| Paula Poundstone: Anti-AA |
She was a loud and crass comedienne, landed some heavy charges for child endangerment and other alcohol-related problems.
She was also the first account that I ever read of a celebrity who threatened to sue because she was court-ordered to go to AA.
She claimed that the order violated her freedom of religion.
At the time, I thought that her ranting about her rights was the least of her problems, in large part because she had put her own children in danger.
This was ten years ago, of course, and I had lived in the confines of AA for so long, convinced that if I just worked this simple program, then all would be well.
Life at the time posed no problems or challenges for me, so I just went along with the line that Paula was an alcoholic in denial who needed to get her act together.
Now looking back on that incident, a margined blurb in Time Magazine, I believe that she had a point.
The state has no business foisting recovery on people. The state has no right directing people to a program which tells them to find a "Higher Power".
I more vividly oppose court-ordered AA because the program can bring people back, or take them down, when people need truth in their lives, not more facts and opinions which offer them nothing but failed ideas.
I resent the argument which legal experts continue to sell, that AA is the best program for breaking alcoholism, when to this day there is no evidence to support the charge.
For once, Paula Poundstone was pounding the right issue, and I hope that people like her start leading the charge to put an end to the forced march that DUI offenders have to take as part of their plea deals.
boy are you a sad, angry person. as a mental health professional i can tell you there are far, far more success stories from AA than from the $10K/per day golf and horse riding 'rehab' resorts. THAT'S your scam. AA doesn't work for you? fine. it works for a lot of others. My family has some great success stories from AA: no money and genuine support. but you just keep being angry, and shout into cyberspace.
ReplyDelete