How dare they show drinkers in such a negative light. Bill Wilson stopped drinking but continued to smoke heavily. He died of emphysema, yet keeped smoking till the end. His last request on his deathbed was for a whiskey. He was a chronic philanderer. This is who people are supposed to look up to?
AA is a cult. They replace one drug with another.
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What is JuBu?
Thanks - I got some flack for some of my Babs postings, so I stopped. I will be back, though.
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That's hilarious! I had no idea there was a name for that. Some of my "yid-core" friends from my childhood are now "Ju-bu"s. Too good.
I go to AA, am a confirmed agnostic, don't buy all of it, it has worked for me.
There are so many generalizations out there I don't know why I'd think that something as controversial as AA would be excepted. Anyhow- I know (and avoid) some "AA zombies" but also know and hang out with a ton of AAers who are like myself- picking what they want to keep from the program and ignoring the rest- and it works for us.
Anyhow- alcoholism and religion are both such hot topics I suppose there will always be ridiculous blanket statements made. Cest la vie.
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Well, Mr Mednick--If you want to meet saints, stick with church. I don't know how many AA meetings you have been to, but being a drinker (even a heavy drinker)does not make one an alcoholic, so I fail to see how it could possibly be 'offensive'. A few AA meetings are indeed cultish--and this is exactly what the tradition of anonymity is all about! 'Principles before Personalities',. Any AA member who 'looks up' to Bill W, (or even their own sponsor) really doesn't get it. It is all about the 12 steps, not individuals. We are not saints. We are selfish, self-centered people with egos who are trying to get better one day at a time. Even the alcohol abuse itself is but a symptom.
A producer can only do so much with a 90-minute, made-for-TV movie. The rest is a life-long learning experience.
I find it so funny that such small-minded people have the balls/brains to make statements like this. There is nothing wrong with drinking or drinkers my friend. This movie and no reasonable person would say otherwise. Alcoholic's are good and honorable people with a disease - no different from cancer or diabetes. While neither of us have this disease - to compare alcoholic drinking with cigarette smoking is insane. Smoking is harmful but it doesn't bankrupt a person spiritually and emotionally. I am aware that Bill Wilson was a flawed man - like anyone else, but the overwhelming good that he has done for people suffering from this disease, the lives saved, make up for it millions of times over. I seriously doubt you've ever been to a meeting. If you had (and in fact you are not some sort of sociopath - perhaps a stretch), you wouldn't call AA a cult. The point is that people in the grips of this disease need a wholesale change of their way of thinking. A "psychic transformation" as AA calls it. If you think that a program that allows this to happen is a cult, you have a fundemental misunderstanding of how devestating alcoholism actually is.
shareI find that message highly offensive towards AA .... the programme has saved my life and whatever or whoever Bill w was he set up the programme for alcoholics to lead normal functional lives with their disease... A programme for living which in my opinion normal drinkers could do with.... Whether he smoked or not is totally irrelevant .....? !!!!
shareIf anyone had cancer or anything life threatening everyone would feel sorry for them & it should be the same for the alcoholic.
It's basically an allergy to alcohol, a normal drinker can have a couple of drinks per hour BUT if they take more then they get ill & need to lie down.
Not so with the alcoholic as their body has lost the ability to breakdown the booze properly & the excess creates the craving for another & another until they are insanely drunk.
Now the Alki that wakes up the next morning may say to himself "that's it, never again" but a few hours later he is back drinking again because he cannot control the cravings or more importantly he lies to himself saying "this time it will be different"
It's a life sentence because the problem starts in the mind & once the thought of a drink has taken hold there is very little that can be done about it unless the afflicted turn their will & their life over to a power greater than themselves
If you found this movie offensive to drinkers and need to defend your habit in such a way then maybe you should try AA. Now I myself am a heavy drinker but if Bill W. didn't come up with this idea then AA wouldn't have been there for my grandfather, he would have died from the drinking and I would never even be born.
In my personal opinion being a saint doesn't mean going to church or joining a priesthood. Being a saint is going out every day and trying to help other people, for the simple fact that you understand what they're going through. In that regard Bill W is a saint whose program has helped save countless lives. Damn you to hell if you slander the mans name
*beep* Bill W. I hope that damns me to your mythical hell.
shareI can understand how non-alcoholics might find the movie to be anti-alcohol, however, alcohol does not make a person alcoholic. You'll notice that Bill drank in the company of many others who did not wind up broke and broken at the end of the night the way he did. I firmly believe that one is born alcoholic or non-alcoholic--there isn't a choice involved. There is a choice, though, to either accept help or die drunk. AA isn't the only answer, but it is certainly an effective answer that has worked for millions of people.
He who conquers himself is mightier than he who conquers a city.