Guilty of Using Hyperbole

"Rantings of an Alcoholic" is an exaggeration and overstatement of my state of mind. I did this purposely to bring attention to this blog. Allow me to explain further.

These blog postings are meant to be thought provoking and profound. They are not intended to be emotional diatribes. I am presenting the facts and I am drawing what I think are rational conclusions. I am challenging the AA status quo. Not to be defiant. Not to hinder anyone's recovery. Not to demonstrate that there is no hope.

It is my belief that only when we rationally and honestly approach our addiction can we begin to address the problem and find solutions. Recovery should never be about religious conversion. That is analogous to the old Temperance movement of the late 19th century and early 20th century in America. Convert the sinners and they will repent and be saved. Reliance upon alcohol will be supplanted by reliance upon a rigorous religious dogma and ritual. AA is a thinly veiled 19th century approach to addiction.

AA constantly states that the alcoholic should not question the program. "Stink'in think'in" is the motto. It's founders also stated that the AA program is only a guide and not a panecea. So the conclusion is don't question the program as a step by step recovery program on the one hand. On the other hand, the Big Book states that the 12 steps are only a guide and not to be taken as the final word on recovery. The organization suffers from the same contradictions of belief as any organized religion. "Kill your enemy." "Love your enemy." So which one is it? You choose to follow the beliefs that you want and ignore the contradictory ones. Problem solved, right?

Recovery should not have to be about putting on blinders around our beliefs and following the creed of a 19th century philosophy. Why not deal with recovery without a whisper about god or religion? For all the talk about AA not being about god or Christian religion, it is just that. All talk. In practice, the entire program is based upon religious conversion of sorts.

Can't we eliminate all the talk about god and religion and use what is left of the AA program as a start toward sobiety? Or is AA so fundamentally rooted in it's Temperance movement philosophy that removing god and religion would leave nothing left?

AA is a Failure

AA claims it has about 2 million members. Most are in the USA. According to the CIA World Factbook, the population of the USA for 2005 is estimated at about 295 million. That works out to less than one-half of one percent of the USA population is a member of AA.

By some accounts, 1 in 4 Americans is alcoholic or addicted to something. That means about 70 million Americans could have the disease of addiction. More than 68 million Americans who may be alcoholic are not in AA. Even if these estimated number of addicted Americans is inflated, by any account there are millions and millions of American alcoholics not in the AA recovery program.

The estimated world population for 2005 by the CIA World Factbook is roughly 6.446 billion. In those terms, AA membership is about .002 billion of the world population. Two million members out of six and one-half billion people on the planet. Am I the only one who believes that there are a whole bunch of alcoholics in the world who are not AA members? The truth is that only a very tiny fraction of alcoholics, recovering or not, are AA members.

Combine that fact with the revelation that AA's success rate is probably less than 1%. Only 1 out 100 alcoholics who try the 12 Step Program continue with it and continue to attend AA meetings. A success rate of less than 1% is a failure to the 99% for whom it did not work. I am grateful that 1% found recovery in AA, but it is appalling that 99% do not.

AA membership is stagnant. It is not growing. Membership has plateaued. It is rooted in 1930's mentality which it refuses to let go of. The organization is an anachronism. It does not appeal to the 21st Century man and woman. Add to that the narrow minded concept of spirituality rooted in the acceptance of the Christian god and you have an organization that will never have true world wide appeal.

If a pharmaceutical company claimed to have a medication that worked for less than 1% of those who used it, and you had to use it for the rest of your life, how many would place hope in that? If a football coach had a lifetime win record of less than 1% of the games he coached, would he be considered a success? Why should a recovery program for alcoholics be held to any less of a standard of success? The naked truth is that AA does not work and is a failure.

What's god got to do with it ... got to do with it?

AA is schizophrenic. They will swear on a stack of bibles that your "higher power" and "god as you understand him" can be anything you want. But the whole program is about god. And to make matters worse, it's the god of Christianity. What's that all about? Everything is about god. Surrender to god's will. Pray to god. Ask god. For Bill Wilson, getting sober is about finding god.

Every single AA meeting I have ever been to has ended with a group prayer reciting the Lord's Prayer from the Christian Bible. There are no Hebrew prayers or Muslim prayers. Just Christian prayers.

Unfortunately, other groups of non-believers like Hinduism, Buddhism, Shintoism and other belief systems not based upon the Christian god, are left out. Unless they are willing to trash their own belief system and accept the Christian interpretation, there's no place for them in AA. Why should a recovery program be based upon such obvious cultural biases and arrogance? Hindus don't believe in god. So a Hindu alcoholic would have to accept a Christian god to become sober? Rubbish.

Let's face it, Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob were not scholarly thinkers. They did the best they could to come up with an explanation of a spiritual awakening. They were living in a Christian society in the 1930's and so they naturally and easily included it into their own AA dogma. It seemed to work for the small group of mostly white Christian men they got together.

The "god of your understanding" might not be the god that AA talks about. That "god of your understanding" is nothing but a bone thrown to a non-believer to get them through the door. They will tell you that your higher power can be anything that is greater than yourself. You are relieved because you don't want god crammed down your throat. But eventually, you must accept the Christian god or you will not feel like a complete member of the group. For AA, "higher power" = god.

Step Two of the AA Twelve Step program is the only step to slightly conceal its meaning but it's obvious to all that "a Power greater than ourselves" = god. Specific references to "god" are made five times in the Twelve Steps. Only two of those references qualifies it with the phrase "as we understood Him."

This is a tradgety for AA. The one truth that they happened to stumble upon got perverted. Spirituality is the key. Not god. Yes, you can be spiritual and have spirituality without god. Spirituality is a much broader and inclusive concept.

Why criticise Alcoholics Anonymous (AA)?

After the drinking stops, the hard part begins. How do you keep your sobriety and not drink again? Alcoholics Anonymous seems to be the only option. What happens after a stay at a hospital detox ward? An expensive treatment facility? Extensive outpatient program? Or individual psychotherapy? AA is the final repository. Everyone is referred to AA.

That's a lot of responsibility to place on a volunteer organization that offers no professional help. It's almost scary. I consider myself an alcoholic in recovery. I also consider myself a member of AA. I've got a few things to say (rantings) about alcohol, recovery and AA. I want to be brutally frank and not sugar coat this. These are rantings because I want to emphasise the problems.

WARNING: Do not read the postings in this blog if you cannot tolerate criticism of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). Opinions expressed in this blog may be disturbing to sensitive individuals and may lead to the loss of sobriety.