AA Controversy

I attended a different AA meeting today in Ft. Thomas. AA meetings are nice in that I can go to any one any where and be greeted like a long-last relative. This one was no exception, everyone was nice and welcoming, and I’ll probably go back. I did, however,run into some controversy. Our discussion subject was “Is alcoholism self-inflicted?”. I happened to go last and said that I thought alcoholism was passed on genetically like blue eyes or a predisposition to diabetes (there’s a lot of science to support my opinion), that science has shown alcoholics process alcohol differently than normal people- sending the toxin from the liver to the brain instead of quickly converting the alcohol to acetate in the liver. That being true, I said it was always my choice to drink and that I suffered a spiritual sickness that could only be cured by God. After the meeting an old guy cornered me and started lecturing me that this was garbage science, blah blah blah. Truth is, I suspected my words would get this reaction. AA is a fantastic organization, but it’s strength and weakness is it hasn’t changed since 1930. Most members are pretty tolerant, but there’s a group of fundamentalist opposed to modern medical research, and things like counseling. This behavior is nothing new, a small % of people will always stratify. For example, there’s a guy in my counseling group that hates AA and says so often, even though I’ve never heard a valid reason from him. Such extremists simply need to be ignored so they don’t impede the progress of everyone else.