The BSA wasn’t Hitler Youth outright while I was in, but there is definitely a “God, Duty, Country” vibe that other scouting organizations around the world left behind or never adopted in the first place. Conservatives liked that, and they hated that they had been making a slow march towards more progressive and less nationalist policy that I bet only hastened after the sexual assault lawsuits bankrupted the national organization.
Hegseth is probably doing this to either pressure Scouting into regressing, or to weaken Scouting in order to spin up a Trump Youth later. There is no shortage of conservative dads unhappy with modern Scouting that would love either outcome.
A lot of clubs feel culty, especially ones that have a behavioral component. There’s a world of difference between Scouting and a real cult (like MAGA).
Yup, there were a ton of stories about them kicking out atheists back when I was in it. Being reverent is part of the motto, and some troops took that seriously. Summer camps also had a mandatory religious service too attend. There were options, but you had to go to one of them.
I know from seeing videos of other Scout troops over the years compsred to my own experiences as a Scout that it really depends on the place and the people. All my troop leaders were moms, and it was more or less just after school activities to keep you from being idle and getting up to trouble out of boredom that were also educational.
We didn’t do much of the “culty” things like pledges or whatever. We just did arts, crafts and went camping. Learned how to cook, sew, survive in the woods, first-aid, etc. 🤷♂️
The BSA wasn’t Hitler Youth outright while I was in, but there is definitely a “God, Duty, Country” vibe that other scouting organizations around the world left behind or never adopted in the first place. Conservatives liked that, and they hated that they had been making a slow march towards more progressive and less nationalist policy that I bet only hastened after the sexual assault lawsuits bankrupted the national organization.
Hegseth is probably doing this to either pressure Scouting into regressing, or to weaken Scouting in order to spin up a Trump Youth later. There is no shortage of conservative dads unhappy with modern Scouting that would love either outcome.
Fuckinnn yikes. Gonna have to watch out for the shitler youth.
Yeah that’s why I never really got into the scouts - it felt culty (not that I could articulate that back then.)
A lot of clubs feel culty, especially ones that have a behavioral component. There’s a world of difference between Scouting and a real cult (like MAGA).
It was thick with MLMs and reactionary evangelicalism. Didn’t hurt that the Mormon Church was heavily embedded in the national leadership.
Yup, there were a ton of stories about them kicking out atheists back when I was in it. Being reverent is part of the motto, and some troops took that seriously. Summer camps also had a mandatory religious service too attend. There were options, but you had to go to one of them.
I know from seeing videos of other Scout troops over the years compsred to my own experiences as a Scout that it really depends on the place and the people. All my troop leaders were moms, and it was more or less just after school activities to keep you from being idle and getting up to trouble out of boredom that were also educational.
We didn’t do much of the “culty” things like pledges or whatever. We just did arts, crafts and went camping. Learned how to cook, sew, survive in the woods, first-aid, etc. 🤷♂️