Agent_Orange
07-28-2003, 06:20 PM
This "review" of the Big Book Alcoholics Anonymous was
published in The New York Times in 1939. It was actually
written by a hidden A.A. true believer -- Percy Hutchison
-- not by a neutral observer or dispassionate critic:
"Lest this title should arouse the risibles in any reader let me state that
the general thesis of "Alcoholics Anonymous" is more soundly based
psychologically than any other treatment of the subject I have ever come
upon.
....
"Alcoholics Anonymous" is unlike any other book ever before
published. No reviewer can say how many have contributed
to its pages. But the list of writers should include
addicts and doctors, psychiatrists and clergymen.
....
"Here, then, is the key to "Alcoholics Anonymous," the great
and indisputable lesson this extraordinary book would
convey. The alcoholic addict ... cannot, by any effort of
what he calls his "will," insure himself against taking his
"first dose." We saw how the chap with his whiskey in milk
missed out. There is one way for our authors, and but one
way. The utter suffusion of the mind by an idea which shall
exclude any idea of alcohol or of drugs.
....
"The thesis of the book is, if we read it aright, that this
all-embracing and all-commanding idea must be religious.
.... There is no suggestion advanced in the book that an
addict should embrace one faith rather than another. He may
fall back upon an "absolute," or "A Power which makes for
righteousness" if he chooses. The point of the book is that
he is unlikely to win through unless he floods his mind
with the idea of a force outside himself. So doing, his
individual problem resolves into thin air. In last
analysis, it is the resigning word: Not my will, but Thine,
be done, said in the full knowledge of the fact that the
decision will be against further addiction.
....
"The argument, as we have said, has a deep psychological
foundation."
-- BOOK REVIEW, NEW YORK TIMES, June 25, 1939. ALCOHOLIC
EXPERIENCE, By Percy Hutchison
Faith healing is not "soundly based psychologically", and
it does not have "a deep psychological foundation".
Nevertheless, the A.A. true believers persistently claim
that it does, even while they simultaneously brag that A.A.
is not based on science. See:
http://aorange1.tripod.com/orange-cult_a0.html#unscientific_doctors
and
http://aorange1.tripod.com/orange-cult_a0.html#ca_irrationality
And they have been doing that for 64 years now. That's the
Big Lie technique. Just never stop telling the lie, no
matter how absurd and contradictory it is..
By the way, Percy Hutchison was *the poetry editor* of The
New York Times. What does a poetry editor know about
medicine, alcoholism, or human psychology? How could
Hutchison claim to know that the problem of alcoholism
would just "resolve into thin air" if an alcoholic followed
Bill Wilson's instructions? What was Hutchison doing
reviewing a book about a new cure for alcoholism, and
recommending one treatment program over another? When did
he become qualified to advise the public about critical
life-or-death medical issues like alcoholism? Isn't that
the job of the medical editor or the science editor?
Let me guess -- Hutchison suggested the book and
volunteered to review it because he really wanted people to
hear about a wonderful new fellowship that had a magical
new treatment program for alcoholism...
The June 1940 financial report of "Works Publishing" says
that the original New York A.A. group used the New York
Times Book Review and several other media outlets to
publicize and tout the newly-printed Big Book for free.
Obviously, that so-called "book review" was a very biased
piece of promotional propaganda, not a fair, objective
analysis of the Alcoholics Anonymous program or the A.A.
book. See:
http://aorange1.tripod.com/orange-june40.html#pg5
That's the Big Lie technique -- just keep saying it, over
and over and over again, as often as you can, and in as
many places as you can.
* Agent Orange *
* agent_orange@linuxmail.org *
* AA and Recovery Cult Debunking *
* http://aorange1.tripod.com/ *
* True infomation, human intelligence, *
* and Reason are the mortal enemies of *
* cult leaders... *
published in The New York Times in 1939. It was actually
written by a hidden A.A. true believer -- Percy Hutchison
-- not by a neutral observer or dispassionate critic:
"Lest this title should arouse the risibles in any reader let me state that
the general thesis of "Alcoholics Anonymous" is more soundly based
psychologically than any other treatment of the subject I have ever come
upon.
....
"Alcoholics Anonymous" is unlike any other book ever before
published. No reviewer can say how many have contributed
to its pages. But the list of writers should include
addicts and doctors, psychiatrists and clergymen.
....
"Here, then, is the key to "Alcoholics Anonymous," the great
and indisputable lesson this extraordinary book would
convey. The alcoholic addict ... cannot, by any effort of
what he calls his "will," insure himself against taking his
"first dose." We saw how the chap with his whiskey in milk
missed out. There is one way for our authors, and but one
way. The utter suffusion of the mind by an idea which shall
exclude any idea of alcohol or of drugs.
....
"The thesis of the book is, if we read it aright, that this
all-embracing and all-commanding idea must be religious.
.... There is no suggestion advanced in the book that an
addict should embrace one faith rather than another. He may
fall back upon an "absolute," or "A Power which makes for
righteousness" if he chooses. The point of the book is that
he is unlikely to win through unless he floods his mind
with the idea of a force outside himself. So doing, his
individual problem resolves into thin air. In last
analysis, it is the resigning word: Not my will, but Thine,
be done, said in the full knowledge of the fact that the
decision will be against further addiction.
....
"The argument, as we have said, has a deep psychological
foundation."
-- BOOK REVIEW, NEW YORK TIMES, June 25, 1939. ALCOHOLIC
EXPERIENCE, By Percy Hutchison
Faith healing is not "soundly based psychologically", and
it does not have "a deep psychological foundation".
Nevertheless, the A.A. true believers persistently claim
that it does, even while they simultaneously brag that A.A.
is not based on science. See:
http://aorange1.tripod.com/orange-cult_a0.html#unscientific_doctors
and
http://aorange1.tripod.com/orange-cult_a0.html#ca_irrationality
And they have been doing that for 64 years now. That's the
Big Lie technique. Just never stop telling the lie, no
matter how absurd and contradictory it is..
By the way, Percy Hutchison was *the poetry editor* of The
New York Times. What does a poetry editor know about
medicine, alcoholism, or human psychology? How could
Hutchison claim to know that the problem of alcoholism
would just "resolve into thin air" if an alcoholic followed
Bill Wilson's instructions? What was Hutchison doing
reviewing a book about a new cure for alcoholism, and
recommending one treatment program over another? When did
he become qualified to advise the public about critical
life-or-death medical issues like alcoholism? Isn't that
the job of the medical editor or the science editor?
Let me guess -- Hutchison suggested the book and
volunteered to review it because he really wanted people to
hear about a wonderful new fellowship that had a magical
new treatment program for alcoholism...
The June 1940 financial report of "Works Publishing" says
that the original New York A.A. group used the New York
Times Book Review and several other media outlets to
publicize and tout the newly-printed Big Book for free.
Obviously, that so-called "book review" was a very biased
piece of promotional propaganda, not a fair, objective
analysis of the Alcoholics Anonymous program or the A.A.
book. See:
http://aorange1.tripod.com/orange-june40.html#pg5
That's the Big Lie technique -- just keep saying it, over
and over and over again, as often as you can, and in as
many places as you can.
* Agent Orange *
* agent_orange@linuxmail.org *
* AA and Recovery Cult Debunking *
* http://aorange1.tripod.com/ *
* True infomation, human intelligence, *
* and Reason are the mortal enemies of *
* cult leaders... *