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Mailbag for 2005/07/20

It's an E-mail backlog! I have even more E-mail that I want to reprint so this is a start. Since I'm under the weather today I dragged my notebook to my bed and started cutting and pasting it all together. So here's the first in a series of Mailbags to get that backlog taken care of.

This is a Mailbag discussion which is full of booktalk concerning why "1984" is within my list of Books plus some history concerning "The Big Book". This was such a good discussion that I'm considering getting SOS started in my community just for the quality of the discussion on issues OUTSIDE of addiction itself. Thanks "herb loveys" for the mail. Enjoy!

Outgoing E-mail:

From:

ARID Site <thearidsite@juno.com>

To:

"herb loveys"

Date:

Mon, 9 May 2005 20:29:41 -0400

Subject:

Re: 1984 and SOS
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On Mon, 9 May 2005 13:32:10 -0400 (EDT) herb loveys writes:
> Hi there.

Hello there herb.
  
> I checked out your site. Pretty neat.

It's a hobby which I hope helps informs anyone of their options
regarding their bad habits and how to break them. I'm glad you like
it so far.

> I was just wondering why you listed George Orwell's 1984 in your 
> group of books.( I never did read that book).

Now that is a great question! I hope you have some reading time. ;->

After spending way too much time within A.A. I've noticed the
patterns of thought-control which occur. From the loaded language
right down to how one perceives one's own thoughts, if one deviates
from the A.A. "norm" then that means the person is "diseased" until
they adopt the doctrines of the cult verbatim as the infallible
truth. Likewise, this is considered a form of "spiritual principles"
that, if not followed, will lead one to a drunken demise instead.

While going through my books when arranging them for the picture I
thumbed through my copy of "1984" and found this passage by chance
which described what happens to someone who is thoroughly
indoctrinated to distrust their own rational thoughts as "alcoholic":

***

He remembered remembering contrary things, but those were false
memories, products of self deception. How easy it all was! Only
surrender, and everything else followed. It was like swimming against
a current that swept you backwards however hard you struggled, and
then suddenly deciding to turn round and go with the current instead
of opposing it. Nothing had changed except your own attitude: the
predestined thing happened in any case. He hardly knew why he had
ever rebelled. Everything was easy, except --!

Anything could be true. The so?called laws of Nature were nonsense.
The law of gravity was nonsense. 'If I wished,' O'Brien had said, 'I
could float off this floor like a soap bubble.' Winston worked it
out. 'If he thinks he floats off the floor, and if I simultaneously
think I see him do it, then the thing happens.' Suddenly, like a lump
of submerged wreckage breaking the surface of water, the thought
burst into his mind: 'It doesn't really happen. We imagine it. It is
hallucination.' He pushed the thought under instantly. The fallacy
was obvious. It presupposed that somewhere or other, outside oneself,
there was a 'real' world where 'real' things happened. But how could
there be such a world? What knowledge have we of anything, save
through our own minds? All happenings are in the mind. Whatever
happens in all minds, truly happens.

He had no difficulty in disposing of the fallacy, and he was in no
danger of succumbing to it. He realized, nevertheless, that it ought
never to have occurred to him. The mind should develop a blind spot
whenever a dangerous thought presented itself. The process should be
automatic, instinctive. Crimestop, they called it in Newspeak.

He set to work to exercise himself in crimestop. He presented himself
with propositions 'the Party says the earth is flat', 'the party says
that ice is heavier than water' and trained himself in not seeing or
not understanding the arguments that contradicted them. It was not
easy. It needed great powers of reasoning and improvisation. The
arithmetical problems raised, for instance, by such a statement as
'two and two make five' were beyond his intellectual grasp. It needed
also a sort of athleticism of mind, an ability at one moment to
make the most delicate use of logic and at the next to be unconscious
of the crudest logical errors. Stupidity was as necessary as
intelligence, and as difficult to attain.

George Orwell, "1984" (Plume Centennial Edition, 2003) pp. 288-289

***

"Crimestop", of course, is the Newspeak term for "thought stopping".
"Thoughts" of the individual which are critical of A.A. are
considered "sick" or, within "1984," a "crime" against Big Brother.

Also, within that same volume, is a book within called "The Theory
and Practice Of Oligarchical Collectivism" which Winston reads in
part to Julia. (pp. 188-223). If there's anything which describes the
politics behind what happens within A.A. and its membership regarding
mind control this work really struck a nerve within me in graphic
detail.

You can now see why I recommend it. I also recommend Orwell's "Animal
Farm". A.F. is a quicker read but "1984" is much more detailed within
the context of "cultpolitik". So, if you have the time, pick them up
and read through them, especially those passages I've pointed out.

I've also hear a rumor that Orwell criticized the Oxford Groups at
one time. I'll try to track down those relevant articles when I get
the time to do so.

Anyhow, I hope this answered your question.

> Also I was wondering why you listed Lifering at www.unhooked.com
> but  not its original (and much more honest) organization SOS at 
> www.sossobriety.org or www.cfiwest.org/sos

Simple! Because this tiny website is turning out to be a rather
expressive and expansive project there are some pages where I had to
put something on in haste due to a shortage of spare time. I just
plum left the off of the list. Mea culpa.

Rest assured that by the time you receive this E-mail the page @
https://thearidsite.tripod.com/OPTIONS.HTM will have been updated. If
anything I'd like to present as many non-12-Step options as possible.

Be well and live well one LIFETIME at a time!

dr.bomb, Ph.D. AVRT(tm) \_____________________________
Editor of The ARID Site: http://thearidsite.tripod.com
 The Addiction Recovery Information Distribution Site
PGP keys at https://thearidsite.tripod.com/ARIDPGPK.TXT
** The Twelve Steps are a downward spiral staircase **

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Outgoing E-mail:

From:

ARID Site <thearidsite@juno.com>

To:

"herb loveys"

Date:

Thu, 16 Jun 2005 18:41:33 -0400

Subject:

Re: Hi Bomb
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On Thu, 16 Jun 2005 14:17:01 -0230 "herb loveys" writes:
> Hi Dr. Bomb

Hello Herb!

> I notice that you list Michael Lemanski's book A History of 
> Addiction 
> History in the United States. I have not heard of this book prior
> to  this. 
> Is it relatively new?

It was published in 2001 by See Sharp Press. At 153 pages it's a
quick read but packed with plenty of details. The effectiveness of
current treatment modalities are covered as well as the psychology of
the treatment providers themselves. It's a great little book which is
worth searching for.
 
> Anyway I am currently reading William White's Slaying the Dragon, 
> and he 
> covers something like 300 hundred years of addiction treatment, and
>  he 
> covers Everything.

I'm definitely going to put that book on my reading list. I've just
finished reading Steven Hassan's "Combatting Cult Mind Control" book
and, from my own experiences within A.A., you could swear that Hassan
was describing the indoctrination techniques of A.A. itself! I
enthusiastically recommend it for those who want to deprogram from
A.A.'s brainwashing.

The next book I'm going to read is Robert Jay Lifton's "Thought
Reform and the Psychology of Totalism". On the next book run I'll add
your recommendation to my cart. I'm always on the lookout for
relevant books on the real history of the addiction cult.

In the meantime I'm going to update the webpage tonight. I've written
an article which eviscerates the "harm reduction" movement.

Be well and live well one LIFETIME at a time!

dr.bomb, Ph.D. AVRT(tm) \_____________________________
Editor of The ARID Site: http://thearidsite.tripod.com
 The Addiction Recovery Information Distribution Site
PGP keys at https://thearidsite.tripod.com/ARIDPGPK.TXT
** The Twelve Steps are a downward spiral staircase **

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Outgoing E-mail:

From:

ARID Site <thearidsite@juno.com>

To:

"herb loveys"

Date:

Mon, 20 Jun 2005 05:37:18 -0400

Subject:

Re: 1984 and SOS
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This was a saved draft. I had to think of how to reply to it so now
I'll get it out on its way:

On Tue, 10 May 2005 11:47:21 -0400 (EDT) herb loveys writes:
> Hi Again and thanks for the quick reply, and for posting SOS on
> your  site
> I myself have been in AA for about 7 and a half years. What is 
> upsetting me about AA is the fact that the traditions don't mean 
> anything.

Actually, yes and no concerning if the Traditions were worthless to
begin with.

Yes, because all it took was just two sentences within the long form
of Tradition Nine to render them meaningless. No, because the public
believes that A.A. is ethical just because they have a "code" of
ethics to abide by through the Traditions. They look good on the
surface to an unwary public which chooses not to read and understand
them enough to notice that gigantic loophole.

https://thearidsite.tripod.com/OPAATRAD.HTM

All one needs to do is to trace the broken traditions which occurs in
the form of two-hatted "counselors". Because A.A. "does not govern"
(Trad. 9) then it considers anything which Buchmanites do outside of
the cult "outside controversial issues" (Trad. 10). Even if it's
official policy to evangelize (Step 12) A.A. will never reign in
overzealous controversial "12th-Step Work" a.k.a. cult recruitment.

Aside from the P.R. value the Traditions are worthless.

> I really like the SOS because it fills my free thinking needs. I 
> also have an interest in SMART.

I just work during the day, relax at night and work upon my website
and writings. Meetings would take some of that time away from me, my
hobbies and my family. It's not that I object to SOS but I simply
don't view meetings as being conducive to abstinence from volitional
behavior.

Now NEVER placing my hand containing an alcoholic beverage to my
mouth IS not just conducive but pretty obvious. Maybe, in the sense
of meeting people of like interests it would be of a benefit but,
nonetheless, I better damn well know where my body is and what I do
with it at all times.

It's what I call my Awareness of Responsibility Priority. ;->

If you really want to flex that grey matter try starting up a
website. It seems difficult but it's not. If there was anything which
really cleared my head was just to sit in front of openoffice.org and
just write to my heart's content.

We need more websites critical of Buchmanism. I have a page full of
cool tools that I use and recommend to help get you started, if you
are willing to rise to the challenge:

https://thearidsite.tripod.com/TECHINFO.HTM

Now, if I were to start a meeting it would involve plenty of A.A.
horror stories. A call to action to organize the dissenters, as it
were. ;->

Writing and running a website fulfills my freethinking needs. I wind
up "meeting" good people, such as yourself, and debating Buchmanites.
This really helps one to flex the cerebellum.

> I emailed Trimpey yesterday but never really got much of a
> response,  he just said I was silly.

Actually, meetings among those who are not dedicated to the idea of
NEVER intoxicating themselves again and who don't see how WRONG
intoxication is despite the personal hardships from that behavior are
a bad idea. Just giving them the information on how to quit is
simpler and involves much less wasted time. A better idea is to
expose the Step Cult for what it is and build up a base of activists
to get the truth out: A base who will NEVER poison themselves no
matter what.

In fact this past weekend while I was performing community service
I've met someone who shares my feelings about this cult. The cool
part is that this person never knew that others are out there who
feel cheated by this cult and feel as though they weren't listened
to. So I'm going to hook him up with some choice books from See Sharp
Press and Jack Trimpey.

There's no experience like witnessing someone "getting it". They feel
totally vindicated and just open right up. Heck, that even vindicates
my position that there are people out there who know the truth but
the information is deliberately withheld and censored.

If there are going to be meetings they would be run along the lines
of "community watch" groups where grievances against the Buchmanites
would be aired and aggressive action against the cult would commence.
Action which even includes infiltrating X.A. meetings and liberating
the newcomers from the emotional vampires desperate to suck the life
out of the fresh meat (as I said, to resist the lies of the cult,
lies which support future intoxication, one better be committed to
permanent abstinence).

There is nothing of value in X.A. where the social activities are
predicated upon the desire to drink/drug again. One is better off
finding social groups elsewhere or even making their own without that
condition.
  
> I wanted to know how long he was in AA. I just found it
> particularly  interesting that both Trimpey and James Christopher
> (SOS founder)  were both AA members who both left around the same
> time in 1985 
> according to Charlotte Kasl's excellent book Many Roads one Journey
>  Moving Beyone the 12 steps.

I know how long he was there: Too long. Hey, that's about how long I
was there too. What a coincidence! ;->

Actually, for intelligent people, you don't need much "Time" to know
that A.A. has been a fraud and committing fraud in the name of God
since its inception, cheapening religion in the process. The more I
think about A.A. and the addiction treatment industry I just get
angry as I remember the many lives wrecked further through their
unethical practices (especially mine).

Thank GOODNESS I learned the TRUTH about what RR was! Y'see, the
folks at Clarion Psychiatric Hospital in Clarion, PA called RR "just
another 12-Step" program. That little piece of "rigorous honesty" of
theirs nearly killed me. The only regret I have is that I didn't
learn the truth soon enough.

> Anyway if I am not wrong the AA big book went paperback in 1986.

I don't know what you mean by "paperback", unless you're referring to
the pocket-sized Big Books. I do know that the book, Alcoholics
Anonymous, was NEVER copyrighted when it was SOLD in multilith form
prior to the "official" First Edition (which, oddly enough, makes the
multilith the FIRST edition and, therefore the Fourth Edition is
actually the Fifth Edition of "The Big Book"). From that moment
onward the book has always been in the public domain and any claims
to copyright, due to that miscalculation on William Griffith Wilson's
due to his own greed, are suspect at best.

The original manuscript has always been in the public domain. So, if
you wanted, you could republish it to your heart's content. If you
were really Jonesin' to do that then you're better off just writing
and publishing your own book. Preferably with openoffice.org. ;->

> Also I was wondering why Bill W. never wrote Bill's Story in the
> Big  Book(according to the gsowatch site) apparently Joe Worth
> wrote it.  Who was Joe Worth? 

- From what I know of history, William Griffith Wilson was a poor
writer. Joe Worth is the person who took Wilson's utterances,
polished them up and voila! "Bill's Story".

> Take Care
> Herb

Thanks Herb! And I'll check out the website you've mentioned:
 
> PS. charlotte kasls site is
> www.charlottekasl.com

Be well and live well one LIFETIME at a time!

dr.bomb, Ph.D. AVRT(tm) \_____________________________
Editor of The ARID Site: http://thearidsite.tripod.com
 The Addiction Recovery Information Distribution Site
PGP keys at https://thearidsite.tripod.com/ARIDPGPK.TXT
** The Twelve Steps are a downward spiral staircase **

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Outgoing E-mail:

From:

ARID Site <thearidsite@juno.com>

To:

"herb loveys"

Date:

Wed, 22 Jun 2005 17:07:31 -0400

Subject:

Re: 1984 and SOS
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On Tue, 21 Jun 2005 12:28:44 -0400 (EDT) herb loveys writes:
> Hi again the Bomb.

Hola!

> Ph.D is that Phormer Drunk or Piled High and Deep(LOL) or are you a
>  real professor?

Heh heh heh...when compared to a Buchmanite I'm Einstein up in here!
The only things which are piled high and deep are my reactivated
neurons and synapses. No shit. ;->

The Ph.D. stands for Phormer Drunk via Rational Recovery's Crash
Course on AVRT. I am planning on tangling with the system in the
future and pursuing a career in social work as a CAC. With all the
books in my ever-growing library which I have read from
cover-to-cover and able to sum up what I know in lay person's terms
I'm not that far off at teaching people the truth of what's out there
and what DEFINITELY doesn't work.

I'm not a professor...yet. What would my curriculum vitae be?
Bombastic Buchmanite Bashing? Anarchistic Addiction Annihilation
Activism? Liberation From Libation? Color me curious. ;-> The trick
is pulling off such education efforts in a clandestine fashion so
that one can divert newcomers away from 12-Step hell. So there's
another reason for my pseudoanonyminity.

I do know this: After quitting once and for all and doing this on my
own my brain is working at 100% again and I'm utilizing each and
every valuable neuron within it. I've turned into a bookworm with
amazing (to me) knowledge retention and retrieval (it helps to have a
good computer with the right software, too). Likewise, from that
decision, I've realized my dreams so far. I certainly don't want
another soul to go through what I did to learn the truth.

Looks like I'll add this Q&A to the FAQ for safekeeping. Thanks for
another great question. I hope my answer will do.

> Anyway I thought you might take some interest in this if you have 
> yet to see it.
>  
> http://radar.smh.com.au/archives/2005/01/now_that_the_pa.html

I've just read it. Wow! Now that's an article! Now I appreciate
Trimpey's no-Bill$h!t style and how he just gets down to the point,
damn who's offended. What's great is that the Buchmanites chiming in
with their commentary is minimal. That's a good sign that they're in
retreat in cyberspace.

Looks like I'll have to make another update to the website either
tonight or tomorrow (I have to update the Mailbag page to get the
word out on International PGP). I was going to throw some more dox up
anyhow and rework the front door. 

Thanks for writing again. Be well and live well one LIFETIME at a
time!

dr.bomb, Ph.D. AVRT(tm) \_____________________________
Editor of The ARID Site: http://thearidsite.tripod.com
 The Addiction Recovery Information Distribution Site
PGP keys at https://thearidsite.tripod.com/ARIDPGPK.TXT
** The Twelve Steps are a downward spiral staircase **

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Last updated 2005/07/20

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Quotes are attributed to their appropriate sources.
E-mail policy: If I feel it's outrageous enough in an informative sense I'll publish it at my own discretion.

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