Like Jim I don't fault Bill for his "fuzzy" math and I do not doubt the results one can get from following the program as it is outlined in the book. But I refuse to look at the past with rose colored glasses and paint a picture of what AA was compared to what it is. AA has been full of spiritually sick people from day one. Most of the arguments we have today about AA have been going on since day one. Here is a classic example; women have separate meetings (Women's meetings) because of the stereotypes they faced early on. They were believed to have special problems. It was written about in the Grapevine in 1945 I believe (One of the reasons I like the Grapevine is because it gives a closer picture of the history of AA but it too is not infallible). They noted the isolation of women because they were likely to be involved with pills as well as booze. A Grapevine article was filled with the kinds of stereotyping that women were likely to encounter in the A.A. of this period, I believe I came across it on silkworth.net but can't remember. The article made some crazy points like The percentage of women who stay in A.A. is low. Many women form attachments too intense--bordering on the emotional. So many women were too controlling. Too many women don't like women ( we still hear this one today). Women talk too much.
Women can't do 12 step work with men and vice versa. A loose woman may show up at a group, on the prowl for phone numbers and dates. Few women can think in the abstract. Women's feelings get hurt too often. AA women cannot get along with the non-alcoholic wives of A.A. members. Women were often refused sponsorship by the male members and were viewed as suspect due to their frequent concurrent addiction to pills, not to mention all the other social stigmas that women alcoholics faced which were slightly different than male alkies. But the problem straightened itself out, with the exception of a few guys whining about women's meetings, it is not an issue in AA. But that isn't the history of AA we tell. We talk about this great gift the first 100 had which we are squandering away and that the rehab industry is trying to water down. I hope the following doesn't offend anyone:
This is what people like Hitler did. They take an internal problem and create an enemy. We have been tainted from day one in this fellowship, we have not been attacked by NA and the rehab industry. We created NA. Our fellowship can survive any problem, I am certain of that. But I think it is important to recognize that we are not saints and have always been quite far from that.