The Skepchick Serenity Prayer – click to embiggen
A twelve-step program is a set of guiding principles (accepted by members as ‘spiritual principles,’ based on the approved literature) outlining a course of action for recovery from addiction, compulsion, or other behavioral problems. Originally proposed by Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) as a method of recovery from alcoholism, the Twelve Steps were first published in the book Alcoholics Anonymous: The Story of How More Than One Hundred Men Have Recovered from Alcoholism in 1939. The method was then adapted and became the foundation of other twelve-step programs. — the cesspit of lies
Powerlessness, Twelve-Stepism, and the Siege Mentality
“We admitted we were powerless over alcohol–that our lives had become unmanageable.”
The idea that he is powerless over alcohol lets the user off the hook by absolving him from personal responsibility for his addiction while simultaneously granting ultimate power to the addiction itself, power so great as to be invincible by human standards. Only the supernatural is credited with having power enough, not to defeat the addiction, but to hold the monster at bay under caveat that the individual must completely relinquish personal autonomy or die of his addiction. The drug itself, in this case alcohol, is anthropomorphized. It is not only characterized as being powerful, but is imbued with the skills to be cunning and baffling. These concepts are so basic to Twelve Step theology that they have become ritualized and are read at the opening of virtually all A.A. meetings. This flawed premise, impotence of the individual, forms the basis of all A.A. indoctrination and must be reinforced constantly, not only in group meetings, but also in the day to day lives of the membership at large.[…]
Firmly entrenched in this irrational mind-set, the AA’ers circle the wagons, rigorously proscribing all communication which may question cult teachings, even to the point of ritualistically defining the method of expression and framework within which anything may be said in a meeting. “People disagreeing with [the] ideology…are likely to be criticized, punished, and eventually excluded or shunned by the group.” — morerevealed.com, casting a skeptical eye over 12 step programmes
Having had a privileged perspective on the cult (I say that deliberately) of 12 step programmes, both by being in the belly of the beast of actual detox centres and knowing numerous people battling the personal demons of chemical dependencies1, I feel more qualified than many to actually comment on them.
While I acknowledge that they may work for some, I most strenuously object to the idea that they work for all – and it is this insistence by zealous evangelists from the various whatever Anonymous organisations, that it is the one and only recovery programme that works, is what tips them over from being helpful support networks for those in need into the territory of genuine cults.
These evangelists that make the claim that any of these *.A groups are not religious in nature are fucking liars and need to be called on it up front. Their most basic doctrines are firmly rooted guilt ridden xtianity, more precisely Calvinism and it’s noxious concepts of “total depravity” as expressed in its 5 points (aka TULIP) –
For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person — Mark 7:21-23
You see, when you arrive at any *.A you are to consider yourself abject and broken; you have no will of your own; you have no power over your world; you need to be saved, and salvation comes only through submission and faith. It is spelled out quite clearly in the first step of any 12 step programme –
1. We admitted we were powerless over (insert vice) – that our lives had become unmanageable.
Translation: you are a worthless husk with no mind of your own. You must open your soul and let the collective fill it. In practice, you must strip your individual and cultural identity and replace it with an identity that is approved by the group. This identity transplant is facilitated largely by the group meetings one is expected to attend – 30 meetings is 30 days is the mantra chanted to you after a stint in any detox unit. Failure to comply is a symptom of backsliding – and may invite intrusion into your world from other members fully of the faith to nudge you back on track, for your own good of course…
The majority of meetings themselves are more akin to Pentacostal revivals than sessions with any intrinsic therapeutic merit. You are initially surrounded by strangers, none of whom have any formal counselling training, and the meetings revolve around a perverse voyeuristic / exhibitionistic ritual of group confessional – again, why deny the theistic foundations? Speakers stand in front of the assembled flock and divulge their personal tragedies, griefs and transgressions in lurid detail (it is in no way unusual for those volunteering to “share” to one up the previous speaker in an unpleasant downward spiral)… and little more. There are cheers and tears and the whole event is bracketed by an opening ceremony, usually a roll call and a reading from the Big Book and closed by the traditional serenity prayer. You really can’t get closer to being in church without actually being in a church. It is a perverse spectacle.
And oh so reminiscent of freefromthoughtblogs, Skepchick and their mutant love-child, atheismplus. All *.A groups invest their substance of choice with a degree of insurmountable, demonic evil – power so great as to be invincible by human standards – much in the way that FTB et al frame The Patriarchy™. It is an evil so great that the only response is the mentality of the siege, to circle the wagons, rigorously proscribing all communication which may question cult teachings, even to the point of ritualistically defining the method of expression and framework within which anything may be said in a meeting. “People disagreeing with [the] ideology…are likely to be criticized, punished, and eventually excluded or shunned by the group.”
The parallels don’t stop there. Then there’s the neo-Calvinist putrescence of restoring guilt, fear and shame to sexuality itself. And let’s not forget the morbid confessional theatre… Surely not? Oh yes indeed. This A+ thread from its origins is still as barf inducing now as then –
Effects of not having privilege(Trigger Warning: Oppression)
But really, there is more than enough evidence and words written to date exposing the unspoken religiosity of the toxic thinking that has so thoroughly poisoned the minds of Myers and Watson and the troop of groupthinking monkeys that dance around the organ they grind. What interests me here is the 12 steps themselves – and as I revisited them, the realisation of how easily they can be adapted and repurposed. So, in honour of Becky Watson, the well poisoning queen herself, I present –
The Skepchick 12 Steps
1. We admitted we were powerless over mundane reality – that our insecurities had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could drag others down to our level and restore our safe space.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of The Sisterhood of the Oppressed as we understood Them.
4. Made a searching and fearless victimology of ourselves.
5. Admitted to The Sisterhood of the Oppressed, to ourselves and to the entire Internet the exact nature of our self-pity.
6. Were entirely ready to have The Sisterhood of the Oppressed remove any remaining dignity or strength of character.
7. Humbly asked The Sisterhood of the Oppressed to remove all fortitude and substance.
8. Made a list of all persons that could be framed as harming us, and became willing to assassinate the characters of them all.
9. Made direct efforts to smear such people wherever possible, except when to do so would would involve face-to-face contact.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and, when we found further circumstances to exploit, promptly gossiped, tweeted and blogged about it.
11. Sought through self-mortification and scab-picking to improve our conscious contact with The Sisterhood of the Oppressed as we understood Them, crying only for knowledge of Their will for us and the dogpile to carry that out.
12. Having had a narcissistic implosion as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to unenlightened Oppressed Sisters and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
[Handy Skepchick 12 step graphic]
Addendum for 12 steps true believers –
Please read before you send me your sermons telling me how dumb I am. I stated explicitly that your program does work for SOME people. I take objection to the “ALL PEOPLE” part. I will cut you a deal – if you can summon the humility and grace to clearly state *.A works for “some” people when you speak with people that are newly seeking help, AND that it may not necessarily work for them AND provide them with details of available alternatives (such as SMART Recovery) – basic steps any responsible help group should follow – then I will desist from calling you a cult. Until that happens though, if it quacks like a duck…
1 – Of course nowadays, chemicals are optional. These programmes have extended to other non-deliriant based vices such as gambling and sex.
grey lining 
May 20, 2013 at 3:57 am
At least AA is striving to do something good for society. And unlike FTB, Skepchick, or the current “atheist community”, they stick to one purpose-recovery from alcoholism. If the atheist community stuck to a single purpose, such as….IDNK….atheism? then allowing feminism to alienate so many people could have been avoided. AA has firmly abstained from any outside controversy or political issues because every movement in history has effectively nailed they’re own coffin by doing so.
Look at the Tea Party. When they stuck with concern over where their tax money was being squandered like the bank bailouts, the stimulus, etc. the momentum of the movement was incredible. But when they added all the additional Far Right ideology and identified as a Christian organization, they quickly crumbled into obscurity. Occupy was a joke for never focusing on anything except, “we’re not filthy rich” and left a disgusting mess that took weeks to clean up.
But atheists seem to think history doesn’t apply to them. Heck, they’ll fight you tooth and nail every time someone explains that skepticism is a separate ideology from atheism (all ism’s are ideologies or religions when they form a collective). See how conflating the two has been nothing but problems? When people fail to comprehend the need for a single focus, it automatically weakens a movement. Atheism’s infiltration has run off all the theists who contributed so much to the Skeptical Movement, along with politically conservative supporters. Yet, the remaining crowd shrugged their shoulders and figured, “So what. I don’t want them in my movement anyway.”
This was a welcome mat rolled out for any other seemingly worthy cause. All the feminists needed to do was convince the community that feminism was the logical conclusion of critical-thinking, paint religion as misogynist, and they’d have all their causes wrapped up nicely in a single package. It worked with atheism, after all. They exploited the problem of lack of female participation by convincing the sex-starved beta males to support their ideology. If it brought more women into the fold, then of course! I can’t help but assume the male feminists on FTB are secretly hoping their support will increase their chances of getting a girl friend or at least getting laid at a conference. Oh thank you, Rebecca! We needed to know that approaching a drunken hag stumbling on to the elevator at 4am was a bad strategy.
So while AA has saved the lives of millions of hopeless alcoholics/addicts, what good has the FfTBloggers, Skepchicks, or A+ movement done for humanity? Think of all the hospitals that were founded by religious organizations. Where are the hospitals with “secular’ or “humanist” in their names? There isn’t even an abortion clinic founded by atheists. Nope, they remove stuff like crosses in the middle of the desert, Nativity scenes, Christmas trees, and marble sculptures of the Ten Commandments. But at least they were doing something that reflected the goals of their movement. Instead of being offended by the word “God” in the pledge or on US currency, A+ers are offended by being referred to as “females”.Forget the c word or “bitch”.
You won’t find anyone from AA publically “calling out” any of it’s own members. Imagine that! An organization dedicated to never doxxing anyone.Remember too, that AA is free. The most you’ve got to lose is an hour of your time. Atheist conferences, hell no! AA doesn’t file lawsuits to have bars and liquor stores shut down, either.
As far as AA’s effectiveness, you’ve only described a meeting. The recovery comes from actually working the 12 steps. Find someone who has done all 12 steps to evaluate it’s effectiveness. Just attending meetings and even sharing is not what they claim will work. But people are lazy. They’ll find a reason not to do the steps, like deciding they’re useless because they’re religious. If you were prescribed an antibiotic, and refused to take it because you can’t stand the color of the pill, how can you possibly conclude that it failed to cure your infection? And BTW, the pharmacy didn’t charge you to fill it either. You hate red. And a pink pill is a shade of red. And you “know” that all red pills are placebos. AA struggled early on to be welcoming to atheists. The reason the 3rd step says “God as we understood Him” was the direct result of an early atheist member. There was talk about tolerating his blasphemy. When they refocused on their primary purpose, it was forever decided that an alcoholic’s religious beliefs were not something that should exclude anyone from help. An entire chapter of the Big Book is specifically dedicated “To the Agnostic” (Atheist was still a term that nobody used to describe themselves).There are a significant amount of atheists who have recovered in AA. After all, the laws of physics are more powerful than any human being.
AA doesn’t need me to defend it. But there is no need to drag an organization that actually does something good for humanity through the mud. Especially when they’ve got one thing so right that atheism/skepticism hasn’t. Stick to your mission lest your movement will die out.
May 20, 2013 at 11:09 am
Uh, did you read the footnote? I am happy to state that AA works for some. But it most definitely is not what it’s hellfire preachers claim it is – the only recovery method that works. It’s long term success rate recovery is well below 10% – it drives way more than that away and back to drink. Consider if AA was a pill in a bottle… It would never clear FDA and if it did, it would get sued into bankruptcy for unwanted, potentially lethal side effects. Yes it works for some, and for those folks, good on you, keep it up, keep the faith.
My greatest objection is that the medical, court and prison systems offer you NO alternative other than AA. In fact, it is always a condition for parole or suspended sentences for criminal activity that involved chemical deliriants. What was that about the separation of church and state again? The government funnelling people into a religious organisation. They can dress it up and pretend they welcome atheists, but there is no denying that the very foundation of ALL the AA style movements is religious. There is no science; there is no therapy; there is no qualified counselling. It is 100% faith and belief based.
May 21, 2013 at 11:29 am
AA was borne out of the conviction of a religious cultist that ills such as alcoholism were due to lack of subservience to dog’s will. The 12 steps use a ‘lobster in the pot’ approach which goes light on the religion at first and gradually turns up the volume. Religious conversion was the whole point of the program. Atheists would be considered the prime targets. I suppose there are lots of true believers who are unaware of the origins, but that doesn’t alter the function of the steps, which are aimed at recruitment and retention. It may be the only current alternative for the most desperate of cases, but then I thiink that you could devise an equally extreme program without the religion, although psychiatry is hamstrung by not being in the business of deception.
The biggest problem with AA is that it exchanges one dependency for another, and breaks down self-belief and independence to boot. Google, and you will find many tales of people sentenced to AA programs by the courts, where they were indoctrinated into the belief that the 12 steps stood between them and relapse/death. After sometimes decades of living for AA they find that they are perfectly capable of controlling their alcohol intake and realise that their lives have been hijacked by a cult. Often, substance abuse is a symptom of self-esteem issues. AA does not address those, it in fact works to reinforce them. In short, it can destroy lives. You will also find numerous tales of manipulation and sexual abuse of the vulnerable by the old hands, not to mention a Scientology-like attitude toward splitters.
May 25, 2013 at 4:34 am
“At least AA is striving to do something good for society.”
Horseshit. When George Vaillant did a study attempting to support the efficacy of AA, he found that the AA success rate was worse than the rate of spontaneous remission of alcoholism. In other words, AA was worse than doing nothing and in fact interfered with people who would have eventually woken the fuck up and taken charge of their lives. The best success is with cognitive and behavioral therapy, not 12 Steps. AA knows this. AA ignores this because AA isn’t about helping people. It was originally about helping Bill Wilson and now it is just interested in viral self-perpetuation.
When someone says “At least AA is doing good” that’s a red flag for utter clueless. Perhaps willful indifference to fact and concern with people’s actual well-being.
May 25, 2013 at 3:15 pm
@Mykeru – my rough figure of 10% efficacy is flattering. Speaking with actual rehab workers privately, they put it at less than 5%. What sort of fucking program is that? Why the fuck does it receive any funding at all?
May 20, 2013 at 4:04 am
PS. The steps were LOL, BTW!!!
June 6, 2013 at 7:11 am
For the eleventeenth time everyone (speccy, I’m looking at you).
ElevatorGuy never existed.
Did Not Happen.
Madey-Uppy.
Retrofitted, to justify the wobbly little monster’s booze-sodden inability to speak to the topic she contracted to address, earlier that day (I think; it’s hard to care enough to get it right any more).
[not that there’s anything inherently wrong about addressing an academic or quasi-academic conference while still blotto. It’s the “making sense” part that’s the key to pulling it off, and blagging complimentary drinkies after].
June 8, 2013 at 11:17 pm
It’s official! I have placed in Pharyngula dungeon. I was accused of sock-puppetry due to having 2 handles (ericyoungstrom & caveman73) even though under the definition of sock-puppetry you need talk about the other account highly or say horrible things anonymously. I did neither, it all depended which I log in on or could remember the PW for.
This is the blog post that PZ felt was too much. ( http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2013/06/06/shark-murder-and-a-poll/#comments )
And here is me in the dungeon (http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/dungeon/ )
Personally I take it as a badge of pride that I was banned. To me it means I am doing things right. Fucking PZ and all those of the Atheism+ crowd are an ever shrinking circle, a bunch of group think asshats.
June 9, 2013 at 12:00 am
Congratulations. Personally, I don’t know why you bothered trying to talk sense or how you could stomach immersing yourself in Myers’ toilet… I always felt it was about as much fun and as satisfying as teasing retarded children. I posted once years ago pointing out evidence-free confirmation bias re: the great fish massacre, whilst still ambivalent about pharyngula, and the resulting dogpile made me just scratch my head and abandon it. Should have seen all the cult indicators more clearly even back then. I tried posting once more when they starting dragging my corpse through the streets last year to point out a series of blatant falsehoods they were smearing me with, but then had all the comment tampering routine they deny ever doing. I gave up and have not been back since. Of course they still blame me for any anomalous commentary and if you google +franc +sock, I reckon I must have well over a 1000 sockpuppet accounts. Yes, the clowns seriously believe I do.
Pharyngula – secularisms grease trap… concentrate all the morons in one place. In that respect, it does serve a useful purpose. Much like “punch me, I’m stupid” forehead tattoos.
June 11, 2013 at 10:13 pm
With me years ago, Pharyngula, was a fun place where religion was slammed in a oh so epic way. That and some biology shit, but I over looked that. Then as the months/ years went I came to his site less and less. This was not a conscious effort on my part, it was just waning in my interest. When I did, several months ago, return and posting randomly on his blog I got venom from every one. This was odd to me due to initial me not spouting venom. IT was straight up groupthink and that is when I realized that PZ and his blog are the left wing version of Faux News.
I don’t see me ever going back to his blog, I will miss it. Not his blog but the getting pissed of at him and his ilk. It is almost the same reason I still check on Faux and post when they allow it on a story. I, one like getting pissed off and two I like spinning up their minion sheep with very little effort on my part.
Keep up the good work on this blog, I rather enjoy your perspective on this and other subjects.
August 5, 2013 at 12:37 am
Having studies more Watsonalia than is good for me, I too, like dustbubble, came to the inevitable conclusion that she had simply made up Creepy Elevator Dude, and I assumed, to hide her gnawing embarrassment, that of the nine or ten guys in the bar that drunken early morning not one of them had made a pass at her. Apart from the inconsistencies of her tale, no one to my knowledge has ever been outed or come forward as CED.
I am guessing that if the Russian Army invaded Massachussetts and without having seen a woman for months, they would all pass on the opportunity to have non-consensual sex with La Watson – for clearly non-consensual is the only sort of sex she admits to having.
My brother did Twelve Steps – to absolutely no effect whatsoever other than that he went happy-clappy.