Tradition Eleven

[bluidkiti]

AA

Tradition Eleven

"Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, and films."


WITHOUT its legions of well-wishers, A.A. could never have grown as it has. Throughout the world, immense and favorable publicity of every description has been the principal means of bringing alcoholics into our Fellowship. In A.A. offices, clubs, and homes, telephones ring constantly. One voice says, "I read a piece in the newspapers . . ."; another, "We heard a radio program . . ."; and still another, "We saw a moving picture . . ." or "We something about A.A. on television. . . ." It is no exaggeration to say that half of A.A.'s membership has been led to us through channels like these.

The inquiring voices are not all alcoholics or their families. Doctors read medical papers about Alcoholics Anonymous and call for more information. Clergymen see articles in their church journals and also make inquiries. Employers learn that great corporations have set their approval upon us, and wish to discover what can be done about alcoholism in their own firms.

Therefore, a great responsibility fell upon us to develop the best possible public relations policy for Alcoholics Anonymous. Through many painful experiences, we think we have arrived at what that policy ought to be. It is the opposite in many ways of usual promotional practice. We found that we had to rely upon the principle of attraction rather than of promotion.

Let's see how these two contrasting ideas--attraction and promotion--work out. A political party wishes to win an election, so it advertises the virtues of its leadership to draw votes. A worthy charity wants to raise money; forthwith, its letterhead shows the name of every distinguished person who support can be obtained. Much of the political, economic, and religious life of the world is dependent upon publicized leadership. People who symbolize causes and ideas fill a deep human need. We of A.A. do not question that. But we do have to soberly face the fact that being in the public eye is hazardous, especially for us. By temperament, nearly every one of us had been an irrepressible promoter, and the prospect of a society composed almost entirely of promoters was frightening. Considering this explosive factor, we knew we had to exercise self-restraint.

The way this restraint paid off was startling. It resulted in more favorable publicity of Alcoholics Anonymous than could possibly have been obtained through all the arts and abilities of A.A.'s best press agents. Obviously, A.A. had to be publicized somehow, so we resorted to the idea that it would be far better to let our friends do this for us. Precisely that has happened, to an unbelievable extent. Veteran newsmen, trained doubters that they are, have gone all out to carry A.A.'s message. To them, we are something more than the source of good stories. On almost every news front, the men and women of the press have attached themselves to us as friends.

In the beginning, the press could not understand our refusal of all personal publicity. They were genuinely baffled by our insistence upon anonymity. Then they got the point. Here was something rare in the world--a society which said it wished to publicize its principles and its work, but not its individual members. The press was delighted with this attitude. Ever since, these friends have reported A.A. with an enthusiasm which the most ardent members would find hard to match.

There was actually a time when the press of America thought the anonymity of A.A. was better for us than some of our own members did. At on point, about a hundred of our Society were breaking anonymity at the public level. With perfectly good intent, these folks declared that the principle of anonymity was horse-an-buggy stuff, something appropriate to A.A.'s pioneering days. They were sure that A.A. could go faster and farther if it availed itself of modern publicity methods. A.A., they pointed out, included many persons of local, national, or international fame. Provided they were willing--and many were--why shouldn't their membership be publicized, thereby encouraging others to join us? These were plausible arguments, but happily our friends of the writing profession disagreed with them.

The Foundation* wrote letters to practically every news outlet in North America, setting forth our public relations policy of attraction rather than promotion, and emphasizing personal anonymity as A.A.'s greatest protection. Since that time, editors and rewrite men have repeatedly deleted names and pictures of members from A.A. copy; frequently, they have reminded ambitious individuals of A.A.'s anonymity policy. They have been sacrificed good stories to this end. The force of their cooperation has certainly helped. Only a few A.A. members are left who deliberately break anonymity at the public level.

This, in brief, in the process by which A.A.'s Tradition Eleven was constructed. To us, however, it represents far more than a sound public relations policy. It is more than a denial of self-seeking. This Tradition is a constant and practical reminder that personal ambition has no place in A.A. In it, each member becomes an active guardian of our Fellowship. *In 1954, the name of the Alcoholic Foundation, Inc., was changed to the General Service Board of Alcoholics Anonymous, Inc., and the Foundation office is now the General Service Office.

[bluidkiti]

NA

TRADITION ELEVEN

"Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio and films."

Spiritual integrity is the heart of this Tradition. In NA, we deal with energy and avoid areas of powerlessness. One of the major ways we stay within bounds is not to try to claim responsibility for other people, what they do or what they think. Standing out, alone and on our own, is necessary for us to carry out our Fifth Tradition and carry our message. When people think of NA, hopefully they will think of recovering addicts who help one another. Any departure from this focus hurts our ability to carry our message. While we applaud and enjoy our personal attributes, we set aside our personal preferences in favor of group purpose and this Tradition enjoins us to keep this spirit alive.

We addicts at almost any point along life's way, have some things to learn. Staying on the subject is hard if not impossible for many of us, especially in early recovery. Service workers who specialize in Public Information services, study guidelines developed by members within the Fellowship to pass along what has been learned about creating and maintaining a public presence without violating our Traditions. Please refer to these guides to get what is most current and helpful at present.

To keep our program attractive, we avoid promotional images and postures that would suggest we were other than what we are: A program of recovering addicts who help one another to get help themselves. This is attractive to addicts seeking recovery who would be turned off by professional approaches or treatment programs that may not have worked in the past. While we find many of our members are better able to benefit from treatment due to the radical change recovery makes in a person, we have members who have gotten clean and stayed clean on NA alone.

Promotion would be out of place for a program of recovery based on spiritual principles. Promotion implies the need to add value to a product or proposition especially where there may otherwise be no real value. We try to be sensitive to prospective members who may still be in pain from having been promised help by some other organization or program and felt let down. We are what we are and we are grateful. Our recovery should speak for itself among addicts in pain from active addiction. Until an addict is awakened by their very own custom designed ‘pain’, they are notoriously unlikely to respond to any offer of help. So, promotion would not only not work, it would make real addicts think we were somehow insincere pretenders and therefore avoid us when they become serious about recovery.

The greatest treasure of all recovering persons is being able to live free of the labels of active addiction. We may break our own anonymity privately for any reason, yet we do not grant the right to do this to any other person, even if they have reason to think it will be OK with us. In this world, we never know when our good-naturedness will cost someone their job or result in other problems that would not occur without our interference.

Initial attraction to our fellowship happens in many ways. But the continued attraction that keeps us coming back may often stem from our honesty living the spiritual principles of our program in our daily lives. That is what continues to attract the still suffering addict to us: The fact we live in the spiritual solution and our willingness to share ourselves unconditionally.

[honeydumplin]

The Perils Of The Limelight

In the beginning, the press could not understand our refusal of all personal publicity. They were genuinely baffled by our insistence upon anonymity. Then they got the point. Here was something rare in the world—a society which said it wish to publicize its principles and its work, but not its individual members. The press was delighted with this attitude. Ever since, these friends have reported A.A. With an enthusiasm which the most ardent members would find hard to match.

TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS
p. 182

It is essential for my personal survival and that of the Fellowship that I not use A.A. To put myself in the limelight. Anonymity is a way for me to work on my humility. Since pride is one of my most dangerous shortcomings, practicing humility is one of the best ways to overcome it. The Fellowship of A.A. Gains worldwide recognition by its various methods of publicizing its principles and its work, not by its individual members advertising themselves. The attraction created by my changing attitudes and my altruism contributes much more to the welfare of A.A. Than self-promotion.

DAILY REFLECTIONS
p. 340

[MajestyJo]

TRADITION ELEVEN: Our public relations policy
is based on attraction rather than promotion;
we need always maintain personal anonymity at
the level of press, radio and films.

"In the beginning, the press could not understand our
refusal of all personal publicity. They were genuinely
baffled by our insistence upon anonymity. Then they
got the point. Here was something rare in the
world -- a society which said it wished to publicize
its principles and its work, but not its individual
members. The press was delighted with this attitude.
Ever since, these friends have reported A.A. with an
enthusiasm which the most ardent members would
find hard to match."

c. 1952, Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, page 182

[MajestyJo]

"Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, and films."

http://www.lovelandnet.com/rule62/12...adition_11.htm

www.cyberrecovery.net/Tradition11.html

1. Do I sometimes promote AA so fanatically that I make it seem unattractive?

2. Am I always careful to keep the confidences reposed in me as an AA member?
3. Am I careful about throwing AA names around even within the Fellowship?
4. Am I ashamed of being a recovered, or recovering, alcoholic?
5. What would AA be like if we were not guided by the ideas in Tradition Eleven? Where would I be?
6. Is my AA sobriety attractive enough that a sick drunk would want such a quality for himself?