Quote:
Originally Posted by Atticus Grinch
I think your friend needs to revisit her definition of a cult. I assume she was just looking for a disparaging term for group membership in general. The best definition I've heard for a cult is that it combines a high degree of interest in novel religious beliefs with a high degree of tension with society. It seems to me, and I think any person without an axe to grind, that AA is the polar opposite of both. So to your friend, "cult" simply means "group that has expectations of its members." If she thinks that's bad and wrong, her prognosis is very poor.
I shall pray for your friend to my invisible god who wrote a book about himself 2,000 years ago but failed to invent IP law until some years later. He's a bit of a doofus but well-meaning and with a wicked sense of humor.
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I've spoken with enough AA-types to understand the "cult" concern -- the feeling of being "programmed", of having a mantra, and of there being a religious overlay to the process. I've even heard long-time AA members joke about the cultishness.
But it's effective, and I suspect that different groups are different. As Ebert points out, in any US city there is probably a group meeting nearby within the next hour. That's a lot of groups, all with a guiding philosophy but none with a central authority.
Alcohol addiction is a nightmare, and for anything to intervene between a person and that addiction it's got to be pretty powerful, intrusive, and mind-shaping -- not really a cult, but in some ways reminiscent of a cult (or what people think of as a cult).
