printThe following is an excerpt from “Charlie Sheen’s Out of the AA ‘Troll Hole,'” this week’s WND.COM column:
“I liked Charlie Sheen’s ‘Platoon,’ but not his comedic ‘work’ (that’s a pretentious word used by America’s self-aggrandizing entertainers and jesters to describe their occupation). Sheen does, however, get high marks for bucking the drug-addiction industry, which bullies drug users into treatment, and has fabricated a science in support of the disease theory of addiction. …
… Unlike the automatons of the entertainment industry — and the population at large — the intemperate Mr. Sheen refuses to accept as holy writ the teachings of a therapeutic cult that coerces its adherents into conformity. …
… Naturally, the Shamans, Left and Right, are furious with Sheen. … In thinking about addiction, opinions have converged. So-called social progressives and conservatives alike share the same ideological hangover from the Prohibition era (with a touch of AA sadism). Dr. Keith Ablo, like Drew Pinsky, is thus every bit as religious about roping the actor into abstinence and AA.”
The complete column is “Charlie Sheen’s Out of the AA ‘Troll Hole,'” now on WND.COM.
Subscribe to my newsletter, HERE.
Befriend me on Facebook.
Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/IlanaMercer
UPDATE I: Heidi H. wrote on Facebook: “I’m baffled by your fascination and admiration for Charlie Sheen. He’s a pig. His excuse is fame and crack. What do you find so endearing about him?”
Me: “Heidi: where do you get fascinated? The war on drugs is a crucial issue to those who care about liberty. The addiction industry factors into that equation. Perhaps this will better explain:
http://www.ilanamercer.com/phprunner/public_article…_list_view.php?editid1=198
UPDATE II: If they could, they would chemically lobotomize me too. The reader below has diagnosed me with “Oppositional Defiant Disorder,” and bemoans the fact that I have not been duly medicated. I’m proud to be in opposition to tyranny, dependency and the decimation of free will by the therapeutic authorities (who often work hand-in-hand with the state).
Ilana, food for thought as always. However, Sheen is still a fruitloop and I wonder why anybody cares about his antics.
WOW! You Go Girl! And no to those wacky wonks…that IS NOT a sexist statement…it is a deep appreciation to Ilana’s solid grasp of LIBERTY. Fear Mongers need not even argue with her perspectives…fear produces CONTROL…that ain’t LIBERTY! Hang tough Ilana…AND…Charlie!
A very interesting article. I have two questions, if you’ll permit me:
1) Is the interview with Dr. Peele available online. Google doesn’t seem to think so, but you may have more information. [Search the archives of ilanamercer.com.]
2) Regarding the heritability of alcohol misuse (recognizing that the term “misuse” is vague, unless precisely defined in the relevant literature, of which I am admittedly ignorant). There seems to be some heritability identified in twin studies. Of course, alcohol abuse is only one way to express a generic tendency toward antisocial behavior, which also seems to have a genetic component. However, there are specific genes which effect alcohol metabolism. Dr. Peele’s assertion that “there is no inherited mechanism that leads a person to be unable to control their substance use” is as wild an assertion as anything cooked up by the AA cult.
Ms. Mercer,
As an adolescent you obviously were never properly diagnosed and treated as the 313.81 (cf. DSM IV-TR), a condition that you still appear to harbor.
You represent a detriment and a danger to the safety of the American public and should resign yourself to the care of a physician and to a lifetime of suppressant drugs that, unlike Mr. Sheen’s self-medication program, are assured by the FDA to have no adverse side effects.
Have a nice day.
Ilana,
Years ago coping was the thing, then penis envy and now serotonin uptake inhibitors. I like your comments and take on the entire subject. Do you remember those lyrics from the ancient days of our youth: “whatever gets you through the night…that’s right …?
A kid variant of all this therapeutic society is all the ADD/ADHD medication. I go back and forth on this between my daughter, myself, the psychologist, and the psychiatrist. When we were in private school, the teachers knew us all one-on-one and they wanted all the little brats completely drugged up to PHASERS ON STUN level. That my kid was getting depression, fear, and loss of appetite was not as important as not fidgeting in school. Now that she is in the government (public) schools, the teachers are lazier and they have bigger issues (booze, drugs, and sex) than worrying about my kid.
Also, the kids can see through all the blatant hypocrisy of the combined “medicate everyone” society merged with the “zero tolerance for drugs and booze” society.
Glad I’m not a kid! Well, she’s getting A’s and B’s even if her work habits, attentiveness, and motivation could use some improvement.
I think that comment number four is comedy unrecognized; meant in jest, I mean. Only the writer can clarify it though. When I was a member of the working body, we were instructed to send all alcohol or drug related people to AA, even though they didn’t want anyone; but, willing participants. This was done so that we could show the legislature that “We were doing something” and therefore no one could sue us if a drunk got drunk and ran over them in the car. The State has deeper pockets than drunks, you know. When I left, a probationer could expect to be in some sort of ‘counseling’ until their probation was over. Finish one program, enter another, then the next one at 50 dollars a month. Write a hot check, check writer’s school, followed by, child abuser counseling, followed by aa, followed by… you get the idea. We were addressing their problems alright.
Right on Mr. Bob Glisson! It was a lingua-buccal. Aside from the fact that Ms. Mercer seems to be inordinately intelligent, she had previously made some allusion to the DSM in a comment. I just assumed she’d understand.
Not just on this Blog but on most, the comments amount to no more than subjective drivel. For what its worth, I like to insert a bit of lampoonish objectivity.
[Relieved. You pulled one over me. You’d be surprised how many similar, but serious, notes to this effect I’ve received.]
Ilana
If what you say is true, and I believe it is, then homosexual behavior is in the same boat. It is nothing more than another form of lust, which is a sin, always was and will continue to be. There is no such thing as being born a homosexual. It develops when one becomes vulnerable because of dysfunctional relationship , usually with one or both parents.
[I am of the opinion that gender identity is innate. That said, someone who is gay hurts no one. But someone who incarcerates people for what they ingest, or put in their bodies, certainly is aggressing against others.]
I totally agree drug and/or alcohol addiction are character flaws NOT diseases.
Once they made it a “disease” alcohol and drug addiction soared. They removed the responsibility of their actions from these people and placed it on everyone else’s shoulders.
I agree with your statement that addiction is NOT organic or inherited like cancer or diabetes; your points about certain programs being enablers and different people making choices for complex reasons are excellent, nor do I think all drug users are the same, or that marijuana should be totally outlawed inspite of medicinal use. I do, however, believe the actions of those who are addicts are dangerous and potentially very harmful to others as well; I have no problem with keeping drugs of no medical use outlawed, and the fact that so many do “structure their lives around obtaining a fix” says something greatly about the dangerous pull of such drugs on the body.
“Hang tough Ilana…AND…Charlie!”
Charlie will be just fine, if he chooses to do what this article exhorts and take responsibility for his actions. Playing the victim won’t help anybody, point being.
Ms. Mercer,
I’ve read your commentary for several years mainly because, while I may not agree, I like your subject matter and style. Early on, I corresponded and you replied with a kindly and encouraging message. I have no reason to do otherwise. Like you, I try to minimize conditioning and be objective in my evaluations.
If you’ll pardon the paranomastics, I’ll slice through foibles with my forte and unscrew another container of pasquin-ade.
Damn, that’s sounds so French!!
All the best,
The Lonegranger
[To you too; and thanks for the support. I hope to hear more from you on BAB.]
Ilana,
“I’m proud to be in opposition to tyranny, dependency and the decimation of free will by the therapeutic authorities (who often work hand-in-hand with the state).”
Permission to use this when arguing with friends? [Go ahead; so long as you refer them for future reading to my website/facebook page.]
Since it was mentioned above: The idea that homosexuals are a different sort of people is a product of the 19th century. It was unknown before and is still alien to most non-Western cultures. I think it was Krafft-Ebing in his Psychopatia Sexualis who coined the term and introduced the idea.