I Don't Care If People Don't Like Me

  

Senator Franken got it almost right with his character, Stuart Smalley.  But Stuart is kind and assumes the best in people (just not himself).  The twelve-steppers of AA, founded on Christian born again fundamentalism, aren't  They are full of fear, intolerance, and hate.  The audience of SNL wasn't (and probably still isn't) ready for this type of honest depiction, however.  It's still taboo to criticize religion.  Hopefully people will start to see these psychotics for the irrational, dangerous, lunatics they are.

Naturally Incapable of Rigorous Honesty and Suffering From Grave Emotional and Mental Disorders

Every AA meeting opens up with this prayer:

Rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path. Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not completely give themselves to this simple program, usually men and women who are constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves. There are such unfortunates. They are not at fault; they seem to have been born that way. There are naturally incapable of grasping and developing a manner of living which demands rigorous honesty. Their chances are less than average. There are those, too, who suffer from grave emotional and mental disorders, but many of them do recover if they have the capacity to be honest.

If you have any independent thought, you will soon grow extremely tired of its astounding degree of condescension, blaming, arrogance, and shockingly blatant effort at manipulation.

"Rarely have they seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path"

Wow.  It sounds like AA is very effective!  This is a lie.  Even AA admits it.  They qualify this statement by "thoroughly."  If it doesn't work for you, it's your fault--you didn't follow their (simple) path thoroughly enough.  It's your fault!  You can't even follow a simple program!!

The truth is that people who quit on their own have an equal, if not higher, success rate than those that follow AA's path.  The problem isn't with the person, it's with the program.  AA simultaneously falsely legitimizes itself as effective when it is not, and then bashes the poor alcoholic when AA doesn't work for him/her.  Charming.

"Men and women who are constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves.  There are such unfortunates."

This is perhaps the most condescending statement I've heard anyone utter.  The idea that a group of deluded, unthinking, unquestioning sheep could know myself better than I do is outrageous.  They can't even accurately assess their own lives or critically assess the AA program.  They unquestioningly accept what Bill W. says as the truth.  If they are unable to question themselves critically, they are in no position to do so to me.  But they do, and take pity on me as a hopeless case...an "unfortunate" who they turn their backs on.

People who fail are either:

"naturally incapable of grasping and developing a manner of living which demands rigorous honesty"

I always snorted when someone said this.  If AA members lived in a manner demanding rigorous honesty they would realize:

• that AA has been repeatedly shown, using rigorous double-blind, placebo-controlled trials, to be utterly ineffective in achieving sobriety.  The likelihood of success is just as high in those that stop drinking on their own.  One major study showed that people who attend AA are 9-times more likely to binge drink, compared with those who do Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy (REBT).  Even AA's triennial survey admitted to the ineffectiveness of its program.  But AA members reject these pieces of evidence.  They are in a constant state of denial, which is ironic because that's how they dismiss others (like myself) who disagree with them. 
• that the evidence for a Christian God, which is what AA is based on, is nonexistent.  Combine this with the many suspect, self serving reasons to believe in such a god (fear of death, fear of others unlike us, fear of change, selfloathing, etc...), and all this god talk begins to sound like a type of psychosis.  I heard many testimonies about personal visits and conversations from God by people in AA meetings.  I was scared that such delusional people were, not just walking the streets, but approved of by society.
• they are, in no way, superior to me in being capable of being honest with myself. Not only am I incapable of being rigorously honest, but I'm naturally incapable of even grasping it!  I was evidently born defective mentally, and cannot operate at the high plane of mental functioning that average AA members are able.  And even more, I'm so stunted intellectually and/or morally that I'm incapable of realizing it!
• they were wasting half their lives at AA meetings in dark damp church basements where all anyone ever talks about is how great the program is, how close to death they were, and how they would be dead if it weren't for AA.  Say it enough times, and people will believe it, maybe, is what they are shooting for.  This is also called "brainwashing."  Look into it.

 "suffer from grave emotional and mental disorders"

I guess my doctors are all incompetent.  I must be bipolar or schizophrenic and they missed it.  Maybe I should trust AA instead of them, especially since they're so rigorously honest, unlike my physicians.

"many of them do recover if they have the capacity to be honest."

So all you have to do to succeed at AA is have the capability of being honest.  I guess "honest" really in the language that AA uses means "gullible."  It certainly doesn't mean believing the truth.  It means believing the lies that AA tells you, and then spouting off constantly about how wonderfully it works.

This mean-spirited, "kick 'em when their down," attitude is common to christian fundamentalists.  It's not the version of Christianity taught in the older, more traditional forms of Catholicism, Protestantism, or other religions.  The christian "born again" fundamentalists are a sick, twisted, selfish, and hateful lot.

I don't know which is more shocking to me:  that society has such a beneficent view of the AA, or that people in AA can be such gullible idiots.  Society doesn't really know that much about AA.  Most people only know of someone who has gone to meetings.  If they had gone themselves, or have read the lunatic rantings of Bill W. in the "Big Book" that is read like scripture in every meeting and followed with blind obedience, I'm sure they would think differently.

The sad fact of the matter is that there are many people truly helpless at the hands of alcohol.  They are decent people who, for some reason, cannot stop drinking.  They are suckered into the scam that AA will save them, if only they are subservient enough and give up all critical reasoning ability.  Why trust medical researchers and physicians, when you can trust a former drunk's uncritical, uneducated religious rantings in the basement of a church?  The fact that AA preys on these, the real "unfortunates," is the worst aspect of this entire sham. 

Atheists Aren't The Ones Who Are Arrogant

During my IDIP courses at Amethyst Foundation, Inc., the LADC who was "teaching" told me repeatedly that my "arrogant atheism" prevented me from ever being able to deal with my "drinking problem."

I encountered this same insanity during the AA meetings I was forced to attend (especially when I refused to hold hands in a circle and pray with those losers).

You know what's arrogant?  Thinking that the supreme being is interested in your sorry ass or your whining about your "drinking problem."  That's the height of arrogance.

It's also the height of stupidity.  But if you've been through this, you already know how stupid these people are.  Willful ignorance is a prerequisite to being a LADC, and it's why they drank to deal with their problems before being certified to push their nonthinking ideology on others.  I'd rather they had stayed the pathetic drunks they were.

Wanted: Civil Rights Attorney

I've been contacted by several people who, like me, are deeply offended by being forced by the state of New Hampshire to attend AA meetings that are religious, ineffective, and insulting to anyone with any degree of intelligence.  We would love to file a class-action lawsuit in Federal Court on Establishment Clause grounds.

Are there any seasoned civil rights attorneys out there who would be willing to help?  This abuse of power needs to be stopped.  If so, please email me at AtheosAmericus@gmail.com

Would You Like To Guest Blog?

I'd love to hear from anyone wanting to guest blog on Force Worship!  It will be anonymous, of course.  Email me!

(Note:  be sure to exempt AtheosAmericus@gmail.com from your spam filter.)

Getting a Good DUI Lawyer

Finding the Right Attorney is Very, Very Important

When I was arrested for DUI, a lot was at stake: jail time, huge fines, etc... I went to one of the most reputable law firm in New Hampshire. It would seem a logical choice, but I ended up getting crappy representation from an inadequately supervised junior associate who was too afraid and insecure to admit when he didn't know something.  I trusted him because he worked for a highly respected law firm. This was a mistake. I ended up making wrong, uninformed (and expensive) decisions--some of which I actually had to correct for him by filing court paperwork later. To add insult to injury, the guy was a former cop who just dripped with a snarky, judgmental, "you deserved it, so stop whining" attitude. I really felt ripped off.

My advice to anyone looking for a lawyer to is surf the web and look for attorneys that show a passion for criminal defense work in general, and DUI defense in specific. DUI laws are grossly unfair and extremely punitive. Because of hysterical MADD lobbying groups and religious AA prohibitionists, state legislators, district attorneys, sheriffs and other elected officials are pressured to enact and enforce ridiculous DUI laws.

Good attorneys know this, and they know that good citizens are being unfairly punished and need good representation. Their passion will show in their websites. A good DUI lawyer will blog about DUI laws, defenses, and legislation, etc... and I'm sure they would have done a better and cheaper job then the jerk I hired.

Here are some sites that impressed me. I wish I had checked them out:

Eugene C. Struckhoff, III, Lothstein Law Office, PLLC, Concord, New Hampshire

Gene Struckhoff ("Citizen, Lawyer"), a graduate of Harvard Law who has been defending individuals since 1969, has a long essay entitled "The Importance of Defending DWI/DUI Cases." I couldn't help but be impressed with this.

Mark Stevens, The Law Offices of Mark Stevens, Salem, New Hampshire

Mark Stevens specializes in DUI representation and is extremely experienced at it, as indicated by his online attorney profile. He went to law school at Massachusetts School of Law, which is not a very good law school. But the truth is that law school really doesn't teach you how to be an attorney, practicing law does.  Getting into Harvard Law really only shows that you got (very) good grades as an undergraduate and scored (very) high on the LSAT.  Stevens looks good, and his passion for what he does is evident.

Daniel Hynes (aka, "The NH DWI Guy"), The Law Offices of Daniel Hynes, Nashua, New Hampshire

I was very impressed with Hynes's plucky attitude. He's gotten great reviews on Google and Yahoo. He does mainly DWI cases and has a lot of experience. His passion for his work comes across in his website videos, his online guidebook to DWI defenses, and extensive website DUI-related material. I feel that anyone who takes the time to write and make available content like this has a passion for what he does, and would likely do a great job defending you. He also seems aware of and sensitive to the expense of representation.  Hayes went to University of Albany (Criminology Major) and then to Western New England Law School.  Again, Western New England Law is not Harvard Law, but I'm not sure how meaningful the difference is in reality. 

Ryan Russman, Russman Law Offices, Exeter, New Hampshire

Russman looks very experienced and accomplished. A graduate of Suffolk Law and author of two books on DUI defense, he offers extensive resources on his website and is impressive. As a semi-finalist in both the ABA National Trail competition and Suffolk Law third year moot court competition, he's probably a great attorney if you have to go to trial.  He has great customer reviews, too.

I'm sure there are other great attorneys out there. You should look for someone who specializes in DUI cases, is smart, and is passionate. Passion is indicated to me by the degree of intellectual curiosity shown on their websites and their accomplishments. The attorneys above have written books on DUI defenses, have specialized training in DUI law, and even teach CLE courses on this stuff.  They have taken the time to create excellent websites.

Keep in mind that if you go to the firms above, you may very well be represented by a supervised, junior attorney. But be careful. Get assurances that they are competent and well supervised.

Though the attorney I hired worked for an impressive law firm, and was under the supervision of one of it's partners, he was a joke (an expensive one).

 Do you know of a good attorney?  If so, email me!