I'm really fucked up right now, and not sure where to post it so here you go.

Alex

Still a Music Elitist
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Perhaps you guys aren't intending it this way, but it sounds like you're blaming the public and parents for having the wrong opinion of Boy Scouts instead of the Boy Scout organization for having reprehensible morals. Regardless of what Boy Scouts may teach, would you want to involve your kid in an organization that bans gays for no practical reason?

And I disagree on the usefulness of Boy Scouts. I was in the scouts until maybe 10 or 11? I hate camping, I don't use any of the shit I learned there.
Wasn't there a big story a couple days ago aboutgay members being allowednow? I guess that doesn't include leaders still.

You really get out of it what you put into it. If you quit at 10 or 11, you probably weren't around to enjoy the awesome shit like 13 mile backpacking trips into mountains, canoeing, and white water rafting. The Klondike derbies were great too. As someone who got a lot out of Scouts, I have to vehemently disagree with someone who quit so early.
 

Deathwing

<Bronze Donator>
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Oh, I'm not disagreeing that scouts can be useful. I just don't see how they can "prepare you for life" if you don't like camping/treking/outdoors/whatever.

Didn't know about the changed inclusion of gay members, that's good news. Still kinda silly.
 

lurkingdirk

AssHat Taint
<Medals Crew>
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Oh, I'm not disagreeing that scouts can be useful. I just don't see how they can "prepare you for life" if you don't like camping/treking/outdoors/whatever.

Didn't know about the changed inclusion of gay members, that's good news. Still kinda silly.
See, I disagree with this. Camping or not, there are skills that I think the Boy Scouts can teach you. I've never been one, but I know plenty right now, and I see what they do. There are leadership skills learned, coping skills, and the knot work alone will be useful every year when you tie the Christmas tree to the top of your car.
 

Zaara

I'm With HER ♀
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Stick to a shitty k-pop/yellow fever thread and let GU stay on topic, shitlord.
 

Antagonist_sl

shitlord
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Oh, I'm not disagreeing that scouts can be useful. I just don't see how they can "prepare you for life" if you don't like camping/treking/outdoors/whatever.

Didn't know about the changed inclusion of gay members, that's good news. Still kinda silly.
BSA isn't a whole lot different from other extracurricular activities like organized sports. Ideally, it offers positive role models and a chance for kids to socialize themselves in the same way that coaches and team play might for say, basketball. One big difference is that it isn't an inherently competitive exercise and there are no tryouts or cuts. It also offers more than just camping and survival oriented activities. Our troop built model rockets and did some other geek friendly stuff that was pretty cool. I believe it was meant to appeal to a broader subset of kids.

Obviously, the practice of excluding non-Christians, females, and homosexuals from scouting made the organization a giant hypocritical asshole, but it isn't like there are national or even regional representatives at every meeting of every troop. The troop I was involved with as a kid wasn't overtly anti- anyone as far as I can recall. It would be nice to hear that the national leadership adopted a less restrictive policy on membership though.
 

Gankak

Vyemm Raider
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The troop I was in was sponsored by the Air Force as I lived on base. We didn't exclude anyone. It really depends on who sponsors your local troop imo.
 

BrutulTM

Good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun.
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Yeah, I can't imagine that the gay kids things comes up much. Even people who are gay are rarely out about it before they're out of high school. I realize that "don't ask don't tell" isn't an acceptable situation to a lot of people, but when it comes to kids there's really no reason that sex needs to come up one way or another.

Just like with sports, you might learn a few skills that will be useful in life but it's really about working together as a team, serving the community, and getting the kids to do something that doesn't involve jacking off their Xbox controller. I was never a boy scout but I was in 4-H throughout my childhood and even though half of it was my Mom forcing me to do it against my will, I have nothing but positive memories about the stuff I did and learned from it.