradition 12. There are some in AA (circuit speakers, 'gurus', Big Book 'experts' and other assorted 'snake oil' purveyors) who believe that it is sufficient merely to adhere to the letter of these traditions rather than their spirit. There are others who don't bother to restrain their egos even to this modest degree (you know who you are!). The principle of anonymity is pivotal to AA's philosophy and where practised proves to be our greatest strength, where not – our most serious flaw. What AA does NOT need are the services of the propagandists, dogmatists, fundamentalists, promoters and other essentially narcissistic personalities. What AA does need is the ordinary member who gets on with his or her life doing what needs to be done, helping newcomers where help is requested and all without any fanfare or fuss! Remember that bit in the Just for Today card about doing someone a good turn and not getting found out?

Cheers

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous … and still anonymous themselves!)

Tradition Twelve, Grapevine, April, 1953, Bill W

See also Links and downloads

Editorial: On the 12th Tradition, Grapevine, November, 1948, Bill W

See also Links and downloads

Unrecorded: A member questions the practice of recording AA speakers

(A.A. Grapevine August 2007 Vol. 64 No. 3)

"AA speaker cds and tapes can offer considerable support to Loners, Homers, Internationalists, military members, shift workers, and others who find it difficult to get to AA meetings. Others like to listen to these recordings to enhance their sobriety. Without recordings, we wouldn't know what our co-founders and other early AAs sounded like. However, certain aspects of the recording of AA speakers can compromise the spirit and letter of our anonymity Traditions, thus making it worthwhile to take a look at some practices that have grown up around this issue.

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?

I've also talked to several women--AA speakers--who have shared that they tone down certain parts of their stories when they are being recorded; they don't want the audio recordings to wind up in the hands of their children. Of course, they may be missing the point of sharing "in a general way what we used to be like, what happened, and what we are like now," as our Big Book suggests. But even so, if whether or not a talk is recorded is a factor when sharing at AA meetings, haven't we got the tail wagging the dog?

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. Speakers should be respectfully asked about recording at the same time the speaking invitation is extended. It should be clear that the speaking invitation is not contingent on agreeing to allow the talk to be recorded. It's awkward for speakers to decline to be recorded when they're asked ten minutes before the meeting starts and the taping equipment is already set up. I've done it, but neither the speaker nor the taper should be placed in that position. As far as I'm concerned, the only identifying information needed on a CD is the speaker's first name and last initial.

Moving away from the usual crowd of convention speakers is a good idea, too. I want to hear more people who don't want their talks to be recorded, who have absolutely no ambition to get on the AA speakers' circuit, who hem and haw, who get stuck in their drunkalogs for forty-five minutes, who speak from the heart and wander through the littered landscape of their lives in search of a point. I don't want to walk away from the AA meeting with a brand-new CD. I want to walk away from the AA meeting with an empty hand, a full heart, and a new twist on an old message that gives the recipient a big spiritual dividend--while no one realizes a dime in profit.

Anonymous”

Comment: Cult members seem to have a particular fondness for recording their offerings for posterity – we have no idea why? Who needs another worthless sound byte!

See the aacultwatch forum for more!!

Cheerio

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)

Yet another Jim B!

After our Stop Press article of yesterday a member from the UK kindly sent in the following, making some rather pertinent points about placing “principles before personalities”.

“Hi fellas,

I read your Stop press article today. Can you tell me, Is this the same Jim B. who breaks his anonymity on You Tube?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qey_WSBNP6E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPkisi-R0Jo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzHbj3UwmoY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DR12Ph_grlc

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=alcoholics+anonymous+Jim+B&aq=f

[Comment: actually it isn't – although there does seem to be a bad outbreak of these “bleeding” “experts” at the moment – but you can catch the original elsewhere on the net “entertaining the troops”” Remember: “The show must go on”!]

If so, someone ought to educate him on Traditions Eleven and Twelve. He looks and sounds like the reincarnation of the alarming poser described in AA Comes of Age. If this is the same Jim B. who is on You-Tube, then I think you should print his email address so we A.A. members can email him strong emails……..emails of a kind his sponsor might not like to receive.

Bill W., “AA comes of Age” page 130-131: “This ultimatum was an 'alarming poser'.........We would loose control of our public relations......We assured him that if his ‘lectures’ went on air, we would advise every A.A. group of the circumstances and ask them to write strong letters ……….. letters of a kind the sponsor might not like to receive. The broadcast never went on air.”

Extract from Tradition Twelve: “We simply could not afford to take the chance of letting self –appointed members presenting themselves as messiahs representing A.A. before the whole public.… Moved by the spirit of anonymity, we try to give up our natural desires for personal distinction as A.A. members both among fellow alcoholics and before the general public”….. We are sure that humility, expressed by anonymity, is the greatest safeguard that Alcoholics Anonymous can ever have.”

Extract from Tradition Eleven: “This Tradition is a constant and practical reminder that personal ambition has no place in A.A. In it each member becomes an active guardian of our fellowship".

Bill W., “As Bill Sees It”, page 198: “They forget that, during their drinking days, prestige and the achievement of worldly ambition were their principle aims. They do not realize that, by breaking their anonymity, they are unconsciously pursuing those old and perilous illusions once more. They forget that the keeping of one’s anonymity often means the sacrifice of one’s desire for power, prestige, and money. They do not see that if these strivings became general in A.A., the course of our whole history would be changed; that we would be sowing the seeds of our own destruction”.

How many people are being put off A.A. by these Jim B. videos?

Bill W: “Of highest importance would be our relations with medicine and religion. Under no circumstances must we get into competition with either. If we appeared to be a new religious sect, we’d be done for. And if we moved into the medical field, as such, the result would be the same.” (Language of the Heart Page 150)

……....(Name deleted) UK”

Cheers

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)

(our thanks to this contributor)

Tradition Twelve

Short form:

"Twelve—Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our Traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities."

Long form:

"12.—And finally, we of Alcoholics Anonymous believe that the principle of anonymity has an immense spiritual significance. It reminds us that we are to place principles before personalities; that we are actually to practice a genuine humility. This to the end that our great blessings may never spoil us; that we shall forever live in thankful contemplation of Him who presides over us all."

Comment: In our view this is undoubtedly the single most important guideline, a perspective supported by its description as being the "spiritual foundation of all our Traditions", the bedrock upon which the fellowship as a whole rests. The scope of this precept is not limited simply to the notion that we should avoid identifying ourselves (singly and by full name)) as being members of AA in the public domain but rather that this particular instance is merely one relatively minor example of this principle applied in practice. The whole basis of AA rests on the notion of "the group", a collectivity of individuals who together carry the AA message of recovery. Of course some people are better communicators than others, they may have a better grasp of these principles, and moreover embody a broader and deeper range of experience than other members, but ALL AA members have something valuable to contribute in their own unique way and it should not be assumed that any individual message is necessarily of greater value than another's. More important than speech is action after all, and mere eloquence is never an adequate substitute for true endeavour. The member who simply gets on with the business of honest living, and with no accompanying fanfare, may be a more valuable exemplar of recovery than the prolific purveyor of fine words and phrases (and in which latter category of course we might even, with some indulgence, include ourselves!). When the newcomer comes to AA it is to be hoped that he or she is greeted with a breadth of experience, this conveyed by as many members of the group as possible, and that no one individual's interpretation of the programme of action takes automatic predominance over the remainder. For this reason it is desirable that newcomers not only be encouraged to attend one or other meeting but that they be explicitly advised to visit a broad range of meetings as possible to discover what suits them best (whether this choice be good or bad). Finally, of course, the integrity and depth of the message will always win out over the gloss …. which brings us quite naturally to the cult....

In their case it is quite evident that the cult's system of organisation itself is a direct antithesis to the principle outlined above. Remember (and we quote): “It is suggested that you phone your sponsor and do exactly what he tells you. If you don’t have a sponsor try each day to do something about finding one.” Here the entire emphasis is placed upon finding ONE individual and following their direction without question or judgement. The exposition of the entire recovery programme in this case derives from ONE person's experience and is by direct consequence wholly personality driven. It should not be necessary for us to point out the obvious dangers of relying too much upon a single interpretation no matter how insightful this might be (although in the case of cult members this redeeming faculty is almost entirely absent). An essential component of the recovery process for any member (new or not so new) is the development of a capacity to exercise their own judgement, and thereafter make choices for themselves as to what direction they might wish to take with their lives. The only manner in which this ability may be engendered, and then cultivated, is by its exercise, and not by constant reference to - and dependence on - the direction of another. Where advice does need to be elicited consideration should firstly be given as to whether its potential source has any verifiable knowledge and/or experience of the relevant areas. It should be obvious that no single person can possibly be the repository of all such information; to believe otherwise is to assign to them the role of “God” or “Higher Power”, something which is explicitly cautioned against in the book “Alcoholics Anonymous” (Chapter 5, How it Works, p. 60, 4th edn) under the three “pertinent ideas”:

“(b) That probably no human power could have relieved our alcoholism”

Here (and despite the prudent qualification of “probably”) it is acknowledged that no human power will suffice in such a case. The whole direction of the AA programme is to encourage the individual to place their reliance finally on a “Power greater than themselves” (however this might be conceived). It does NOT propose that this power should be another person, sponsor or otherwise. “Sponsorship idolatry” is the central theme of the cult ideology (if such an encompassing and coherent conception can be applied to their frequently adventitious if not entirely random pronouncements on what does and does not constitute the “programme”). They do in fact “suggest” (cult-speak for “Do as you're told!”) to the newcomer that they place all their reliance upon such a human power, and from which “advice” follow quite necessarily all the inevitable abuses that are so frequently witnessed within the cult groups. Moreover precisely the same dangers inhere within the proliferation of “circuit speakers” now appearing at various venues in Great Britain (and the US) where “personalities” are even being advertised as a “come on” together with all the accompanying paraphernalia of “minor celebrity”: CDs, books, study courses etc etc all with names usefully - and promotionally – appended. These phenomena are not new (witness the outbreaks of Father This, That and The Other back in the 70's and 80's where these members' 'professional spiritual credentials' lent them some supposed “authority”) but with the advent of the internet these sources are becoming ever more intrusive to - and destructive of - our central tenet of “anonymity”. The responsibility for these abuses lie firmly with their advocates and not with the impressionable newcomers who are unfamiliar with the core values of AA. These latter cannot be criticised for being “taken in” by the glib phrases and slick propaganda of the cult, nor for being seduced by the grandiose sloganising promulgated by this perversion of AA (“Never had a bad day”, “Misery is Optional” - tell that to someone who suffers from clinical depression! - etc), nor for the false hopes raised by these charlatans to induce their victims to abide by the “suggestions” laid down by a whole cadre of increasingly narcissistic “sponsors”.

It is unlikely that such dogmatists and fanatics as these will ever revise their own conduct (for that is after all the nature of their “disease”) and therefore the responsibility lies with the rest of us to ensure that this vital tradition is upheld, and that the reputation, and (more importantly) the integrity of our fellowship is defended against the corrosive threat posed by these counterfeiters.

Over to you

Cheers

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)