Alcoholics Anonymous
How much do you know about this organization? I always knew they existed but never bothered to learn anything about them because, hey, I'm not a fucking alcoholic. I always knew they had ties to the government, in that many substance abuse offenders are court appointed to complete the AA program in order to avoid fines, jail time, or even keep their jobs. At a glance, that sounds fine. As far as I knew AA consists of meetings where people talk about their addiction and support each other in order to best it. Who fucking cares, right?
The co-founders of AA are William "Bill" Wilson and Robert Smith (not the Cure guy). Here's a quick excerpt from Susan Cheever's article in Time Magazine's "Heroes of the Century" issue (which, incidentally, started this whole post) about Bill Wilson:
"Incarcerated for the fourth time at Manhattan's Towns Hospital in 1934, Wilson had a spiritual awakening--a flash of white light, a liberating awareness of God--that led to the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous and Wilson's revolutionary 12-step program, the successful remedy for alcoholism. The 12 steps have also generated successful programs for eating disorders, gambling, narcotics, debting, sex addiction and people affected by others' addictions. Aldous Huxley called him "the greatest social architect of our century."
The whole thing is right here, you can practically hear the sucking noises Cheevers makes sucking this guy off while you read.
Maybe now some of you can start to see why AA even blips on my radar. Keep in mind that attending AA meetings are often the ONLY court-appointed option given to alcoholics who've had run-ins with the law. At the very least, from what I can find here on the web during the few minutes I gave this matter thought, it seems that AA has grown to the point where it is entirely self-sufficient and is not receiving any direct government aid (aside from all the business they toss their way.)
Here's the main gist of AA: they're the original "12-step" organization, a method that has been adopted by countless other support groups ranging from smoking and drinking to being fat or fucking too much. These are the actual 12 steps, copied and pasted from their official site where they're proudly displayed for the whole world to see.
"The 12 Suggested Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous
1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol--that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs."
Whoa, wait, what? Where the fuck did God come from? The court is making me do this, in the USA, in the year 2006? Are you seriously fucking kidding me? There are at least 8 steps I completely disagree with and would refuse to do. You admit you're powerless over alcohol? Kill yourself.
Now, and bear with me, a second quick google search provided me with yet another list. I'll tell you what I searched for after you read through it and maybe notice a few parallels with the above.
"The following five steps are typical of behaviour changes in any controlled individual:
1. Making the individual aware of control is the first stage in changing his behaviour. A small child is made aware of the physical and psychological control of his parents and quickly recognizes that an overwhelming force must be reckoned with.
So a controlled adult comes to recognize the overwhelming powers of the state and the impersonal, incarcerative machinery in which he is enmeshed. The individual recognizes that definite limits have been put upon the ways he can respond.
2. Realization of his complete dependence upon the controlling system is a major factor in the controlling of his behaviour.
The controlled adult is forced to accept the fact that food, tobacco, praise and the only social contact that he will get come from the very interrogator who exercises control over him.
3. The awareness of control and recognition of dependence result in causing internal conflict and breakdown of previous patterns of behaviour.
Although this transition can be relatively mild in the case of a child, it is almost invariably severe for the adult undergoing brainwashing. Only an individual who holds his values lightly can change them easily.
Since the brainwasher/interrogators aim to have the individuals undergo profound emotional change, they force their victims to seek out painfully what is desired by the controlling individual. During this period the victim is likely to have a mental breakdown characterized by delusions and hallucinations.
4. Discovery that there is an acceptable solution to his problem is the first stage of reducing the individuals conflict.
It is characteristically reported by victims of brainwashing that this discovery led to an overwhelming feeling of relief that the horror of internal conflict would cease and that perhaps they would not be driven insane.
It is at this point that they are prepared to make major changes in their value system. This is an automatic rather than voluntary choice. They have lost their ability to be critical.
5. Reintegration of values and identification with the controlling system is the final stage in changing the behaviour of the controlled individual.
A child who has learned a new, socially desirable behaviour demonstrates its importance by attempting to as apt the new behaviour to a variety of other situations. Similar states in the brainwashed adult are pitiful.
His new value-system, his manner of perceiving, organizing, and giving meaning to events, is virtually independent of his former value system. He is no longer capable of thinking or speaking in concepts other than those he has adopted. He tends to identify by expressing thanks to his captors for helping him see the light.
Anyone willing to use known principles of control and reactions to control and capable of demonstrating the patience needed in raising a child can probably achieve successful brainwashing."
Yeah, you guessed it, I searched for fucking BRAINWASHING steps. This is the shit cults fucking do to get your money before you drink the arsenic-laced Sharkleberry Fin. They keep you coming back for more, replacing your current addiction and empty void of a life with a new addiction: goddamned AA meetings. Which you pay for.
Did I mention it's often still court appointed? And that they recommend you attend 90 goddamn, jesus-fucking sessions in 90 days?
How is this real, or possible, or happening?
The co-founders of AA are William "Bill" Wilson and Robert Smith (not the Cure guy). Here's a quick excerpt from Susan Cheever's article in Time Magazine's "Heroes of the Century" issue (which, incidentally, started this whole post) about Bill Wilson:
"Incarcerated for the fourth time at Manhattan's Towns Hospital in 1934, Wilson had a spiritual awakening--a flash of white light, a liberating awareness of God--that led to the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous and Wilson's revolutionary 12-step program, the successful remedy for alcoholism. The 12 steps have also generated successful programs for eating disorders, gambling, narcotics, debting, sex addiction and people affected by others' addictions. Aldous Huxley called him "the greatest social architect of our century."
The whole thing is right here, you can practically hear the sucking noises Cheevers makes sucking this guy off while you read.
Maybe now some of you can start to see why AA even blips on my radar. Keep in mind that attending AA meetings are often the ONLY court-appointed option given to alcoholics who've had run-ins with the law. At the very least, from what I can find here on the web during the few minutes I gave this matter thought, it seems that AA has grown to the point where it is entirely self-sufficient and is not receiving any direct government aid (aside from all the business they toss their way.)
Here's the main gist of AA: they're the original "12-step" organization, a method that has been adopted by countless other support groups ranging from smoking and drinking to being fat or fucking too much. These are the actual 12 steps, copied and pasted from their official site where they're proudly displayed for the whole world to see.
"The 12 Suggested Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous
1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol--that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs."
Whoa, wait, what? Where the fuck did God come from? The court is making me do this, in the USA, in the year 2006? Are you seriously fucking kidding me? There are at least 8 steps I completely disagree with and would refuse to do. You admit you're powerless over alcohol? Kill yourself.
Now, and bear with me, a second quick google search provided me with yet another list. I'll tell you what I searched for after you read through it and maybe notice a few parallels with the above.
"The following five steps are typical of behaviour changes in any controlled individual:
1. Making the individual aware of control is the first stage in changing his behaviour. A small child is made aware of the physical and psychological control of his parents and quickly recognizes that an overwhelming force must be reckoned with.
So a controlled adult comes to recognize the overwhelming powers of the state and the impersonal, incarcerative machinery in which he is enmeshed. The individual recognizes that definite limits have been put upon the ways he can respond.
2. Realization of his complete dependence upon the controlling system is a major factor in the controlling of his behaviour.
The controlled adult is forced to accept the fact that food, tobacco, praise and the only social contact that he will get come from the very interrogator who exercises control over him.
3. The awareness of control and recognition of dependence result in causing internal conflict and breakdown of previous patterns of behaviour.
Although this transition can be relatively mild in the case of a child, it is almost invariably severe for the adult undergoing brainwashing. Only an individual who holds his values lightly can change them easily.
Since the brainwasher/interrogators aim to have the individuals undergo profound emotional change, they force their victims to seek out painfully what is desired by the controlling individual. During this period the victim is likely to have a mental breakdown characterized by delusions and hallucinations.
4. Discovery that there is an acceptable solution to his problem is the first stage of reducing the individuals conflict.
It is characteristically reported by victims of brainwashing that this discovery led to an overwhelming feeling of relief that the horror of internal conflict would cease and that perhaps they would not be driven insane.
It is at this point that they are prepared to make major changes in their value system. This is an automatic rather than voluntary choice. They have lost their ability to be critical.
5. Reintegration of values and identification with the controlling system is the final stage in changing the behaviour of the controlled individual.
A child who has learned a new, socially desirable behaviour demonstrates its importance by attempting to as apt the new behaviour to a variety of other situations. Similar states in the brainwashed adult are pitiful.
His new value-system, his manner of perceiving, organizing, and giving meaning to events, is virtually independent of his former value system. He is no longer capable of thinking or speaking in concepts other than those he has adopted. He tends to identify by expressing thanks to his captors for helping him see the light.
Anyone willing to use known principles of control and reactions to control and capable of demonstrating the patience needed in raising a child can probably achieve successful brainwashing."
Yeah, you guessed it, I searched for fucking BRAINWASHING steps. This is the shit cults fucking do to get your money before you drink the arsenic-laced Sharkleberry Fin. They keep you coming back for more, replacing your current addiction and empty void of a life with a new addiction: goddamned AA meetings. Which you pay for.
Did I mention it's often still court appointed? And that they recommend you attend 90 goddamn, jesus-fucking sessions in 90 days?
How is this real, or possible, or happening?