due to some poor decisions I was forced to go to AA for minimum 8 meetings, it is a mandatory requirement to have your license reinstated in my state. depending on the severity of your infraction they can make you go to 20+ meetings, not to mention before that you have to take 20 hours of classes and pay for them which is basically like an alcohol oriented dare program for adults.
as open minded as I tried to be, the majority of people in those meetings were either people desperate for attention with no concern how they get it... and weak minded individuals. their mantra is to embrace your "higher power", and for christians, God. their whole doctrine demands that you succumb that you are "powerless over alcohol" and in so many words you need to ask for help from your higher power or you are just destined to be completely fucked in life.
a lot of people go to these meetings that are just lonely individuals, they have no life outside of these meetings. they completely immerse themselves in the program, and their lives revolve around the social aspect of it and their functions. their stories tend to become nauseating after a while, and seeing a bunch of adults act like pissed off kids because someone ran over their time talking and they didn't get a chance to share was an experience that reminded me of junior high with people jockeying to establish the social hierarchy.
you don't have to participate in the holding hands and praying ritual at the end of every meeting if you don't want to... they will view your lack of participation as not completely embracing the program though, which is a prerequisite for it to supposedly work. don't be surprised when people seem way overly friendly and constantly try to talk to you, invite you to hang out etc. its almost like feeling they are trying to recruit you into their ranks.
you will see people from all walks of life, from white collar, to the homeless, mentally retarded, any demographic you can think of. it was a bit awkward at some points running into people at meetings that I knew, it was like seeing a completely different side of them as everyone talks about their major life issues and substance abuse problems.... things they would never touch upon in any other environment.
to sum it up.... some people will benefit greatly from it and it will be an extremely positive influence in their life. others will use it strictly on a social level to fill whatever need they desire, be it attention or a solution to loneliness... and even manipulative people with more sinister intentions as it is a prime breeding ground for impressionable and naive people. sure there are some good people in there, but often times I think they are very misguided but like any belief system things are open to a degree of interpretation from person to person.
me personally I thought it was a very personal thing that demanded way too much integration between the lives of yourself and many people you don't really care for at all. not to mention forcing people to go probably turns off most people... knowing that I was there against my will made me very resentful of the whole thing.
