> They make no sense, but that's why the meme works. AA is free and you talk to people about your issues, it's hard to see why it's wrong, which is why people love the meme.
this isn't a very charitable take. there are a lot of legitimate reasons to be skeptical about AA. to an outsider, the tone and content of the twelve steps can seem pretty weird. why abstinence only, and why don't coffee and cigarettes count? why are people prohibited from identifying themselves as a drug addict in some AA meetings (as if alcohol is not itself a drug)? why does AA itself collect essentially no data that could be used to determine the efficacy of the program? why do courts mandate attending AA but not other similar support groups?
the old adage "it's hard to beat free" certainly applies here, but I wouldn't casually discount all the negative stories in this thread from addicts that tried AA.
this isn't a very charitable take. there are a lot of legitimate reasons to be skeptical about AA. to an outsider, the tone and content of the twelve steps can seem pretty weird. why abstinence only, and why don't coffee and cigarettes count? why are people prohibited from identifying themselves as a drug addict in some AA meetings (as if alcohol is not itself a drug)? why does AA itself collect essentially no data that could be used to determine the efficacy of the program? why do courts mandate attending AA but not other similar support groups?
the old adage "it's hard to beat free" certainly applies here, but I wouldn't casually discount all the negative stories in this thread from addicts that tried AA.