aacultwatch

A recent email:

“Dear Cultwatch parodiers,

“Did one of my rare browses of the AA Cultwatch (blogspot). Always good for a giggle. I must be seeing things. They posted about harassment? Isn’t that like Hitler hosting a peace conference? (loved your video by the way) [link to the video here]

“Had a little click on some of their topics and the abuse they spew on AAs is THE most extreme harassment I’ve come across in AA. They don’t just do it once they keep writing BS then leave it up to continue the harassing. 

“I say they but it’s just the same old loser posting the same old dross. I remember that old writing style. He’s now disappearing up his own asshole. Lecturing OTHERS on harassment, planning to lecture on sponsoring. AA cultwatch is anti-sponsorhip. They rant on about sponsorship not being part of the “original AA”. They really are out of touch with the mainstream membership.

“Do keep on publishing emails and posting. We need to be reminded that this cultwatch tosser is a bitter and dishonest hypocrite.

“Love in Fellowship,”

[Name withheld]

Thanks to our correspondent. All too true unfortunately. aacultwatch blogspot is infamous in AA UK for its online harassment of members like Clancy, Dennis, Kenneth M, David C, various small meetings, and of course there was that creepily obsessive period they became AAwaynewatch!

Anyhow, we look forward to having a large laugh as they publish their “thoughts” on sponsorship. Go for it fella!

Love in Fellowship,

Well well: now that AACultwatch blogspot is posting with such frequency (every five months), it’s obvious there’s a desperate crisis in AA in England, Something really urgent. Why else would they be posting so frequently? Anyhoo, for your entertainment and delight we present a selection of the most entertaining emails we received in the last 5 months about AACultwatch blogspot, starting with the most recent, an email that reminded us the blog was still releasing the occasional drip of lukewarm crap:

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Fellas, that N.A. who wrote to Cultwatch about Roads and DAA is Lee Rees. He funnels addicts from the Fellowship to his treatment centre Restart Recovery - http://www.reestartrecovery.co.uk/team.html which he makes money off of, exactly the sort of profit that AAcultwatch is against. Do they do ANY research on the people that email them? [name withheld]

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Howdy again "Fellas", It took the months to post it but have you seen the new rant on aacultwatch [blogspot]? It’s like he's still copying and pasting. Whens the last time they got an email. Does anyone read it except for entertainment? What a plonka rodney... I travel for work and pop into one of these "cult" meetings every so often. Nothing's ever happened to me. Bizarre. [snip] -

Guys, you should know about this. I went to a meeting last week in the South East when one of them "evil" people that cultwatch like to talk about appeared, newcomer in tow. Christ you should have seen it. One young guy comes in to speak says how the meeting should "cult-proof" itself, starts bitching at the "evil" person, looks straight at him. The newcomer walks out halfway through. It was f@@king horrific. Again methinks the cure is worse than the disease [name withheld]

- [snip] Yes I know of Pete V [Pete Vandermeer] too. He is very well-known around these parts, in and out like Remainer on speed. That gent is happy to give us a rant about what's wrong with our fellowship, and chat to the younger female newcomers. One time a secretary had to warn him off. We don't understand why it's people like this that the CultWatch [blogspot] looks up to. Their blog is a popularity contest, not to help alcoholics anonymous[snip] - Fellas and the lady, 

WTF - I was digging through your archives. Hilarious! And so sad in places too. Can't believe JH [John Hodgman] is an aacultwatch supporter. A bit of character around here - a gambling addict, likes to flutter down the local. With or without a beer - who knows? We looked around on the web after I saw him on here, he's got a wierd Facebook set-up of multi-profiles - a man who's trying to hide something. John loved to wander round conference back in the day, when he worked at GSO, saying snide things to delegates about other delegates. Real evil critter.  Cheers, [name witheld] - [snip]...and here's why I think this has nothing to with AA. In our Region we know Wayne and he's an OK AAer. Not my cup of tea and I wouldn't go to the meetings, then there's many I won't go to. What I do not comprehend is the hyperreligious Back to Basics meeting in Plymouth at the Christian Centre has been going on for years, and Cultwatch [blogspot] never talk about it. They go on about Roads but not Back to Basics in Plymouth. I occasionally mull on the thought that the site’s written by a bitter ex-Roadie who goes to BTB? [snip] -

Phew - that’s enough! God bless AACultwatch Blogspot - spreading lies and killing newcomers since 2007!

In fellowship,

What do you do when you go to a meeting you don’t enjoy? Not go back perhaps? Maybe do some step 10? Or do you write some vicious hate diatribe to get it off your chest, picturing the meeting as part of an international conspiracy, and pretend someone emailed it to you?

AACultwatch blogspot have been drinking their own urine for years now. What a coincidence that they’re slagging off YET ANOTHER meeting in the South East not so far from where Fuhrer Peter Vandor stomps from meeting to meeting making himself popular. (That is when he’s not out tree-hugging - apparently he thinks he’s an obese version of Thor the Thundergod - or riding bikes with his men-only biking group, who feel they have to post a disclaimer to say they’re NOT a neo-nazi group, bless.) 

As well as cultwatch blogspot posting another fake email, we see the return of Polyphemus in the comments section, pretending to post a comment from a concerned member of the public. He’s ain’t no concerned member of the public. He was a founder of AAcultwatch back in the day. In fact he was one of the first few supporters in December 2011! Along with CaroLynne Conway, Philipmaguire, Hig,  boxyharvey1967, Darfield boy and Lynn Hillier (more on this rather bitter bunch to come!)

We bet Pete and Polyphemus are the sort of guys who shake their head about the “9-11 conspiracy” and talk about crop circles and anal probes... Bless them. The only anal probing going on here is their own, as they dig out more crap to write about harmless bunches of alcoholics trying to stay sober.

Happy Christmas (or Thor-day),

Well it doesn’t take long for us to start getting emails once the aacultwatch blogspot post one of their occasional gems. We’ll post our favourite:

“Greetings guys and gals,

“AACultwatch Blogspot must’ve found another resentful relapser to do the posting. They must be inundated with emails given the rate of one post every three months. Wow, the fellowship in England has to be in a terrible state if they’re getting that many emails! Thank god for the brave resenter who uses Cultwatch Blogspot instead of steps four and ten.”

“Read this latest piece of crap posted - was like watching him drinking his own urine. It’s just the same old bollocks each time. And if you’d believe him, the axis of evil in AA in Great Britain is in some small town in the south west DEVON. Has anyone even been to Plymouth? 

“It’s getting obvious to the rest of us outside of Plymouth that AACultwatch Blogspot is being run by someone who simply hates this Wayne p (site name change to aawaynepwatch.co.uk?) and only receives emails from In The Know nowadays, who is an extremely bitter and unbecoming member pretty obviously from this same small town Plymouth? It has got nowt to do with the good of AA. There are members in my intergroup I don’t like, but I don’t set up campaigns against them and all their mates and people they go to meetings with! 

“He just regurgitates the same old crap. And the wierdest [sic] thing? That thing everyone’s laughing about apart from him, and that makes him the laughing stock of AA in this country? He comes across as far nastier than any people he obsessively attacks. This latest verbal vomit goes on about people having bad breath and attacks women AA’s he hates. Obviously doesn’t give a shit about anyone’s feelings. Total lack of empathy. Treats human beings like caricatures. Long list of personal public abuse and psychological trauma that blog must've caused, that has nothing to do with AA service. I mean this blogger comes over as really UNPLEASANT.  And repetitive. And repetitive. And repetitive.

By the way, have you noticed how their contributors sound the same as when cultwatch blogspot writes themselves? Have they been making up their own emails? :) To be honest I thought you guys were doing the same until you published one of mine!

“Best wishes, etc”

-

So watch out AA UK, Satan is here, his name is Wayne and he lives in...ahem...Devon. Word is, Plymouth is the seventh circle of hell in AA UK. But he’s really nasty. Honest. I mean, he drinks the blood of newcomers. Did we already say he’s Satan? Sorry, getting repetitive. Wayne P, in this tiny AA community, gets compared with Clancy (LA, largest AA population in the world) and the Raymers of Primary Purpose Groups (in Dallas Texas, a huge AA population).  Seems odd when here’s the “massive Plymouth meeting list: http://plymouthaa.org.uk/content/road-recovery 

For some other really unpleasant past bloggers on aacultwatch blogspot check out: Pete Vandor, John Hodgman, Michael Ishmael / Michael Ishmail and Paul D. and the other selection of vicious AA-hating aacultwatch blogspot writers we’ve outed on this blog 

In Fellowship, 

From  the BBC:

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-40981235 “Online hate crimes should be treated as seriously as abuse committed face-to-face, prosecutors in England and Wales have been told.Revising its guidance for prosecutors, the Crown Prosecution Service said the impact of tweeting abuse can be as "equally devastating" as shouting it.The guidance includes offences against bisexual people for the first time.Director of Public Prosecutions Alison Saunders said online abuse can fuel "dangerous hostility".A hate crime is an offence motivated by a "hostility or prejudice", including racism, sexism or homophobia.“

We could add to that Groupism in AA, where thugs like the aa cultwatch blogspot try to throw your home group out of AA or stop you participating from AA because of the group you’re a member of: pretty much a death sentence. 

On a less serious note, somebody spotted something hilarious:

“Hey fellas (and lady?) - you know that bizarre new website that AA cultwatch blogspot have started, someone’s spoofing it already - http://www.aaminority.com clicks straight through to  http://aa-minority.blogspot.co.uk/ Looks almost the same, but read more closely :-)”

Laugh, we nearly had ANOTHER spiritual experience. Thanks to our correspondent.

Thanks to the member who drew our attention to this:

“Hi,

“Have you seen that aacultwatch blogspot are hawking around that old so-called minority report of theirs again? It’s on a site called aa minority. They keep spamming the AA conference (who represent the real group conscience of this country) but the committee just laughs and spams it right back year after year. When will the culty-boys learn eh? Has anyone actually tried reading this long list of resentments and pseudo-research. I showed it to a friend who works in social science and he laughed hard, but still couldn’t get past page 2. 

“I’m guessing you will post this. So: “Hey cultwatch - the reason people don’t read it isn’t because it’s not been publicised. It’s because it’s an unreadable piece of crap which comes over as incredibly pompous and resentful. Setting up another website won’t help.”

“bestest,

“...”

We certainly did chuckle when we read this email. We tried to read the old minority report (remember, written with the help of Christina Somerville?), but like the last 4 conferences, vomited it back up very quickly...  Laugh, we nearly had a spiritual experience!

Cheers,

It looks like the aacultwatch Blogspot is back and up and running. After the failed so-called “campaign”  where he contacted a few professionals who laughed off his paranoid rantings, he decided to publish the rants for us instead.

Which is of course the irony of the aacultwatch Blogspot. The blog’s online “shares” are exactly the sort of thing he’s accusing others of in AA meetings. 

Try reading their latest post and turning it around. Like when he says “Woe betide you if you share anything”. Well, trying sharing something that aacultwatch Blogspot doesn’t like! Or “control and strange daily rituals”. But aacultwatch blogspot are the most controlling members in AA, with all their online rules! The “daily torrent of phone calls” cultwatch blogspot rants on about, could be replaced with the “daily torrent” of abuse AA members used to get from aacultwatch blogspot until the blog finally realised that everyone was beginning to laugh at them.

Then he says “If all you were exposed to was fear based recovery“ - the most ironic accusation of all. aacultwatch blogspot have been promoting a climate of fear in AA for 10 years now. Do what I want or I will abuse you online is his mantra. Need we go on to say how the line “With its never ending list of do's and don’ts” can be turned on him as well?

We’ll finish by quoting aacultwatch blogspot’s own conclusion back at him:

“So lighten up!“

Don’t take yourself so goddamn seriously, have you ever considered that sometimes, just sometimes, other alcoholics also have a right to their opinions and ways of recovery?

“Hi from the North of England

I see the aacultwatch blogspot are back again! It genuinely makes me laugh, the way they sit in judgement proclaiming THIS MEETING IS A BAD ONE IM GOING TO ADD IT TO MY LIST!! Seriously are there truly losers like this in A.A.? They take themselves as seriously as the terminator ILL BE BACK. Like anyone really cares. No one takes them seriously. How could you take anyone seriously who takes themselves that seriously! Who makes lists dividing A.A. meetings into good and bad! Keep up the good work calling them on their BS!

Alison Cameron, London Alcoholics Anonymous and DRA.

Alison Cameron (Alison C.) email [email protected], from London is an AA member and Dual Recovery Anonymous member, and a writer for aacultwatch Blogspot. The fact that someone who works so closely with the NHS in her professional life is participating in a murderous hate site that has caused suicides and death through alcoholism, would probably not make the Health Service feel good about her or AA. Particularly as Alison herself recently attempted suicide. It is a sad fact that she is typical of those being taken advantage of by that site that pretends to publish good information. Many contributors to aacultwatch Blogspot have serious mental problems or are drinking. However aacultwatch Blogspot will happily publish anything people sends in if it fulfils their hateful agenda to exclude vulnerable alcoholics they disagree with from AA. 

Alison also claims that she infiltrates AA groups she doesn’t like, pretending to become a member, and then sends articles to aacultwatch Blogspot. Furthermore she supports the aacultwatch Blogspot because they promote Dual Recovery Anonymous over Alcoholics Anonymous. 

This email made us chuckle:

“Thanks for your work in shaming these bullies from the AA Cultwatch [blogspot]. Bless those little munchkins if they aren’t up to their old tricks again.”

“It’s like they’re totally blind to what they’re doing. Going on about some old guy (who’s been dead now for years), who said ‘you have not got step one if you don’t blah blah blah’ And then Cultwatch [blogspot] are like “you aren’t doing the AA steps unless you do them like this” and “You’re not a real AA member unless you do your AA like that”. They even call AA they don’t like a perversion! It’s like hellfire and brimstone sermons. Pulpit preachers anyone? 

“How can they not see their hypocrisy? The bullies calling for more freedom - gotta love it!

“Keep up the good work.

“Cheers,

...

Looks like aacultwatch Blogspot’s latest post has caused a bit of a response. Here are a couple of extracts from emails we got:

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“I’m glad to see aa acultwatch [Blogspot] find alcoholics drinking and dying so funny. It makes me wonder if they’re even members!”

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“Have you seen the latest post on [aa]cultwatch [Blogspot]. Why is it amusing if alcoholics drink because of them? These guys take the biscuit. Dying from relapse it no f*cking joke I can tell you. Those guys are *ssholes. Thanks for taking a stand against these bullies.”

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From a mail we received:

“Have you seen the [aa]cultwatch [Blogspot] post What happened to Paul? Makes me think about the hundreds of Pauls [aa]cultwatch [Blogspot] contributes to each year. When alcoholics who are not schizophrenics or depressives or psychotics come to AA now, sometimes loaded on pills, many members are now too afraid to even discuss if the new guy should talk to their doctor in case cultwatch bullies them. I bet there are hundreds of newcomers who needn’t be on pills who’ve relapsed and died the last few years because of the pills they are taking. I’ve seen some myself, but unlike cultwatch I don’t write long abusive stories about them.”

“Mind you, that’s only half of cultwatch’s impact. Think about the drunks that get sober in a meeting on that [aa]cultwatch [Blogspot]. They’re back in work, back with family, they get told by some other meeting or cultwatch that their recovery isn’t real or is second rate or is evil. These vicious bullies work on their minds, brainwashing them against their own life. I sometimes think about how many of these have left in confusion, drunk again and died? Again, I’ve seen quite a few in my time. I don’t even like the meeting they were going to, but for god’s sake - they were sober and living!”

“Vicious murderous thugs. That is the best description I can think of for the Cultwatch [Blogspot] bullies.”

“You can bet your bottom dollar that [aa]cultwatch [Blogspot] have killed more alcoholics in Britain than any ill-informed sponsors telling newcomers to stop taking pills.”

“That site isn’t a cure for AA, it’s a disease. Good for you for for showing them for what they really are, and the thugs behind it.”

We received a link to a great article in the addiction mega-publication The Fix:

“Hi folks,

Did you see this?   https://www.thefix.com/content/i-was-aa-cultist

Yours,”

As you may recall, biker (and aacultwatch Blogspot contributor) Peter Vandor’s close friend’s include neo-Nazis (click here to see his friend's list before he hid it). We’ve had an enlightening email about him. 

“Hi there,

I've been looking at your website with great interest. 

...

The reason for contacting you is with regards to Pete V. Your original post about him says he's been in AA since 2006; he's actually been in AA since 1984 - no joke. I've sat in meetings with him from time to time over the years, and every time he shares he always shares at length about all the things he hates about AA (which seems to be everything from the literature, sponsorship methods, particular meetings, early members such as Bill W and Dr Bob, and general features of your average meeting). Not really sure what he uses meetings for as he seems to dislike everything about them, and doesn't talk to anyone before or afterwards.

...

His Facebook posts are pretty much the same as what you hear in meetings; this guy who's been in AA for 30 years has so much hatred for everything, and always shares this very publicly, and is always finding fault with everything, AA-related or otherwise. Actually, a couple of weeks ago he posted on there that he was leaving AA entirely until further notice, but he seems to have deleted that post. 

Oh, and also, he has a tattoo of a swastika on his hand. I don't have any visual evidence of this to hand, but make of that what you will...”

Another email, this time from one of the characters in Peter “gruppenführer“ Vandor’s fictional stories for the aacultwatch Blogspot:

“Subject: Thank you!

I was one of Pete Vandors victims on AA Cult Watch. He wrote a piece about me saying that I had [Pete Vandor fiction deleted] a meeting. He knew full well I hadn’t. 

Anyway I discovered your site the other day and posted it in a number of places

[…]

Anyway you may have seen a spike it your traffic over the past few days as your site is being posted in quite a few heavy traffic groups.