My AA experience

[shaggys]

When I got out of Straight i attended AA regularly for about 6 months before the Straight programming started wearing off and I slowly realized that I wasn't addicted to anything. I had very little in common with the BS I heard discussed at those meetings. Everyone seemed selfish, self absorbed and pathetic. People whos' greatest accomplishment in life was not taking drugs or alcohol. Wow! What a grand accomplishment. Yeah, if you have no real ambition or dreams at all.
I have an older step-brother who became a mega-drunk and then landed in AA to get off the booze. He traded one negative compulsion for another. He wrecked his marriage to a good woman who had tolerated his drinking but couldn't deal with his AA crusading. She would get up to go to work in the morning and have to step over the drunks sleeping on her living room floor cause my step-brother was "rescuing" these deadbeat fucks. She put up with it for several years before finally giving him the ultimatum: Its your wife and family or its AA. You guessed it, he chose AA. Over the years i have watched similar scenarios play out with people i knew directly or knew through mutual friends. AA destroying families is very real. It is VERY cultish and as far as i can tell its "success" rate is laughable at best. Besides, define "success" by AA standards. What is it really?

[SUCK IT]

If you don't like it, don't go. AA will survive without you.

[DannyB II]

When I got out of Straight i attended AA regularly for about 6 months before the Straight programming started wearing off and I slowly realized that I wasn't addicted to anything. I had very little in common with the BS I heard discussed at those meetings. Everyone seemed selfish, self absorbed and pathetic. People whos' greatest accomplishment in life was not taking drugs or alcohol. Wow! What a grand accomplishment. Yeah, if you have no real ambition or dreams at all.
I have an older step-brother who became a mega-drunk and then landed in AA to get off the booze. He traded one negative compulsion for another. He wrecked his marriage to a good woman who had tolerated his drinking but couldn't deal with his AA crusading. She would get up to go to work in the morning and have to step over the drunks sleeping on her living room floor cause my step-brother was "rescuing" these deadbeat fucks. She put up with it for several years before finally giving him the ultimatum: Its your wife and family or its AA. You guessed it, he chose AA. Over the years i have watched similar scenarios play out with people i knew directly or knew through mutual friends. AA destroying families is very real. It is VERY cultish and as far as i can tell its "success" rate is laughable at best. Besides, define "success" by AA standards. What is it really?

Guess his women wasn't all that great, AA destroying families... :roflmao:  :roflmao: and last but not least, your a liar. Thats right a bald face liar. You have never been to a AA meeting, read your posts. I won't point it out for you because it would be to easy. Always remember what you posted, Shagga doodle.

[shaggys]

After laughing at your reply for awhile Danny, I decided to go ahead and respond. Yes I attended Numerous AA meetings. On 4th and 5th phase at Straight you were encouraged to start attending them and i did. I also was at them almost religously for 6 months following my leaving Straight inc. Not that it matters. Your cult-like devotion to AA is evident in your feverish defense of it - played out daily here on Fornits. Anyone who questions it will be verbally assaulted by you and the readers here know this already i am sure.
BTW I am feeling rather "nice" today. If you want to keep gettin ugly here, I am game. However if you wanna "play nice" then quit being such a tool on here all the time. Again your choice.

[DannyB II]

After laughing at your reply for awhile Danny, I decided to go ahead and respond. Yes I attended Numerous AA meetings. On 4th and 5th phase at Straight you were encouraged to start attending them and i did. I also was at them almost religously for 6 months following my leaving Straight inc. Not that it matters. Your cult-like devotion to AA is evident in your feverish defense of it - played out daily here on Fornits. Anyone who questions it will be verbally assaulted by you and the readers here know this already i am sure.
BTW I am feeling rather "nice" today. If you want to keep gettin ugly here, I am game. However if you wanna "play nice" then quit being such a tool on here all the time. Again your choice.

Why is it when I call you a, "bald face liar" you say I am not being nice. Go back and read your posts, there is some contradictory statements here concerning, AA. I thought you were playing games. Maybe you are not and like the rest of us as we get older can't remember exactly what we said from day to day. Well I am guilty of that too. No need to bash you for it.
Shaggy, I am always ready to be nice and play nice. That has been my nature going into my later years.
Well, that has not been true here, Anne can definitely piss me off they way she trolls men here. No I do not have a women issue but ya have to admit she has a male issue, just read her past posts.
Anyway you have a good weekend and will pick this up at another time.

[shaggys]

Actually, if you read my posts carefully you will see there is nothing contradictory whatsoever. I attended AA during and shortly after my incarceration at Straight. As my Straight brainwashing wore off i realized that I was not an addict and consequently I stopped attending the meetings. This is my problem with getting children and convincing them that they are powerless addicts. It becomes self fulfilling as discussed in the the latest article by Maia Szalavitz. Those who weren't at Straight will probably never understand how powerful the brainwashing was there. I consider myself lucky to have been able to shake off their mind-fucking and not become the drug-addict they wanted me to be. Yes, Straight inc specialized in CREATING drug addicts.

[DannyB II]

Actually, if you read my posts carefully you will see there is nothing contradictory whatsoever. I attended AA during and shortly after my incarceration at Straight. As my Straight brainwashing wore off i realized that I was not an addict and consequently I stopped attending the meetings. This is my problem with getting children and convincing them that they are powerless addicts. It becomes self fulfilling as discussed in the the latest article by Maia Szalavitz. Those who weren't at Straight will probably never understand how powerful the brainwashing was there. I consider myself lucky to have been able to shake off their mind-fucking and not become the drug-addict they wanted me to be. Yes, Straight inc specialized in CREATING drug addicts.

No argument out of me, Straight did tell many folks they were addicts and alcoholics and they weren't. As you said they went on to tell folks about a "powerlessness" that was sick and twisted.
Shaggy I have many friends who went through Straight here in Georgia, no I don't profess to be a expert on Straight because of this, I went through Elan and Joe Ricci (owner) hated AA and its principles. He probably needed it more then anyone I know the coke head, alcoholic he was. I mention knowing Straight folks to let you know that I can relate to what you are saying.
Now I read just about everything Maia writes if not all, have been for awhile. She even acknowledges that AA can help some and that is all AA is helping, some. AA is world wide and only acknowledges 2 million members not that much for being world wide.
In 1988 I was a down and out heroin addict and alcoholic, had been off and on since I was 15yrs. I had done well in my life (financially)  in spite of my addictions but inside I was close to killing myself. I was a functional addict. Well I finally woke up and took the right action.
AA was a great opportunity for me to educate myself, meet others with the same afflictions and grow up together. It beat doing it alone, my wife at the time was not into to helping me anymore, she did not leave but she just stepped out of the way (so to speak) and let me grow up on my own.
AA has been so distorted over the years at times I don't even recognize it anymore. One thing I do know it is free and always will be. You are free to walk in and walk out of a meeting, I would not want it any other way.