How AA Normalizes Alcohol
Blaming the drinker, not the drink
We are reaching a critical mass in the way we view alcohol and drinking in moderation, and I welcome it with open arms.
Alcohol is healthy for no one, even in moderation, so it’s time to do away with the notion of a normal drinker, or a “normie,” as they say in Alcoholics Anonymous.
Yes, there are mild to moderate drinkers, but they aren’t excluded from alcohol negatively impacting their health.
Alcohol is a known carcinogen. I often wonder how many mild to moderate drinkers got cancer and never looked at alcohol as the culprit, the way we would if they were a smoker.
In AA, there are only two classifications of drinkers: alcoholics and normies. Neither of which is accurate; there is an entire spectrum of alcohol abuse.
Why is this dangerous?
Because it prevents so-called “normies” from taking a good, hard look at their drinking and their health, and allows them to come to the conclusion that if they aren’t an “alcoholic,” they must be normal.
The idea of a normal drinker is written in the AA Big Book, which is akin to the AA bible, and reinforced at every meeting you attend.
The specific passage begins Chapter Three of the Big Book, “More About Alcoholism”:
Most of us have been unwilling to admit we were real alcoholics. No person likes to think he is bodily and mentally different from his fellows. Therefore, it is not surprising that our drinking careers have been characterized by countless vain attempts to prove we could drink like other people.
The idea that somehow, someday he will control and enjoy his drinking is the great obsession of every abnormal drinker. The persistence of this illusion is astonishing. Many pursue it into the gates of insanity or death.
First, there’s no such thing as a “real alcoholic.” Attend any AA meeting, and you’ll find a spectrum of problem drinking and the circumstances that go with it. Everything from the penniless guy with 5 DUIs who just got out of jail, to the upperclass housewife who was drinking too much wine during the week.
They are both lumped into one category: “alcoholic.”
If you can make it to work, never get a DUI, and not have your world collapse, you can maintain the label of “normal drinker,” despite drinking regularly and what that might be doing to your health, marriage, mood, and parenting skills.
The AA Big Book was written in 1939. Now we know better. There is a spectrum of alcohol use and abuse, and even moderate drinkers have health risks associated with drinking.
There is no such thing as a “normal drinker,” any more than there is a “normal smoker.” No one is immune to the health risks.
There’s a lot of antiquated terminology that comes from AA that became part of our cultural vernacular along the way, not just at AA meetings.
It’s time to examine these misleading ideas and replace them with facts:
Alcohol is unhealthy for everyone.
