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Statuseight:
Hello my name is James G and I produce all the videos for the Blamethenile Youtube account. I am writing to you because I have been made aware of the fact that Mike, who helps me by responding to some of the comments made on my videos, removed one of your posts. The post in question read as follows:
“Wow you have found the cure! "dont drink" brilliant! why didn't i think of that? you fool, why do you think AA exists! its not that easy to stop if your an alcoholic. your obviously not, you dont know what your talking about so shut up.”
Putting aside the fact that the delivery of your comment leaves a lot to be desired, what you are effectively saying is that AA holds the monopoly on what constitutes an ‘alcoholic’. In other words if you reject the solution, you never had the problem. This attitude happens to be one of the major reasons I continue to do what I do – I am sick of people stereotyping the alcoholic to fit Bill Wilson’s version of it. It is a subtle way of silently reinforcing the fact that AA believes it has the only solution, and thus has the only way to recover from the condition known as alcoholism. By telling Mike to shut up and suggesting that he does not know what he is talking about is diminishing his experience as somehow being less significant than yours. Mike had a problem with alcohol and now he doesn’t; tell me what he has done that means he should not be allowed to share his experience strength and hope?
In AA we are told that we are powerless over alcohol even when it is not in our system, hence the need for a higher power in steps 2 and 3. If we take this, something I might add that many see as an untruth, into account, I can see why Mike’s stance might anger you. Unlike AA Mike does not think he is powerless over alcohol. It would appear that you are arguing your solution lay in admitting your powerlessness over alcohol, where conversely Mike’s stems from having empowered himself; i.e. by taking control of his drinking by not drinking. Personally when I left AA I was told I was going to relapse, and thus possibly die; I was told that AA was the only way – so I think we are well within our rights to tell people that this is not the case, just as AA was allowed to set us up for a fall.
The treatment I received from steppers when I first began to have a proper look into the program was both shocking and insulting. The general rule seems to be that if you got sober using AA, tell everyone about it, and if you didn’t, just go quietly.
Earlier comments you made included, “Happy relapsing!” and “What a pile of shit.”
Then in your last letter you say the following: “no one forced you into AA, no one forced you to get a sponsor. you wern't brainwashed,you were simply told the facts and you didn't like it so you dragged it through the mud.” How do you know any of those things? For example, the treatment centre I went to forced me to attend AA, and I beg to differ on being told what you call ‘facts’. AA makes up its own facts; its efficacy remains unproven. You also make the classic assumption that all the work I am doing is as a result of a resentment towards AA because I did not like hearing, again what you call, ‘facts’.
For the record I am concerned with AA because it is dishonest about its success rate which is in fact a 95% failure according to its own triennial surveys conducted in 1989– I also believe it causes many people harm by instilling them with a belief that they are powerless over their drinking, as well as making it more than clear that it is the only way to recover. I have seen too many people leave the rooms and relapse resigning themselves to a life of powerless drinking because they did not know there were other ways.
Finally the end of your last email says it all; “hope your next pint is as flat as your cult theory.” There you go again assuming that anyone who questions the program is drinking. For the record I am more than happy for AA members to tell us about their experience, provided they do not get personal and vicious. Maybe it is time to take a look at what you have been told in the rooms; perhaps you are suffering from admiration prior to investigation?
Regards,
James G
J a m e s G can be contacted at jamesg@blamedenial.co.uk