Anonymity: An Excuse to Evade Responsibilty?
As I have been following the scandal of the Midtown AA group in Washington, D.C., I came across a blog post on the Fall of Midtown MySpace page. In that post, that author issues warnings to AA members against speaking to the media, especially television shows. The clear message that this author sends to readers is that it is more important to protect the good name of AA than it is to expose the wrongdoing of the members of the Midtown group. By taking this tack, that author is calling for what AA World Services and AA General Service Office would love; for this scandal to quietly go away and stay out of the mainstream media. I suspect that for many years, AA has used their sacred principle of anonymity to keep allegations of wrongdoing out of the public eye. But who could this actually help? Certainly not any victims of these types of exploitations, as keeping these things as quiet as possible simply allows the perpetuation of these behaviors in other AA groups. The ones who benefit by AA members remaining anonymous regarding allegations of wrongdoing are the wrongdoers themselves and the institution of AA. Silence on these matters allows those who would take advantage of people seeking help for alcoholism to quietly slip through the cracks of the system and start their behaviors in another place. It also allows AA to keep the cash flow steady and keep more more people coming in the doors of AA, potentially to fall victim to these predators.
There are many in AA who claim that the Midtown groups have hijacked the AA name and are not offering "real" AA. This claim is absolutely ludicrous, as the AA traditions clearly allow any group to use the AA name and conduct their group affairs as they see fit. At many AA meetings, you can hear the phrase that the Traditions "are not rules; they're to keep rules out." By not having any sort of enforceable rules and governance over their groups, AA actually invites this sort of pathological behavior to take place in its groups. Small wonder, as that would have caused AA to take some sort of action regarding the behavior of its founder, Bill Wilson. AAWS and AAGSO want only to retain their status in the eyes of the general public, and to keep their cash flow intact. After all, their first Tradition clearly states that that AA as a whole is more important than any of its members. Any organization that places its own welfare above the welfare of its individual members can hardly be called benevolent; it is nothing more than a money making machine that would reduce its members to the level of sheep.
Below are some characteristics of healthy and unhealthy groups, excerpted from a speech by Charlotte David Kasl, PhD.
Characteristics of Healthy Groups:
1. There is flexibility and responsiveness to the needs of the attendees.
People are supported to find their own belief system, to use the parts of the
model they like and to dismiss the rest.
2. All members are encouraged to participate but not dominate.
3. The sharing is at a personal level; it is honest, authentic and not loaded
with platitudes, pat phrases or advice.
4. People attend regularly and are committed to their healing.
5. Openness to evaluation of the group process. It is important that group
members be able to verbalize and discuss the group and say how they feel about
how the group is working.
6. The group has clarity of purpose, it is clear about its goals and adopts
a process or form that logically works toward fulfilling those goals.
7. Sexual or emotional exploitation is not accepted as part of the norm.
8. People are regarded as whole individuals, not just as junkies,
co-dependents, addicts or some mental health diagnosis.
9. People are not coerced into staying if they desire to leave. They are not
given dire threats such as "if you leave you will surely drink again," if they
decide the group is not for them.
10. There is a process, or norms, for dealing with conflict. Groups must
acknowledge that there will be conflict between members, and have some form
for dealing with it.
11. The group has a sense of humor about itself. If a group can't laugh at
itself, watch out. Laughter reflects an ability to stand outside our own dramas
and see them from a broad perspective.
12. The group does not stay frozen in form. The form changes as people grow
and change. It expands in response to people's needs.
Characteristics of Unhealthy Groups:
1. The group discourages or blocks outside involvement: "If you do this
right, you won't need therapy or other people," for example.
2. When a group starts to isolate itself from the outside world, it is time
to be careful. Isolation gives charismatic leaders the ability to act without
interference.
3. The group limits or discourages access to reading material or other forms
of personal growth. For example, "You should only read approved literature."
Oppressive systems are known for limiting reading material because they fear
losing control.
4. Expression of dissension is punished, squelched or strongly discouraged.
5. The group takes the stance "Ours is the one way, the road to salvation;
we have the answer to everyone's problems. If only those poor unfortunates
would follow our way, they would be saved."
6. People get locked into stereotyped roles. These can be based on gender,
class, race or roles such as leader, follower, placator, peace-maker, lackey or
scapegoat. This limits people, rather than helping them expand their self
definition.
7. The group becomes grandiose in its self-definition. The groups sees
itself as having the answers for all people.
8. The group becomes paranoid about outsiders or those that question the norm.
9. People talk like robots; they spout rhetoric that seems vacant, vacuous
and pre-recorded. They can be very nice and polite, but you feel something is
missing when you talk to them.
10. In the group, jargon predominates in conversations. This is the use of
language as a superficial translation of deeper human problems; it feels one-
dimensional, glib and detached from human emotions.
11. The group exerts pressure to stay. The pressure can come from ideology or
from individuals who often project their separation or abandonment anxiety onto
anyone who wants to leave.
12. People use the group to meet their sexual needs. This happens in cults,
spiritual communities, treatment centers, between counselors and clients and in
12-Step groups. It can range from outright sexual abuse to covert sexual
manipulation out of anger or neediness.
13. The group is unable to reflect upon itsself, its history and its
values from a broad perspective. Instead of seeing that it is just an ideology,
a way, a movement and that its creators were mere mortals seeing through their
own programming, people take a fundamentalist stance. At worst, groups can
become cult-like, oppressive, violent and abusive.
Where does AA as a whole stand in light of these points? How about the AA group you attend? Take an inventory of the behaviors allowed in the AA group you attend. If you can do that without rationalization and minimization, you will likely be shocked. Clearly the Midtown groups fall firmly into the unhealthy category, but so does the "real" AA that the Fall of Midtown blog author refers to, albeit to a somewhat lesser degree. That is one of the reasons that anonymity is so important to AA; it helps to keep AA's faults and failures out of the public eye. "The truth will set you free..." and "You are a sick as your secrets" are phrases often heard in meetings. Yet how can one truly be free when trying to hide the truth about what happens within the rooms of AA? And how healthy can AA actually be when it tries to conceal the truth about what happens in the groups from public scrutiny? If you have been the victim of a criminal act in an AA group, don't let anyone or any tradition keep you from speaking publicly about it.
The idea that the Midtown groups are somehow not "real" AA is simply an example of the "real Scotsman" logical fallacy. The Midtown groups are real AA groups and AA's Traditions confirm that fact.