The Big Pro-Addiction Swindle

Thursday, July 21, 2005 - dr.bomb

The recovery group movement and its business arm, the addiction treatment industry, pushes forth the notion that recovering from a bad habit is a lifelong process. This is not for the sake of its clients but for its own continued existence. As long as people believe that they are powerless, mentally ill and their own reactions are proof positive that divine intervention is the key to their salvation then the Big Lie will persist.

What is never revealed to the public is that this destructive cult will NEVER teach people how to cease and desist from such problematic behavior for good. Instead of encouraging their clients to do away with that problem and squash it as the bug that it is they are convinced, indeed led to "come to believe", that they can't do it without any supervision whatsoever. And the reason why is that without that behavior then the indoctrination serves no purpose. So the client is encouraged to keep performing that behavior!

Starting with its own website, A.A. reveals a tiny part of the truth:

"So A.A. members do not swear off alcohol for life or for any other extended period."
-- Alcoholics Anonymous Web Site, "How Does A.A. Work?"
(http://www.aa.org/default/en_about_aa_sub.cfm?subpageid=85&pageid=13)

The public perception of A.A., the recovery group movement and the addiction treatment industry as a whole is that it's doing something to combat the menace of substance addiction. The public believes, just as I did at a very vulnerable point in my life, that the information on how to cease and desist once and for all can be found within that huge multi-faceted conglomerate. The single-line quoted above contradicts that P.R. facade and is one of the many facts which explain why "treatment" is a failure.

Within the book Alcoholics Anonymous are two key examples of this truth at how A.A. values drinking over abstinence. Never is it considered that drinking alcohol is the key behavior to control within problem drinking. To A.A. they consider anyone who drinks an "Alcoholic" and anyone who is able to quit as not having a problem to begin with. It is a sinister mind trap which used deliberately loaded language of A.A.'s own design. Even more sinister is that A.A. congratulates anyone who is a problem drinker and, instead of quitting, goes back to moderation:

"Despite all we can say, many who are real alcoholics are not going to believe they are in that class. By every form of self-deception and experimentation, they will try to prove themselves exceptions to the rule, therefore nonalcoholic. If anyone who is showing inability to control his drinking can do the right- about-face and drink like a gentleman, our hats are off to him." (emphasis added)
-- William Griffith Wilson, "More About Alcoholism", pp. 31 Alcoholics Anonymous

In other words, moderate drinking is not merely tolerated but encouraged by this organization, widely assumed to be supporting abstinence. Another obtuse way of supporting drinking is through their "one day sobriety", a philosophical ripoff of Reinhold Niebuhr's own Serenity Prayer, in which someday a problem drinker may drink again. This reveals the pining behind the organization's P.R. and in a subtle way explains why the membership is taught only to abstain from drinking for only one day (and notice the passive language: Which physicians? The ones outside of A.A. around 1938 when the multilith manuscript was published or just Silkworth and Tiebout?):

"Physicians who are familiar with alcoholism agree there is no such thing as making a normal drinker out of an alcoholic. Science may one day accomplish this, but it hasn’t done so yet." (emphasis added)
-- William Griffith Wilson, "More About Alcoholism", pp. 31 Alcoholics Anonymous

Also that quote has not aged well when programs such as Moderation Management, Drink/Link and Drinkwise currently exist today.

But what of people who want to quit for good? These people know they have a problem and want to learn how to quit. Right when they make that decision to learn how to quit, whether it be attending their first recovery group meeting or treatment session, they are simultaneously at their most vulnerable and their strongest. They are, contrary to the counselors, therapists and true believers within the destructive cult and posing as caregivers outside of it, NOT in denial. The key word is "LEARN", a true sign that that person wants to solve the acknowledged problem once and for all. At that moment it is their own authentic self against their own addiction: Both are on equal footing. So the question is: "Who or what will win?"

As proven above in A.A.'s own words, A.A. supports continued drinking. This is proven further within Alcoholics Anonymous within a story where a man by the name of Fred checks into a hospital hung over from his overindulgence in alcoholic beverages:

"Fred is partner in a well known accounting firm. His income is good, he has a fine home, is happily married and the father of promising children of college age. He has so attractive a personality that he makes friends with everyone. If ever there was a successful business man, it is Fred. To all appearance he is a stable, well balanced individual. Yet, he is alcoholic. We first saw Fred about a year ago in a hospital where he had gone to recover from a bad case of jitters. It was his first experience of this kind, and he was much ashamed of it. Far from admitting he was an alcoholic, he told himself he came to the hospital to rest his nerves. The doctor intimated strongly that he might be worse than he realized. For a few days he was depressed about his condition. He made up his mind to quit drinking altogether. It never occurred to him that perhaps he could not do so, in spite of his character and standing. Fred would not believe himself an alcoholic, much less accept a spiritual remedy for his problem. We told him what we knew about alcoholism. He was interested and conceded that he had some of the symptoms, but he was a long way from admitting that he could do nothing about it himself. He was positive that this humiliating experience, plus the knowledge he had acquired, would keep him sober the rest of his life. Self-knowledge would fix it." (emphasis added)
-- William Griffith Wilson, "More About Alcoholism", pp. 39-40 Alcoholics Anonymous

Obviously, the book Alcoholics Anonymous was written before the Twelve Traditions were adopted.. Instead of letting Fred define himself as such A.A. chooses to make him their mark from the start in a predatory manner. Because A.A. refuses to update none of the first 164 pages A.A. chooses to present this and knowingly violate the Third Tradition:

"So the hand of Providence early gave us a sign that any alcoholic is a member of our Society when he says so." (emphasis added, and notice that "he" isn't capitalized)
-- William Griffith Wilson, "Tradition Three", pp. 145 Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Just like anyone who realizes they have a drinking problem, Fred decided to do the right thing and quit. Unfortunately, within the hospital setting, Wilson's crew was willing to take Fred down by talking him out of quitting! An entire chapter of Alcoholics Anonymous, Chapter 7: "Working With Others", describes in detail how to do so with someone who is hung over and, at that time, not possessing full mental faculties. It is the official predatory recruitment manual of A.A., bar none.

And just who says what Fred can or cannot do? Why A.A., of course! Right there, Fred's addiction won out over his sincere desire to quit due to A.A.'s meddling. A.A. instilled the notions of learned helplessness (Step 1), that the person's own conscience and intuition is never to be trusted because it's unreliable and insane (Step 2) and that the only path to salvation is slavish devotion to A.A.'s deity of convenience (Step 3). Nowhere was he neither encouraged nor supported by A.A. to quit, claiming that Fred's own "Self-knowledge would fix" his problem was a fallacy.

And who decides what's spiritual or not? Again, A.A.!

"Whether such a person can quit upon a nonspiritual basis depends upon the extent to which he has already lost the power to choose whether he will drink or not."
-- William Griffith Wilson, "More About Alcoholism", pp. 34 Alcoholics Anonymous

This precedes the beginning of Fred's story. Never is it stated that A.A. is instilling the irrational beliefs that it provides in the form of "Alcoholism" for ulterior motives (more on that later). To A.A., the decision to quit drinking by one's own decision is considered "unspiritual". And why would quitting be considered "unspiritual"? Because that would remove the entire justification for A.A.'s existence and remove the need for people to "keep coming back" because the problem drinking has been solved and will NEVER be allowed to happen again!

Lest one have any doubts, A.A. has never been nor ever has been a quit-drinking program. Never is one encouraged to quit but is encouraged to drink more as an experiment:

"We do not like to pronounce any individual as alcoholic, but you can quickly diagnose yourself. Step over to the nearest barroom and try some controlled drinking. Try to drink and stop abruptly. Try it more than once. It will not take long for you to decide, if you are honest with yourself about it. It may be worth a bad case of jitters if you get a full knowledge of your condition." (emphasis added)
-- William Griffith Wilson, "More About Alcoholism", pp. 31-32 Alcoholics Anonymous

This dubious "advice" is also given in detail along with its motive within the sequel to Alcoholics Anonymous, Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, as a method not for teaching the person that they are a problem drinker and that they need to quit but through "suggestion" for the sake of converting that person into an "Alcoholic":

"To the doubters we could say, "Perhaps you're not an alcoholic after all. Why don't you try some more controlled drinking, bearing in mind meanwhile what we have told you about alcoholism?" This attitude brought immediate and practical results. It was then discovered that when one alcoholic had planted in the mind of another the true nature of his malady, that person could never be the same again. Following every spree, he would say to himself, "Maybe those A.A.'s were right . . ." After a few such experiences, often years before the onset of extreme difficulties, he would return to us convinced. He had hit bottom as truly as any of us. John Barleycorn himself had become our best advocate." (emphasis added)
-- William Griffith Wilson, "Step One", pp. 23-24 Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

If this advice were given by a physician that doctor should have his license to practice medicine revoked for violating the Hippocratic Oath! Since I don't have access to other quotable doctors at the moment I do have Dr. Robert Holbrook Smith:

"If you still think you are strong enough to beat the game alone, that is your affair. But if you really and truly want to quit drinking liquor for good and all, and sincerely feel that you must have some help, we know that we have an answer for you. It never fails, if you go about it with one half the zeal you have been in the habit of showing when you were getting another drink."
-- Dr. Robert Holbrook Smith, "Doctor Bob's Nightmare", pp. 181 Alcoholics Anonymous

Did Dr. Bob even bother to READ the book, much less its manuscript? A.A. encourages drinking and its membership actively interferes with one's own desire to quit for good! Fred was led to believe that he would be helped by the hospital and instead wound up with his own humanity sublimated and his addiction winning out, thanks to A.A. That's not helping anyone. That's a HUGE hindrance!

As proven through A.A.'s own literature, A.A. is NOT a quit-drinking program. While A.A. does have a "primary purpose" as stated within its Preamble and recited at most meetings...

"Our primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics achieve sobriety." (emphasis added)
-- The A.A. Grapevine, "A.A. Preamble"

...it has a "real purpose", as stated and hidden within the "sacred" first 164 pages of Alcoholics Anonymous, which trumps The A.A. Grapevine:

"Our real purpose is to fit ourselves to be of maximum service to God and the people about us." (emphasis added)
-- William Griffith Wilson, "Into Action", pp. 77 Alcoholics Anonymous

And all of this lying about A.A. as a quit-drinking program is done in God's name? Blasphemy! And to read the "primary purpose" within the A.A. Preamble every meeting instead of acknowledging A.A.'s "real purpose"? A bait & switch in God's name again!

That never bothered a sociopath like William Griffith Wilson. God was, after all, only as Wilson understood it while under lots of drugs! Anyone else's interpretation, since William Griffith Wilson had the inside track, could go hang or in his own deeply demented fantasy:

""When, oh when," groaned members to one another, "will that guy get drunk?"" (emphasis added)
-- William Griffith Wilson, "Tradition Three", pp. 144 Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

That is taken from "The Story of Ed", a story within the explanation of Tradition Three within Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, which is a chilling example on how A.A. uses one's own active addiction against the "blasphemous" person in disagreement for destructive cult obedience...or else:

"But after a while we had to face the fact that we must find a spiritual basis of life—or else." (emphasis added)
-- William Griffith Wilson, "We Agnostics", pp. 44 Alcoholics Anonymous

Now it's no longer about problem drinking but death threats in the form of an alcoholic death because one may disagree with A.A.'s outright religiosity:

"To be doomed to an alcoholic death or to live on a spiritual basis are not always easy alternatives to face." (emphasis added)
-- William Griffith Wilson, "We Agnostics", pp. 44 Alcoholics Anonymous

Lest you think that it's only "agnostics" and "atheists" which Wilson and A.A. rail against, the fact is that William Griffith Wilson believed that anyone who did not share his views on his religion, posed as "spirituality", was inferior and was destined to die:

"Unless each A.A. member follows to the best of his ability our suggested Twelve Steps to recovery, he almost certainly signs his own death warrant." (emphasis added)
-- William Griffith Wilson, "Tradition Nine", pp. 177 Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Yes! Even your own established religious preference is inferior to A.A.'s religion because yours didn't protect you from problem drinking! Heck, you don't even know how to worship so therefore you're a failure who needs some Guidance:

"To clergymen, doctors, friends, and families, the alcoholic who means well and tries hard is a heartbreaking riddle. To most A.A.'s, he is not. There are too many of us who have been just like him, and have found the riddle's answer. This answer has to do with the quality of faith rather than its quantity. This has been our blind spot. We supposed we had humility when really we hadn't. We supposed we had been serious about religious practices when, upon honest appraisal, we found we had been only superficial. Or, going to the other extreme, we had wallowed in emotionalism and had mistaken it for true religious feeling. In both cases, we had been asking something for nothing. The fact was we really hadn't cleaned house so that the grace of God could enter us and expel the obsession. In no deep or meaningful sense had we ever taken stock of ourselves, made amends to those we had harmed, or freely given to any other human being without any demand for reward. We had not even prayed rightly." (emphasis added)
-- William Griffith Wilson, "Step Two", pp. 32 Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

So that's what A.A. is: A vengeful, holier-than-thou, R-E-L-I-G-I-O-N, which uses alcohol addiction, lies and fearmongering based in an alcoholic death to keep its membership enslaved to its doctrines FOR LIFE! As I deconstructed this I found NOTHING which supported independent permanent abstinence within its writings. The "sobriety" peddled within this destructive cult is tentatively conditional upon adherence to Wilson's fascistic understanding of God...or else!

All of the above, especially the aforementioned "The Story of Ed", contradicts this lie within Twelve steps and Twelve Traditions:

"We believe there isn't a fellowship on earth which lavishes more devoted care upon its individual members; surely there is none which more jealously guards the individual's right to think, talk, and act as he wishes. No A.A. can compel another to do anything; nobody can be punished or expelled."
-- William Griffith Wilson, "Tradition One", pp. 129 Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

And when the explanation of Tradition One is read further within that book the lie is exposed:

"Those who look closely soon have the key to this strange paradox. The A.A. member has to conform to the principles of recovery. His life actually depends upon obedience to spiritual principles. If he deviates too far, the penalty is sure and swift; he sickens and dies. At first he goes along because he must, but later he discovers a way of life he really wants to live. Moreover, he finds he cannot keep this priceless gift unless he gives it away. Neither he nor anybody else can survive unless he carries the A.A. message. The moment this Twelfth Step work forms a group, another discovery is made - that most individuals cannot recover unless there is a group. Realization dawns that he is but a small part of a great whole; that no personal sacrifice is too great for preservation of the Fellowship. He learns that the clamor of desires and ambitions within him must be silenced whenever these could damage the group. It becomes plain that the group must survive or the individual will not." (emphasis added)
-- William Griffith Wilson, "Tradition One", pp. 130 Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

A.A. has NEVER been about quitting drinking. It has always been about A.A.'s own self-preservation by any means necessary through its front groups and its covert "anonymous" membership. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS IS A PRO-ADDICTION ORGANIZATION WHICH DELIBERATELY SOWS THE SEEDS OF MASS ADDICTION TO FURTHER ITS OWN ORGANIZATION'S EXISTENCE!

If it were EVER about helping people quit drinking then it wouldn't even have a 95% FAILURE RATE! Alas, it never will as it becomes all the more vengeful and voracious in its appetite for power. It will NEVER even go as far as to actually help those who find A.A. unhelpful by pointing them to known organizations which have a better track record that A.A. Other books and advice which do not toe A.A.'s party line are shunned and censored outright because they "dilute the message". Therefore the only literature allowed is "Conference Approved". Such control over information ensures that A.A. will be less than helpful to those who want to end their drinking problem.

According to its own doctrines, A.A. MUST come first or its unity is threatened, lest death to millions will occur whether through self-sacrifice or jihad. The problem drinker seeking help is at fault for not accepting "this simple program". This unspoken law, from A.A.'s perspective, supersedes all other forms of ethics, laws and oaths. It views anyone who knows its true agenda as the enemy: An enemy willing to let "those poor defenseless drunks die" without its sick idea of "help" while A.A. plucks the heartstrings of Good Samaritans everywhere for "mercy"...and all in God's name nonetheless!

A.A. deserves NO mercy! It deserves to be exposed for what it is. I challenge ANYONE to expose this menace whom mouths the words "rigorous honesty" yet will NEVER use the "Informed Consent" label displayed at the beginning of this document on the front of its literature or in a prominent spot upon the first page of its websites. It won't use the label because it's afraid of the truth exposed in its own words!

Just like all of those cigarettes smoked by Wilson himself, A.A. needs labeled as a danger when used as directed! People need to be informed of what it truly is. Those who disagree are the ones truly in denial. This is a swindle which needs to be exposed for what it is lest others succumb to an unholy bargain which involves the selling of one's own soul for a piece of "serenity".

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