DEFINITION
An international organization that provides a support group for persons trying to overcome alcoholism
This is the only prescribed “cure” for the “disease” of alcoholism. If you are unaware of the organization, I will give you a brief explanation. It is organised into local groups, city by city, where people suffering from “alcoholism” either go, or are sent by the court (for committing certain alcohol related crimes) for treatment.
This is where it gets interesting. Unlike a hospital, where people with psychiatric or physical ailments are treated by medical doctors with years of training; here, there is a “facilitator” who is usually a recovering alcoholic, with no medical training. Everyone sits around in a circle and, if you are new, in order to start the road to recovery, you have to stand up and say the following: “Hello, my name is alan, and I’m an alcoholic.”
At which point people will clap – as acceptance of being an alcoholic is the first step to recovery. You are also told that alcoholism is a chronic and progressive disease for which there is no cure. You will also be told that your only hope of survival is by accepting the 12 step program which involves the following, amongst other things:
Giving up all responsibility for your abuse of alcohol and saying you are powerless over your need to drink.
Handing yourself over to a higher power (god).
Accepting that you will always be in recovery “one day at a time.”
Agreeing to attend group meetings to discuss your alcoholism until you have recovered.
Let’s stop and think about this shall we? Whether you call yourself an alcoholic or not, there are several diseases where there is no cure, amongst them, aids; a disease of such magnitude that it is sweeping the globe at an alarming pace. Now, before you challenge me that they are in no way similar, what I am trying to explore with you here is our approach to problems we can’t deal with in society. Can you possibly imagine having to attend a group meeting to overcome aids, which has been verified by the medical society as a real disease?
“Hello, my name is alan, I have aids.”
At which point people will clap, as acceptance is the first step to recovery, and that the only hope of survival is by accepting the 12 step program which involves the following, amongst other things:
Giving up all responsibility for the disease of aids, and saying you are powerless over it.
Handing yourself over to a higher power (god).
Accepting that you will always be in recovery “one day at a time.”
Agreeing to attend group meetings to discuss your aids until you have recovered.
Surely this is laughable; no one in society would accept that going to a meeting to discuss aids would cure you of the disease. You see that the only place you would go to seek treatment would be a hospital; where highly skilled professionals with years of training would give you the care you require.
Now quickly, let’s go back to alcoholics anonymous. An organization credited with curing thousands of people of a disease where no medical intervention is necessary, only belief in god, and we start to see something more interesting. If I was a member of alcoholics anonymous, I’d be scared. Really scared. Scared of god, scared to have another drink in case I died, and scared in case I let my sponsor or the group down. In fact, because I knew I would forever be in recovery (as this is an incurable disease), I’d be scared of life.
There has never been any proof that alcoholism is a disease, although you may disagree; and if you do, go and find out for yourselves! Who are these people who cure imaginary diseases through handing yourself over to god? Seems a bit magical to me.
Why do the courts force you to go to alcoholics anonymous to be cured? Why don’t they send you to a doctor, who will give you a course of tablets to take, or maybe perform an operation? Why, because no one really knows why people drink so much apart from the people drinking. It is purely subjective. In other words, Imay think I have a problem with alcohol abuse, but it doesn’t mean I need to hand myself over to god. It means I have to stop drinking.
The people at alcoholics anonymous would have you believe that until you accept their 12 Step program you will always be a “dry drunk” (meaning that although you were abstaining, you could never be cured). Now I would call that scary, wouldn’t you? Keeping people in fear of themselves? I would also call that not very responsible.
I can hear you saying, “Wait a minute, the abuse of alcohol can be very destructive. Isn’t it a good thing that someone is doing something about it?” So let me ask you an important question: If you realised you had a problem with beating up your wife, would you hand yourself over to god? Maybe, if that is your belief. But would you accept you were powerless to stop raising your hand to her? Would you really? Would you accept it if someone told you that beating up your wife is a chronic disease for which there is no cure? I hope not! After all, it is you doing the beating up; there is no external force. It is you, and you alone who are responsible.
Don’t let someone else accept responsibility on your behalf. Every action you take is your personal responsibility.
