the point of course, wasn't that chatting is bad, on or offlist. i was complaining because both of you were trying to offer criticisms of Rudy, without understanding what i had said, let alone offering your criticisms against my own text, something i find exceedingly rude and just plain wrong. stressing the voluntarism of meetings does nothing to undermine Rudy's research. both of you were stressing how voluntary the meetings at AA are. this has nothing to do with anything. all the author's illustration does is show how fervent is the desire to define others' as alcoholics. it is one of many illustrations that are woven together to make an argument. the reason why they talk to him is b/c he's doing research. in order to do research on actually talks to people. that is, he interviews them.
take this list, for example. plenty of people just lurk. indeed 80% probably lurk. that does not mean that, in the course of fundamentalist discussions of what constitutes a "lefty" they don't get the message, loud and clear, what a lefty is, in general. ditto alcoholism. if AA defines the alcoholic or addict as someone who cannot control his drinking and using, then people who CAN control it by staying sober for weeks, months, years without having a problem are going to think of themselves as not belonging. that doesn't mean they haven't fucked up their lives pretty miserably, which is probably why they're sitting in the meeting.
when an attendee says that they do not feel powerless to drugs or alcohol and they disagree with the dicta of AA, then they are argued with, loudly and adamantly. you, paula, may not participate in the argument. but you get the predominant message espoused by the core members of the group, and there is a social hierarchy of long timers. etc.
similarly, AA's insistence on abstinence based on this claim about uncontrollable drinking may well be damaging since it just may apply only to certain people who drink excessively, not all people who drink excessively.
joanna's point about the need for a little cultural relativism here is probably quite pertinent. the problem with AA is that it based on a medical model of deviance that locates the problem in a substance outside of/foreign to the body and/or a medical model of a defect internal to the body. the problem is that AA's practices may simply work for the problem drinkers and addicts who fit their model. those who don't succeed with AA feel like failures, more than they already did.
kelley