Originally Posted by
August252015 
Because historically - and still, in many circles- addiction/alcoholism has been widely considered a moral failing on the part of the individual. Use whatever words you like, values/morals/character/ so on.... addiction framed as a choice or a value-based flaw has long contributed to the stigma, secrecy, lack of seeking help, on and on.
Yes, I believe in the disease model of addiction. Yes, I believe both genetics and environment/habits/etc play a part.
No, I do not think morality or any way of describing right and wrong has anything to do with someone being an addict. We all make choices based in our moral code, whether cultural, religious, what have you, and addicts are not free from the responsibility or consequences of the often heinous things we do, but I absolutely reject the idea that I am an addict by choice, or any kind of moral election one way or the other. I am sober and in recovery by choice, as that is the best solution in everybody way to the condition of alcoholism.
Well for me it is a very different way of thinking about addiction, alcohol, choice and sobriety. For me the moral character of my decisions when I was a drunk and the results of those decisions helped drive me to be the person I am now.
I believe that it's was and always will be a choice to place the bottle to my lips. While I certainly do not think that I chose to be a person who could not control his alcohol consumption, it was a choice that I made, over and over again, to continue drinking.
The values that I have wihin me were always injured and stifled by my returns to the bottle. Those values are the same ones that today I am able to access and elevate as a sober person.
Above all, you and I and many people similar to each of us are sober. In the end of course, we both agree that sobriety is all that truly matters. The means by which we got here are different. And I certainly don't mean to disparage your technique and lense on what it is to be a person who cannot control their alcohol consumption. However I do think that my voice and those like me, who reject the addiction model and do not believe in permanent recovery, are also important voices for those of us out there who are still struggling to win the battle against the Beast.