How Alcoholics Anonymous puts bums on seats.
Lately I've devoted a small slice of cyberspace and a lot of my time to
a variety of amusements, so I thought it might be nice to wrap up the
month of July with a bit more information about Alcoholics Anonymous.
I dealt with the issue of "attraction, not promotion", in "12 Stepping the Judge".
Today I though it would be helpful to go into more detail about the promotional activities
of AA's service organization, using excerpts from the CPC Committee workbook.
The CPC Committee workbook is a resource provided by AA's General
Service Organization to local groups to offer them guidance in carrying the
message to professionals and people in positions of authority at the local level.
CPC stands for "Cooperating with the Professional Community", which
has been the policy of AA's leaders ever since the days of Billandbob.
The workbook's statement of purpose seems innocuous enough at first glance.
The word "cooperation" was a good choice, disguising as it does the initiative
that AA takes in forging close bonds with various professional communities.
Exactly Who does the GSO ask the CPC Committees carry the message to?
Well, not your town drunk, he's on his own and will have to cough up his own quarter
for the phone call to AA. The GSO has bigger, better, and more powerful game in its sights.
The workbook provided by the GSO includes a detailed list of suggested
goals to help inspire the foot soldiers who make up the local CPC groups.
I've highlighted phrases that exemplify the initiative that CPC Committee members
are asked to take when making friends with professionals in positions of power.
I knew that AA had an interest in informing the medical, psychiatric,
and legal communities about the availability of AA meetings, but it never
occurred to me that AA would approach students in order to groom them
for the job of diverting their future clients and charges into the program.
This was news to me, and a very clever strategy for making certain
that the fellowship of AA continues to grow in numbers into the future.
Having never been to one, I'm not sure of exactly what a CPC presentation
would look like, but I have been informed by several allegedly high-ranking
current and former CPC committee members that they merely respond to
requests from members of the professional community.
I was told that the wording used in the workbook is misleading, and that
although it appears to recommend a high degree of initiative on the part of
the committees, in reality their activities are responsive, rather than aggressive.
Not being a GSO member myself, I can only go by what the literature states.
It states quite clearly, in words that are almost impossible to misinterpret,
that the CPC committees take the initiative when offering their services
to professionals who might be unaware of Alcoholics Anonymous.
The workbook includes several sample introductory letters
intended to be sent to various authority figures.
There is a cover letter, for example, written for members of the clergy.
AA has an understandable interest in telling the medical profession about AA.
In order to avoid neglecting any potential prospects, it's a good idea
to have the prosecutor and the the police department on your side.
Finally, and this is the part anyone who cares about their constitutional rights
should be interested in, there's the most important contact of all; the Judge.
I'm particularly impressed by the wording in the sample letter to the judge.
If there are any professionals in a better position than the Judge
to "influence...the still-suffering alcoholic", I haven't met them yet.
Over and over current members have defended their program of recovery by
claiming that AA has no control over who gets coerced into going to meetings.
According to the Big Book and the Traditions, the only requirement for
membership in Alcoholics Anonymous is the desire to stop drinking.
If AA really believed that willingness were a requirement for membership,
the GSO would not place such importance on making friends with the Judge,
the person who is not only in a "unique position to influence the alcoholic",
but who has the power to offer him the choice between Jail or AA.
The literature commonly provided to individual members insists that
you cannot force sobriety on anyone, and should not try to do so.
The Big Book admonishes 12 steppers not to waste their time
on anyone who does not want what the program has to offer.
Yet the people at the top of the service organization are essentially
asking that the judicial system send the unwilling to meetings anyway.
This violation of its own traditions is justified, many times, in the literature,
and is the most noxious example of AA doublespeak that I've found to date.
Is Alcoholics Anonymous affiliated with the court system?
The answer depends upon personal opinion, and is the subject of heated debate.
According to Tradition Six, as written in the long form, AA is concerned that
it "never give the impression" that AA is affiliated with another enterprise.
Public opinion of the program is as important if not more so
than adherence to the principles espoused by AA.
More will be revealed......
