It’s when you stop going to meetings that the trouble starts. An alcoholic alone is in a bad neighborhood.
I think what AA does so supremely well - for them - is fully indoctrinate folks - people with an alcohol problem - that they are so weak themselves, that alcohol is so much stronger than their own will, that they’ll need AA forever.
The truth - there are millions of former alcoholics that NEVER went to AA or anything like it, and remain sober. Wait a minute, that - the truth - is impossible, because according to AA alcoholism is an illness that the alcoholic left alone cannot keep under control by themself!!!!; that they can NEVER have a drink without “falling off the wagon” and needing to crawl back to AA!! Yet, MILLIONS have done it - without AA or anything like it.
So what is the first accomplishment of AA - convincing someone dealing with alcohol that they are weaker than the alcohol, and always will be, that they are so weak of will that they must have an AA to help them. So, the first success of AA is using someones feeling of weakness against alcohol to convince them that is a permanent condition they can never change (but it’s O.K., it’s not their fault). Their first success is the further destruction of the persons will, continuing what the person thinks the alcohol has started and declaring it a fait a compli they cannot change. It works so well, that the AA knows the “I’m too weak” meme will prevail and even if they slip up they’ll go crawling back to the AA.
What a racket.