Asklemmy

55988 readers

144 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy 🔍

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

Open-ended question
Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

Lemmyverse: community search
sub.rehab: maps old subreddits to fediverse options, marks official as such
!lemmy411@lemmy.ca: a community for finding communities

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de~

founded 7 years ago

MODERATORS

What is the Lemmy community's opinion on Scouting? (lemmy.zip)

submitted 6 days ago by Casuls_Die_Thrice@lemmy.zip to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

23 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Context: I was a Boy Scout for a number of years, making Eagle in 2020 right as COVID was really kicking off.

It was right afterwards, however, that the CSA scandal started popping up everywhere (which thankfully I was never exposed to or involved in during my time), and lately it seems like the organization & movement as a whole has fallen by the sociocultural wayside.

I would say that my time as a Scout did me objective good; I learned a decent amount about first-aid & survival-craft, participated in a number of volunteer & civic projects, and it generally made me a more well-rounded person. However, there's no denying the impact that something "bigger than the Catholic Church scandal", as I've heard it described, has on an institution such as this.

I'd like to get the community's opinion, however; were any of you Scouts? How was your experience? What is your opinion of the institution today?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] semisimian@startrek.website 10 points 6 days ago

I was a Scout in the 90s. The pedophilia allegations were rampant back then, too. And the beginnings of the christo-fascist movement. And (in my troop) the paramilitary indoctrination. I lobbied all of my frustrations to my parents who made me stay in until Life, just before Eagle. I think they figured I'd just go ahead and finish it out. Nope.

I got SO many valuable life lessons from Scouts, but the organization itself is so disgusting it is hard to fathom. The dads that were there to help were great! The merit badges are simple paths to learning new skills. Friends your age sharing an experience, commiserating with boys at a fucking brutal time in your life, all good! But even with all that value, I still saw the organization for what it was. I got what I could out of it, but how can you reconcile the comradery you feel with the pain the Scouts are causing others?

Boys need a safe space.