On cults and general brainwashing Posted on January 4, 2026 at 04:38:47 AM by the real rman
White knuckle sobriety. Yes, a practice I didn't find helpful. You did omit some things by your terse, canned response-- like the key parts of the 12 Steps, some of which rely on a 1930s notion of conservative church doctrine that is akin to praise and pray to people's invisible friend--in this case to end the cravings and carry on a lifelong fight against the powerful addiction disease.
I learned in my travels it rarely works, or at least doesn't work well enough for most, because built into that strategy openly admits that it doesn't work enough so that people 'go out' of sobreity because it doesn't work, hopefully 'come back in' to AA meetings and steps. So they have lay sponsors to call, as many meetings as you can afford at a dollar or two per meeting.
For 90 years, its been the only conventionally acceptable and recommend place to go... AA or NA.
A friend who was in AA taught me that it's better to get professional counseling but IMPORTANTLY in this day and age, help from a staff physician for medication that quickly reduces cravings to make success vastly more likely. The common one thats been trendy this century has been Naltrexone---the pills being MUCH cheaper than the pricy injections.
That's not part of AA's treatment strategy... they're totally god focused on their single solution. I've learned some medical solutions work when the 90 year old AA strategy seems more hit and miss. I learned that at least some if not most who find success with counseling PLUS meds like Naltrexone don't come back to AA. A lot of drinking is just habitual addiction and Naltrexone is helpful, just like smoking cessation products are helpful to end cravings making it easier to quit without the white knuckles!
The true believers of the AA Book and the 12 Step solution dont want them talking about alternatives as they wean themselves off the meetings and public prayers they recite at the beginning and end of the meetings. Why? Alternatives discredits those who claim there's only one solution and people just need to pray and be more disciplined.
Thats like telling a parent of a dying child that if the child dies, they just didn't have enough faith. I think thats part of many evangelicals' answer. Don't mean to turn this into a religious diatribe but while AA tries to deny its not about religion, they're deceiving you. "Higher power" is code for protestant god-worship and everybody knows which parts of the doctrine are truthful and which are just deceptions for the new people.
Cults demand too much of their members, their validity isn't stronger just because they fill the room and sound so sincere and get caught up emotionally. LIke Jim Jones who talked 800 people into drinking his poisonous KoolAid back in abt 1977, they got caught up in his controlling schtick. The AA thumpers are all very good at it, they rehearse and refine their speels at every meeting. I find em pretty boring when they get too repetitive...like you do pasting responses in here.
I witnessed first hand, more conservative and traditional AA members, the longtime literal book and Bible thumpers have their schtick memorized to preserve the AA playbook.
It's easy for them to loyally shout down those who say in a meeting they found sobreity without prayer and step completion. To the cultists, thats all just AA blasphemy and they'll run you off. They'll break the rules and interrupt those who speak heresy!
I already knew they were the ones who made people realize they were leading a cult. Now, it's not hard NOT to look at some religions, lots of bloggers, and plenty of faith healer types as pretty CULTISH. You raised the phrase 'dry drunks.' Yup I've seen lots of them in meetings over the years I went. Like you, repeating your favorite words about winners and losers.
You don't hurt ME like you so enjoy wish trying, Jim, I'm agreeing with you on some of your points. But don't take my responses too personally.
I thought you might change your pasted posts if I called you out on them, but you just ignore me and paste em in anyway.
Just know, my Prairie Village comment colleague, if I wanted to send a message just to you alone, I'd have sent you an email. But my career was in MASS media and this is just a blog.