Everybody's Focussing In (On The Wrong Thing)

We put this topic in our subhead yesterday - that few follow-up on Charlie Sheen's charge about AA being a cult - and, today, this is the only article we've found about it, with the rest focusing on Sheen's ranting, rather than the validity of his words. (Wouldn't you rant, if you were railroaded into a cult that was accepted by society, but you weren't?) Which, now that we think about it, is exactly the process used on us as well:

Actor Charlie Sheen is stirring controversy and criticism after delivering an on air rant during an interview on the Alex Jones Show. During the on air radio rant, Sheen criticized the producer of his hit CBS television sitcom Two and a Half Men, but also made some negative references to Alcoholics Anonymous. 

Speaking of his sobriety and the group known for their infamous 12 step program and helping others take their alcohol addictions one day at a time; Sheen described AA as a “bootleg cult.”  Is he right?  You may be surprised to discover that Charlie Sheen isn’t alone in his assumption that Alcoholics Anonymous is a cult.  Also, many drug and alcohol treatment centers have developed into cults, for example Synanon.  So what about Alcoholics Anonymous?

Drugs and Cults: Connected?

Drugs and cults are often connected.  Many cult leaders ranging from Charles Manson to Jim Jones were associated with drugs.  Whether it was using mind altering drugs as a form of control or claiming to cure drug and alcohol addiction, cults and drugs have a long history. Many testimonies, often given by former cult members, usually involve some form of drug use. Either drugs were used by the group, by the group's leader, or the member joined the group to overcome an addiction.

Drugs, Cults and a Higher Power

Some cults use their 'special connection' to God as a lure to gain new members; proposing a cure for drug and alcohol addiction. There have been many allegations against various drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers indicating that the facility was not offering “therapy” but rather mind controlling techniques that likened the group to a cult. Many people who have attended Alcoholics Anonymous or have been sent to live in residential drug and alcohol rehabilitation facilities have left the experience asking if they were involved in a cult.

Is there one easy, definitive answer or is being in this type of group a different experience for everyone?  Can one person join a group like A.A. and leave with a positive feeling and another leave as though they were spiritually and emotionally abused?
The problem may arise from the fact that 12 step programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous and other drug and alcohol treatment centers focus on one thing: mind control and behavioral techniques. 

As these groups are founded on the premise of altering your thoughts, mind set and behavior, it is inevitable that the association with cult like tendencies will be made.

Yeah, "inevitable", unless you're programed by a NewAge cult culture to be more concerned with a man screaming for freedom, rather than a cult scheming on it.

That shit works like a charm.

Oh - and BTW, that drug and alcohol treatment center, Synanon? That's Scientology, and the courts will force you to go into their bullshit to get "help". This bullshit just never stops.

But, then, nobody wants it to.