Answering your questions and assuring you that we ARE AA.

Table of Contents

1. Why do you guys hate AA?
2. You guys are full of criticism but short on solutions
3. You make some good points, why don't you use the General Service Conference to resolve your disputes?
4. I heard an AA member was sentenced to jail by AAWS actions.
5. The guy in Germany deserved what he got
6. When I talk to or write the GSO I get and entirely different story from what you guys tell.
7. Why did AAWS stop using the circle triangle symbol to represent Conference Approved Literature?
8. Why do you guys seem to dwell on Bill W's history so much?

Answers

1. Why do you guys hate AA?
   
   We don't hate the AA Fellowship. In fact we thrive in the AA Fellowship. Contrary to our moniker of "minority opinion" in most cases we actually express the MAJORITY OPINION. It is our love of the AA fellowship that motivates us to follow the guidelines in our service material which explicitly says:

   [Concept V] "In the light of the principle of the "Right of Appeal," all minorities - whether in our staffs, committees, corporate boards, or among the Trustees - should be encouraged to file minority reports whenever they feel a majority to be in considerable error. And when a minority considers an issue to be such a grave one that a mistaken decision could seriously affect A.A. as a whole, it should then charge itself with the actual duty of presenting a minority report to the Conference."

   Also we feel we are within the ideals of Concept XII which says:

   "In the long run, though, we shall have to rely mainly upon the pressures of A.A. opinion and public opinion. And to this end we shall need to maintain a continuous education of public communications channels of all kinds concerning the nature and purpose of our Traditions. Whenever and however we can, we shall need to inform the general public also; especially upon misuses of the name Alcoholics Anonymous. This combination of counter forces can be very discouraging to violators or would-be violators. Under these conditions they soon find their deviations to be unprofitable and unwise. Our experience has shown that continuous and general education respecting our Traditions will be a reliable preventive and protection in the years to come."

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2. You guys are full of criticism but short on solutions
   
   This is true. We are critics and contrary to popular belief we know it and wish there was a different way to get our points out to the AA Fellowship. The truth of the matter is we've tried to get our points across at General Service Conference after General Service Conference and the result has been rejection by the various Conference Committees to add our issues to the GSC Agenda. We are relatively certain that if we are heard, entire issues would come out different from what has been the results. We can't control the GSC, the Trustees or the process so we are reluctant to fall back to the position of informing AA members and the public directly.
   
   We are a part of the collective Group Conscience of AA and we are not always united in our ideas of what the solutions should be. As in any Group Conscience, some of us do have suggestions. The main purpose of our efforts at aamo.info and the gsowatch newsgroup is to inform the Group Conscience of AA so that these issues can be openly discussed and dealt with openly with an informed Group Conscience.. Our mission is often to see that the Group conscience knows all the facts held by the minority, and often the majority, so those dealing with the issues can work with that, rather than the half-truths, non-truths, or the lack of information that they often have to work with. We know that it is often impossible to adhere to AA principles if the Group Conscience is not informed, or is mis-informed.
   
   Contrary to the idea that we offer no solutions the fact is we have. We have informed thousands of people about our web sites and newsgroups and have invited participation. We realize this is not a solution so we have routinely suggested that AA Groups and AA members refrain from supporting AAWS financially and have openly recommended AA Groups and AA members buy their Big Books and AA literature from alternative sources such as Anonymous Press or the local intergroup produced literature.
   
   These suggestions are within the Traditions and Concepts for World Service which tell us that if we do not have sufficient voice that the best way to get our voices heard is through the power of the purse string.
   
   This is IN FACT working. Less the 50% of registered AA Groups contribute to AAWS. That is significant because that 50% represents only half of the active AA groups. The fact is 50% of AA Groups never even register with the AAWS's GSO so they only effectively represent 25% of the uninformed AA groups and members..
   
   To put this in perspective, while 25% of AA IS represented by AAWS, only 67% of AA is required to change the Traditions or the content of the Big Book and 75% is not represented.
   
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3. You make some good points, why don't you use the General Service Conference to resolve your disputes?
   
   A good question and the answer is, we've tried. Since the early 1980s we've had a delegate or trustee who expressed our concerns. One or two delegates or a General Service Board Trustee does not effect much of a difference. In the recent General Manager Rotation issue there were several Trustees and Delegates in the "minority opinion" and the General Manager, seeing the cards were a losing hand, agreed to "retire".
   
   This is the exception, not the rule. Generally many letters are written to various Trustees and delegates and the issue we are concerned with does get some attention. The attention is routinely that it isn't recommended to the GSC as a whole, so essentially, the issue is only heard by a few very select individuals whose allegiance is uncertain.
   
   Our websites are full of correspondence to and from the appropriate people. A full review of our website (thousands of pages) will bear this out rather clearly
   
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4. I heard an AA member was sentenced to jail by AAWS actions
   
   This is true but perhaps a little misleading. The member, Javier, was a trustee of the Seccion Mexico General Service Office and General Service Board. While he was sentenced to jail for one year, Seccion Mexico Groups were outraged and raised enough funds to pay his bail so he wouldn't have to go to jail.
   
   A side note to this tragedy -- being convicted of copyright infringement is outrageous in Mexico. While visiting Mexico City for a Seccion Mexico International Convention (no registration fee, all expenses paid by 7th tradition contributions) we learned you can buy anything in Mexico from Rolex watch duplicates to the latest movie releases (before they premier in US theaters). No one is sentenced to jail when they are prosecuted for these copyright crimes. That Javier was sentenced is super extraordinary in the justice system in Mexico suggesting that the judge in that case was exceptionally motivated to provide punishment above and beyond what is ordinary in Mexico.
   
   Javier did and has felt the result of this punishment though. Since the sentence he has had extreme difficulty in finding gainful employment because of his "criminal" past. Prior to AAWS and Central Mexico's punitive lawsuit, Javier was highly respected and a community leader.
   
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5. The guy in Germany deserved what he got
   
   While this is a matter of perspective, we don't believe that is true. "The guy" was the only member of the AABBSG that AAWS and AAeV could focus on to sue. The other members who were identified, and were being sued, signed an agreement to cease their involvement in distributing free Big Books. The one member who continued to be sued had only taken part of the 12th step actions of his home group and refused to stop doing 12th step work or violate our AA principles.
   
   The idea that he deserved what he got is contrary to our Traditions and our Concepts for World Service. Concept XII, Warranty 5 is very clear that AA ought never be punitive, nor act as a government. We have on record statements by AA officials who clearly said they were going to ruin him and bankrupt him. Sounds a bit punitive, and the action to get a group to stop doing 12th step work appears to be an act of governing, although using the courts to manage the situation rather than managing AA Groups directly.
   
   Initially AAWS and AAeV filed criminal complaints with the hope that the Attorney General would solve their problem with this individual (actually group). The Attorney General and the Tax board investigated all the criminal complaints and dismissed all charges. The Attorney General went further and admonished AAWS and AAeV to follow their own Traditions when dealing with their internal affairs. AAWS and AAeV appealed this decision by the Attorney General and the Supreme Court reviewed the Attorney General's decision and upheld it by dismissing the complaint.
   
   If AA was a business, the idea of suing someone that may be interfering with our 'profit' makes sense. But we are not in 'business' and 'profit' is not our motive. Our only purpose is to carry the message of AA to those that still suffer, which was the motive of the 'guy in Germany'. He had no 'profit' motive, only wanting to help the suffering alcoholics by getting them the literature they needed to recover. This was one of the things the Attorney General pointed out in his response to the criminal allegations brought forward by AAWS and AAeV.. Concept XII, Warranty Five, mentioned above, shows an AA principle that was ignored by AAWS in the German and Mexican lawsuits. Just as many of us believe that "God was not a bush league pinch hitter", we also do not believe that AA principles should only be followed when it agrees with what we want.
   
   We still wonder if anyone in AA would have acted differently after doing good works to help carry the message then was sued to stop doing what our steps demand of us. Would we tell AAWS or AAeV who in our group contributed 7th Tradition money to buy books so that AAWS or AAeV could sue them also?
   
   
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6. When I talk to or write the GSO I get an entirely different story from what you guys tell.
   
   First, we encourage folks to get all the information they can from every source available so they can make up their own minds about the information we provide. We offer Minority Opinion Reports. By definition they aren't always the most popular opinions, just important to gain an "informed" group conscience.
   
   It is our experience (and that experience is extensive) that when AAWS replies to questions we provoke they are often less than honest or pervert our spiritual principles rather aggressively. We can't control what 'they' tell you but we can assure you that our web sites are full of correspondence where their replies are proven to be false and misleading. This is one of our greatest dilemmas, that when you ask questions you aren't given the truth. We don't want to call our so-called service center liars, so we don't. We just provide evidence that contradicts their stories. Because we have so much documentation online we suggest you ask for their answers in writing with documentation to back up their claims.
   
   One example of a misleading answer is the question about the cost of litigatons provoked by AAWS Inc. The common answer is "that is ongoing and we are not allowed to address that at this time" The truth is that they can't discuss the litigations actions, motions and ongoing results but they can certainly discuss the cost of the litigations which is perfectly within our right to know. We've resorted to providing tax returns so interested members can decipher the information for themselves.
   
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7. Why did AAWS stop using the circle triangle symbol to represent Conference Approved Literature?
   
   This is actually one thing that AAWS has done that makes some sense. First, however, they acted without the guidance of the General Service Board.
   
   The answer is that they would never have won their lawsuit against Freedman or Frames of Mind and the mark they had registered after learning they were grossly negligent with the Big Book copyright was a mark that was ancient history, being used by druids in England centuries ago.
   
   If we don't have it now, we will in the near future, have illustrations of ancient symbols of the circle triangle. The real question is why AAWS stopped using the symbol after they lost their various litigations.
   
   This is actually a good response by AAWS. If they continued to use the symbol and outside agencies were using the same symbols for trinkets, etc. there would be an implication of association or affiliation with the trinket manufacturers.
   
   This makes good sense to us and we support their decision.
   
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8. Why do you guys seem to dwell on Bill W's history so much?
   
   Bill's history runs hand in hand with all that AA is and does, even today, still.
   
   Yes Bill is dead and gone. We appreciate his contributions to the AA movement and the AA Fellowship, but he was far from being a saint as he appropriately wrote in our Big Book. Bill's ego was rarely in check and he was always a promoter and advocate for a popular AA Movement as oppose to a spiritual society. His only real check in the early years was Dr. Bob. When Dr. Bob passed in 1950, the reigns were loosed on Bill's ambitions. An example we suffer today is the General Service Conference that provides the illusion that 'we' (the AA Fellowship) have some say in what is done in the New York corporations that effects every AA group today.
   
   While we join in an appreciation of Bill's sincere and beneficial contributions to AA, we have to look to our history in order to avoid making the mistakes of the past. Bill's history is well known and an abundant source of both what to do right and what to do wrong.
   
   We feel it is our duty to report the past as it is relevant to the present and Bill will always play a role in those observations. Our efforts are not to undermine Bill's contributions but as he, himself, would encourage, to find the truth and make appropriate corrections where he was in error.
   
   Truth of the matter is our websites are a tribute to Bill's better ideals that our society ought to be democratic in nature.
   
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