One curious behavior I noticed among longtime members of the AA
community in Southern California is their loud announcing of the names
of celebreties who -- so they claimed -- were members of their group.
I'm not sure if such trumpeting is expressly forbidden by AA doctrine,
but it strikes me as an obvious violation of the one of the main ideas
behind the whole thing. E.g., I was present in social settings in the
80s and early 90s where AA members boasted about having helped the
likes of Mel Gibson or Anthony Hopkins through the 12 Steps. I'm
curious as to whether such talk is expressly forbidden anywhere in AA
doctrine. Or -- since such talk is surely used as a recruitment
tactic -- I wonder if the possibility of recruiting new members
through such bragging is believed to override celebrity AA members'
right to anonymity. I'm only aware of this happening in the case of
celebrities; the anonymity of nonentities was always respected by the
steppers with whom I'm acquainted.
