AA Wants You in AA for the Rest of Your Life.

"Nothing in your claim makes any sense."

The key claim of stepper cult indoctrination is "jails, institutions or death" if you leave. This lie is what traps people in the stepper cult more than anything else. The key aim of the stepper cult is to pass the message on, recruit more members to the cult.

When I first became involved in steppism, in 1980 I was young and was not prepared to give up the night life, pubs, clubs etc so I carried on going to these venues but drinking "non-alcoholic" drinks. Did the stepper gurus give me any praise or encouragement for doing this? No of course not they were totally against me mixing with non-steppers at these functions, they just wanted me to attend stepper meetings. Stopping drinking is irrelevant (unless you want to move up in the stepper "time hierarchy") Its going to as many meetings and doing as much service work (cult recruitment) as you can that counts.

Of course AA wants you in the cult for life we all know that, same as we all know AA is chock full of Control Freaks and Sexual Predators and the generally mentally ill and there are a lot of suicides. You steppers can continue denying all you want, but all the Anti AA people on this forum know the truth.....AA is a lying, fear mongering, predator, mind screwing, death cult.....for life, if you don't get deprogramed

It interesting, Sue, because of the very things you say in your second paragraph. Even in the first one, good qualities that I had that I hid under alcohol abuse. What I developed what a willingness to listen to it at all. I didn't have to take advice, but I could consider it and remember that I don't have all the answers. I could be entirely too self-reliant and not look at the people around me as some of the greatest allies I could have. That isn't necessarily in an AA room. It could be any place. What developed was the willingness to believe in something positive, and it could even be myself. What also was the most helpful was developing a love and appreciation for women.

For the most part, I was bright and I was certainly attractive enough to be able to do anything I would have wanted. But that doesn't equate to personal confidence. I was literally afraid of the world and of everything I didn't know. Ironically, I was also afraid to find out. My natural curiousity of the world was stymied somewhere along the way, and it did real damage to my life. I had my share of wonderful opportunitiies that fear kept me from utlilyzing to a good personal advantage. I was crippled by a fear of asking anyone for help, for guidance, for assistance. I was literally afraid of people, what they might think. While I had a loving father, I had a mother that found it difficult to communicate on any emotional level. One of the best examples to describe her is the movie Carrie and the scene where the mean girls are throwing tampons at her because she hadn't been told about mensturation. My mother had three daughters but she discussed very few things with us if it embarrassed her. One of those things happened to be the facts of life. When I was little, I walked in while she was changing one of those huge pads they used in the day. She was angry and upset with me, and screamed at me to leave the bathroom. I went to get my father and he told me not to worry about it. But I WAS worried because I thought she was bleeding to death and went to get the neighbor lady, who was a nurse. My mother, of course, was very angry and embarrassed and I got in trouble because I was the source of that embarrassment. It was a very defining event for me because I never trusted my mother after that, and by extention, most women in general. I remember sitting in that theater, watching that particular scene and knowing that could have been me. This woman had been wonderful to me. The second time she advocated for me was when I was at her house and she was making cookies. I was telling her about this friend I met and how he had a toy. She put together that this man was masutrbating in front of me, and she asked where I saw him. I told her where and that I was supposed to go. In fact, it was then and could I have extra cookies? She got her husband, and they followed my bike with their car, caught him and threw him in the back seat where they then took him to the police station. My mother's first question was, why didn't you tell me? Well, I didn't even know he was doing something wrong, and then... why would I? I remember the look the neighbor lady gave my mother over my head. I heard her later tell her that her repression was harming their children and that it was dangerous.

What I found in AA were WOMEN that could be informative, friendly, and selfless. A great source of experience and guidance. They were wonderful and a big difference. You aren't going to find everything in an AA room to be perfect, but I found enough gold in it all to be able to move forward and have a productive life without crippling fear. Could I have done this with something else? Perhaps. Do I wish I had done it at an earlier time in my life? I sure do, but I am also happy where I am and not bitter. I am grateful for this wonderful group of women that were so helpful to me and continue to be. Without it, this reationship I have and treasure with my own sister wouldn't be possible.

I don't know if any of this answers your question or not, Sue, but thank you for asking. Lord, I feel as if I did a fifth step. Sorry that I was so windy.