Anonymity versus Celebrity

Forgive my ignorance but when you say “Wilson”, are you speaking of “The” Bill Wilson? What am I missing?

“I must be cruel, only to be kind. Thus bad begins, so worse remains behind” – Hamlet

Looking for guidance on this subject? One need go no further than an open-minded analysis of the applicable step and tradition.
Step 11: “We need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio and films.” We can give a 2014 clarification to this dogmatic Wilsonism by the removal of one word: ALWAYS. Anonymity is discretionary. There is little we can do but discourage the promotion of those who would demean the successes of recovery, or represent themselves as our common voice, but we can ask that they weight the effects of doing so and refrain —- prior to participation.
Let’s face it – this anonymity is a farce when you put Wilson into the equation. His face, his authorship, and most importantly his acts as a swindler, sex predator, philanderer and acid dumper along with his pal Aldous Huxley don’t do much to “attract”. His deification is just a skosh short of nauseating.
But how about Tradition 12 – “ever reminding us to place principles before personalities”? This asks our discretion once again. We have an agreement, not a law we must enforce or obey. It’s not about protecting us from the stigma of exposure to our “disease”, weakness or mental deficiency, that’s a personal choice of identity. We don;t tattle on others. its about placing our principles and traditions above some promoter (Wilson’s a good enough example) so that we forget the underlying tenets of behavior. We want to ask the egomaniac in recovery to STFU, when it comes to representing themselves as a voice for us all. We don’t need that kind of publicity as Charlie, Lindsay and Phillip C have demonstrated. A. Messenger

Someone in the Recovery Advocacy Community remarked to me how by remaining anonymous we don’t do anything to get rid of the stigma and the stigma keeps people from seeking treatment and inhibits public support for funding treatment. Basically, what ends being visible to the general public is the problem while those of us living in the solution remain invisible. I had always chosen to be open about being in recovery with my close co-workers, taking that risk for me meant I wasn’t engaging in old behavior. Keeping a big part of my life a big secret, was something I certainly did in active addiction and I didn’t want to feel like I was keeping a secret life as a sober person. But, that advocacy person got me thinking and then I saw The Anonymous People and I was given the language – “I’m in long term recovery” it’s not breaking anonymity – and at this point I haven’t had press radio or film breaking down my door anyhow – although sometimes my grandiose thinking envisions great opportunities to sway millions with my rhetoricical talents! So little by slow I’ve continued to be more open, I trust my insides to guide me as far as when and trust my HP that all will work out ok and I won’t get stung in a way that exceeds what I can handle. So far what I’ve run into are people who have loved ones with this disease who are grateful to be able to ask questions they have always wanted to ask, but couldn’t and who find hope in knowing that long term recovery is possible – for lots of us.
Sharon Hesseltine
St. Paul, MN

I agree the anonymity has to go….for most of us. Without “coming out”, we are essentially saying “I’m too embarrassed and ashamed to tell the world I have a problem with……..