Boy Scouts - that was a close one

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ghostrunner
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Boy Scouts - that was a close one

Post by ghostrunner »

So, I've been thinking about putting my oldest kid in the Boy Scouts for a while, wavering on it. Didn't think I would for a while, but I felt like he'd benefit some from it - learning to work with other kids, socializing, other skills that might make him more independent. He's expressed a little interest in it. One of our neighbors has been trying to get us into it and he's involved in it to some degree with his kids.

I knew there were issues with gay people and also some reports of religious "means testing" if you want to call it that. Also a lot of emphasis on flags and such that I don't think highly of - not because of any issues with the country, I just don't like indoctrinating kids to something they're not really cognizant of. Doesn't seem like the place of a children's organization. Anyway - I can get past the religious stuff, as I've had to either fake it or go along most of my life. It's not a big deal. The flag stuff, same thing. I figured maybe there's a Catholic church situation - clergy says one thing, laity does another but they still go to church.

We've had a thread that got into the scouts before and Jim wasn't fond of them, but Jim will pardon me if I don't take that to heart. Arthur Dent said he was asked to say he believed in God when he was in there, which concerned me because it's not the scout's business. But another member I like and respect PM'd me and said he never experienced that kind of thing. Time rolls on.

I talked to the neighbor Dad this morning, who's always been a very nice, very talkative guy. This kind of annoys me, and probably partly because I'm a loner jerk who has only three close friends and they all live in my house. I'm not always fond of this aspect of myself and it's partly why I thought the Scouts might be good for my son, who seems to have the same shy/loner way about him. I'm not sure why that's so bad, but anyway...

We talked and he told me what they do, where they meet, trips they take, soapbox derby, etc.... I could take or leave some of it, but it sounded like something my son might like so I listened.

THEN, he got into the overnights and said how they can only do parent overnights until they reach a certain age, and "this goes back to the 80's and when the [expletive] and queers ruined everything..." [my eyebrows go up, and that's it I'm sorry to say] "sorry to put it bluntly." Since then it seems they've had to have 1 adult per two kids, unlike the days when they had 2-3 parents per group.

Voice in my head - [Ah, [expletive], why did you have to go there?]

He finished what he was saying, and then I made like I had to get going and he yelled the next meeting date to me as he walked away.

I went back inside disappointed about the whole thing and looked up the scouts and their actual policy on homosexuals, which I now know is total exclusion. I think to myself, "is it right for me to not join my kid up and deny him the experience because of some misguided adults?" I quickly jog through all sorts of attempts to get past it. Then I think to myself, "what if they were excluding black people?" and then the choice becomes clear. No scouts.

EDIT - don't know why i said "means testing", "litmus testing" is what I meant

jim
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Re: Boy Scouts - that was a close one

Post by jim »

My problem with the scouts has nothing to do with religion or not masturbating or being against homosexual kids and EVERYTHING to do with a room full of sugared up little ass holes for an entire evening, and in one case an entire weekend as we camped out in the middle of [expletive] January.

It's HORRIBLE. The parents and voluteers are mostly derilicts (sorry for those of you who do help that aren't, just calling it like I saw it). Get your kid involved in sports and get them the hell away from scouts. Take them fishing and camping on your own, it's way better. And just skip the god damned art projects.

If you don't believe me, go to one of those ceremonies where where they advance the kids to the next level. Can you say cult? Seriously, it's just [expletive] up.

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wart57
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Re: Boy Scouts - that was a close one

Post by wart57 »

damn homos ruin everything.

TimeForGuinness
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Re: Boy Scouts - that was a close one

Post by TimeForGuinness »

jim wrote:My problem with the scouts has nothing to do with religion or not masturbating or being against homosexual kids and EVERYTHING to do with a room full of sugared up little ass holes for an entire evening, and in one case an entire weekend as we camped out in the middle of [expletive] January.

It's HORRIBLE. The parents and voluteers are mostly derilicts (sorry for those of you who do help that aren't, just calling it like I saw it). Get your kid involved in sports and get them the hell away from scouts. Take them fishing and camping on your own, it's way better. And just skip the god damned art projects.

If you don't believe me, go to one of those ceremonies where where they advance the kids to the next level. Can you say cult? Seriously, it's just [expletive] up.
Agreed, check with your Zoo or Botanical Gardens for outdoors activities/classes. Take them hiking/biking/boating/swimming...it's good exercise for everyone.

I tried twice to join scouts...got bored both times and quit. My family did more activities than the scouts ever did.

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Joe Shlabotnik
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Re: Boy Scouts - that was a close one

Post by Joe Shlabotnik »

jim wrote:My problem with the scouts has nothing to do with religion or not masturbating or being against homosexual kids and EVERYTHING to do with a room full of sugared up little ass holes for an entire evening, and in one case an entire weekend as we camped out in the middle of [expletive] January.

It's HORRIBLE. The parents and voluteers are mostly derilicts (sorry for those of you who do help that aren't, just calling it like I saw it). Get your kid involved in sports and get them the hell away from scouts. Take them fishing and camping on your own, it's way better. And just skip the god damned art projects.

If you don't believe me, go to one of those ceremonies where where they advance the kids to the next level. Can you say cult? Seriously, it's just [expletive] up.
I had good memories of scouts when I was a kid in the 70's. Summer camp and weekly meetings with friends. But when I tried to get my kids into it 20 years ago, I found what Jim and ghost found. No thank you.

How about that? A bigot that said no to the scouts. Who knew?

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Swirls
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Re: Boy Scouts - that was a close one

Post by Swirls »

Wow. Just wow. I guess it depends who your leaders are.

I started as a Tiger Cub in Kindergarten, and am proud to say I stuck with it until I was 17 and reached Eagle. It's definitely a nice thing to put on a resume, as it directly led to me receiving my first job out of college.

I played all of the sports that were offered at my small school growing up (baseball, basketball, football). A lot of my teammates on those teams were also kids in my scout troop, and I was very good friends with some of those kids. I usually went fishing all the time on weekends in the summer growing up, as my grandparents lived like 1/4 mile from Stockton Lake (just north of Springfield, MO). But as a family we usually only went camping once or twice a year. Didn't do much hiking/canoeing outside of Boy Scouts growing up.

My problem is my parents were both working full-time at very demanding jobs, and were usually working weekends one way or another as well. My cousin was also in the same troop as me, so if my parents weren't available, his parents were able to take me to meetings or to meet up with the troop before our scheduled trip.

I enjoyed my time in Boy Scouts. Several of our leaders were very religious, but didn't push their religion on everyone. Sure we said Grace before meals, and were given the opportunity to go to church on Sunday mornings if it was a large summer camp that actually had a chapel. But other than that, and the opening ceremony before each meeting (where you happen to mention the word God), I don't really remember ever being nudged by Bible thumpers. And honestly, how is saying God at a meeting when you are saying a motto any different than saying it as part of the Pledge of Allegiance that we all said at school as kids?

Plus, they had a separate affiliate called "Explorer Posts" that actually allowed girls. I can honestly admit that my first make out session as a pubescent teenager came at a Boy Scout Explorer Post camping trip with a really cute 16 year old girl. I wasn't really a huge fan of ham radios, but I stayed in the group because there were some seriously cute girls in it that were ham radio operators.

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Swirls
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Re: Boy Scouts - that was a close one

Post by Swirls »

Also, if you want to talk about a Boy Scout religious cult, your answer isn't the Boy Scouts. It's the Assembly of God church equivalent, the Royal Rangers.

A buddy of mine growing up went to an Assembly of God church, and convinced me to join for a while. So for like six months I went to church there and was a member of both it and the Boy Scouts. Don't regret leaving that one and sticking to the scouts.

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jim
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Re: Boy Scouts - that was a close one

Post by jim »

I might be talking about Cub scouts instead of Boy scouts. Eagle scouts are bad asses.

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JackofDiamonds
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Re: Boy Scouts - that was a close one

Post by JackofDiamonds »

Joe Shlabotnik wrote:
jim wrote:My problem with the scouts has nothing to do with religion or not masturbating or being against homosexual kids and EVERYTHING to do with a room full of sugared up little ass holes for an entire evening, and in one case an entire weekend as we camped out in the middle of [expletive] January.

It's HORRIBLE. The parents and voluteers are mostly derilicts (sorry for those of you who do help that aren't, just calling it like I saw it). Get your kid involved in sports and get them the hell away from scouts. Take them fishing and camping on your own, it's way better. And just skip the god damned art projects.

If you don't believe me, go to one of those ceremonies where where they advance the kids to the next level. Can you say cult? Seriously, it's just [expletive] up.
I had good memories of scouts when I was a kid in the 70's. Summer camp and weekly meetings with friends. But when I tried to get my kids into it 20 years ago, I found what Jim and ghost found. No thank you.

How about that? A bigot that said no to the scouts. Who knew?

Not bigoty enough for you?

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Joe Shlabotnik
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Re: Boy Scouts - that was a close one

Post by Joe Shlabotnik »

JackofDiamonds wrote: Not bigoty enough for you?
Ha! That must be it. :D

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