The material presented
here is not Al-Anon Conference Approved Literature. It is a method
to exchange
information, ideas, feelings, problems and solutions on a personal
level.
Based upon some topics I have begun to wonder the following:
Every rule has its exceptions.
If this is true and we focus on the exceptions and not the rule, are we taking politcal correctness to absurd lengths?
For instance: if alcoholism generally involves denial, but there are some alcoholics who are not in denial, is it wrong to state that alcoholism involves denial?
If all dweeps in the world were measured and the average height was found to be 10 feet. And if all 100,000 purple dweeps were measured and the average height was found to be 8 feet. But 10 purple dweeps were 10 feet. Would it be wrong to casually state that purple dweeps tend to be short?
At what point does the exception have weight over the rule?
This question intrigues me so I just had to give my humble opinion.
Yes, if only 10 purple dweebs...... oops, I mean dweeps, are short then it would be incorrect to say that most purple dweeps are short since there are 100,000 purple dweeps.If 90,000 were short then I would say most are.
As for alcoholics,we are dealing with human nature here.While some are dweebs...lol.......I mean while some may have a certain characteristic,say......oooohhhh.... empathy, that most do not have then you really could not say that is an alcoholic characteristic.
The problem with stating characteristics of A's is that there are probably millions of alcoholics in the world and the people on this website only know a handfull compared to that.So unless we know them ALL,how can we say anything is a characteristic of A's ? If we only lived near the 10 short dweeps and no other dweeps,in our world,dweeps would all be short.
We could,of course,refer to studies by people who have way more information than we do.Some people at MIP,for example,are in the field and could have such knowledge.
I would say the exception has weight over the rule when it is no longer the exception.When the exception becomes more common than the rule.When the 10 short dweeps multiply and the 9,990 tall dweeps stop multiplying so you end up with........... <<<purple dweep...can't tell if it's short tho.
Love the question ditto, and I don't mean to make light of it.The dweeps just got me going.Maybe your point is that we focus too much on the characteristics of alcoholics and debating what is normal and what is not.Maybe it doesn't matter.The charactericstics of the A's in MY life are all that matter to me.If they are the same as the A's in YOUR life,what good does that do me??
It is not a "rule" if there is an exception. A "general rule" maybe, meaning, "in nearly every case." I don't think political correctness plays any part in this. And about the dweeps...yes. LOL!!
Diva
__________________
"Speak your truth quietly and clearly..." Desiderata
Hmmmm, here's a thought, Whose denial are we talking about. Alcoholism involves denial, The A's denial? Or ours....to me, there is not one A or A affected person out there who has not experiences some form of denial.
There are A's who know they are A's, and wives who will deny it or mothers w/ adult children who are A's that deny it. Whose denial are we talking about?? And of course there are many A's who deny being A's.
And are dweeps related to peeps? I love those...... hmmm, put me down for the rule, unless I'm the exception.
<<<purple dweep...can't tell if it's short tho.
