Tradition Eleven
Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio and films.
There are no rules in AA, but one of our twelve suggestions states that we should remain anonymous when it comes to the press. This means that your name and the fact you are a member of AA should not appear together in the same news story. There are a LOT of good reasons for this, which I won’t get into, but clearly someone that is sober for sixteen years should know better. Why then would a sober drink with that much time publish an opinion letter, about alcoholism and drinking no less, in the NYT? This is what has happened today.
My opinion? This guy is a real asshole to have written what he did AND include the fact that he is a member of Alcoholics Anonymous. To top it all off, I’ll bet he thinks he is being slick because he writes
I know this is a sensation shared by other drunks because every time I enter an Alcoholics Anonymous room, I am struck not by the expressions of guilt or defiance or even boredom that I see.
Gee, he never said he was a member of AA, did he?
I also find his writing rather off putting for a lot of other reasons. I think this, I think that, blah, blah, blah. Doctors, science, reactions, emotions…what a mess of things to throw together in a short piece about drinking. One of the many big lessons dealing with the alcoholism has taught me is that is that there are a lot of things I don’t know jack shit about. I have my experience, and I know what works for me, but in the end alcohol for me and for those like me can be a horrible, inexplicable thing. It defies logic. Anyone who is an alcoholic and writes things about alcoholism with the knowing air he presents in this article is both arrogant and stupid.
He even talks up that fact that if he was getting sober today he might be able to drink just a little during the holiday season. This is not only unwise, it is just flat out wrong. This butthead puts on airs about how much he knows about alcoholism, then says he might be able to drink? WTF? This provides way to much unnecessary fuel to someone that is looking for any excuse possible to justify drinking. Nice going. In all humility many of us know that it does not matter what we say or do, a drunk is going to do what he wants. You could say then it does not matter that this was printed. I think if one person reads this and gets that extra help he needs to go take that drink and go nuts, say geting in a car drunk and killing himself or someone else, then this is some cause and effect here. Maybe if they didn’t read that it may have not lead to them drinking just at that time…..
There is more, but I should stop here. Except I won’t. My guess is this guy feels very proud of himself this morning. He was published in the NYT. I earnestly pray he does not celebrate by talking himself into taking that first drink he wrote about. Any alcoholic that is not drinking should remain that way, in my opinion, regardless of whether they are an ass or not.
Anyone that writes about alcoholism like this in a public way should do one of two things. Either you publish under the name Anonymous and talk about AA, and say you don’t represent AA but am merely speaking as a sober drunk, or publish under your name and do not give the slightest hint about your involvement in AA. In fact don’t even mention its existence. Otherwise you try to be slick like this guy did.
You also don’t talk about all this guy did, talk about AA, and then add in someone else’s name like Xyy Xxxx (famous celebrity) to the mix. The problem is not labeling Xyy as an alcoholic but indirectly insinuating he is involved with AA. The logic of this follows along these lines – you write about drinking and alcoholism, talk about AA, then talk about someone else being an alcoholic. In some peoples minds you have just linked that person to AA, whether you like it or not or whether it is true or not. This guy is a published author so he should know about this, regardless of the seeming innocuous intent you could claim he had in writing what he did. Now lots of people talk about Xyy, and he himself will say he is an alcoholic. Yet Xyy does not go around talking about AA, as far as I know. Despite the fact he is actually in AA!
Obviously I feel strongly about this tradition. I want to freely talk about myself and being a member of AA. So I remain anonymous on this blog. Some people think my doing so is dumb. I’m just hiding or something. No. I think the eleventh tradition applies to us here on the web too. But this is just my opinion. I do not represent AA nor do I speak for Alcoholics Anonymous. I am just another member of AA, grateful for having been helped to live and experience many years of sobriety. And hoping to do what I can to help other alcoholics to not drink, whether they are in AA or not. My definition of this does not include publishing opinion pieces in major newspapers that say things like (I’m paraphrashing here)
if I was getting sober today, with all that is know today about alcholism, it might be possible that I could have a drink or two around the holidays without it causing me to releapse
Wow. I’ll end there. That last bit kind of leaves me without words at the moment.
Enjoy the holidays. Wishing you all the best in sobriety,
AA Blogger