by Devin Sexson
Alcoholics Anonymous is a "cult of necrophilia." I am not saying here that there is some kind of bizarre sexual ritual involving dead bodies in AA meetings. What this means is that there is a fascination with death. The cult revolves around death. I remember when I went to AA I would here the common statement, something to the effect of, "I felt terrible earlier today, then I went to a meeting and now I feel just great!"
I wondered why I never felt great after a meeting. Meetings usually had no effect on me but often I found them down right creepy. Why? Because I am not a necrophiliac, I don't get off on sitting around talking about how we will die of alcoholism if we don't ingest this religious crap.
But the creepiness goes a little deeper than that. In
order for the cult to function some members must die
from alcoholism. Those members who "cannot or will
not" resign themselves to the religio-fascist
structure of the cult can only be of value to the cult
if they are:
1. Constantly relapsing.
2. Dead.
Consider these examples:
All of us in A.A. know the tremendous happiness that
is in our sobriety, but there are also tragedies. My
sponsor, Jackie, was one of these. He brought in many
of our original members, yet he himself could not make
it and died of alcoholism.
-- The Big Book, 3rd Edition, page 239.
After being dry two weeks and sticking close to
Jackie, all of a sudden I found I had become the
sponsor of my sponsor, for he was suddenly taken
drunk. I was startled to learn that he had only been
off the booze for a month or so himself when he
brought me the message!
-- The Big Book, 3rd Edition, page 245.
The Boston group provided us with a fresh wonder and a
big heartbreak, too. Its founder could never get sober
himself and he finally died of alcoholism. Paddy was
just too sick to make it. Slip followed slip, but he
came back each time to carry A.A.'s message, at which
he was amazingly successful. Time after time the group
nursed him back to life. Then came the last bender,
and that was it. This very sick man left behind him a
great group and a triple-A rating for valor. His first
two successes, Bert C. and Jennie B., carry on to this
day.
-- Alcoholics Anonymous Comes Of Age, William G. Wilson,
page 96.
AA was already established in South Africa when Marty
arrived, with a ready pool of interested and willing
citizens. It had been started in that country by a
relapsing alcoholic, "Johnny Appleseed." He was a
gifted businessman and highly successful proponent of
AA, but he could not stay sober. Regardless, wherever
he traveled and got drunk and sobered up, he left
literature about AA.
-- A Biography of Mrs. Marty Mann: The First Lady of
Alcoholics Anonymous, Sally Brown and David R. Brown,
page 224.
What is wrong with this picture? Why are these men sacrificing their own lives for the good of the cult? These are clear, unmistakable examples of how the cult values conversion more than sobriety, and more than the life and well-being of the individual.