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LATEST POSTS
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By BetterWithCheddar · Posted
I was a Boy Scout in the late 90s and early 2000s and can only recall a single instance of politics coming up at a Scouting event. An older Scout referred to George W. as "King George" because he had not won the popular vote. It was in the Trading Post at summer camp and we all just went back to eating our ice cream. @skeptic, I think you're approaching the situation correctly by offering a thoughtful reply when prompted but not interjecting your personal views at every turn. I view my obligation as a leader to promote good dialogue, but not necessarily my opinion. My son is still Cub-age, but when the conversations become more nuanced, I plan to start with patience and humility. -
Finding dependable news sources is itself hard. Newspapers are almost gone, and any real journalism in most is lacking. Once in a while something good is in a column or editorial or political cartoon. The time when it took me half the day on Sunday to make it through the paper is long gone. Online often has pay walls, so getting access to some good discussion is harder, as I refuse to pay them, though on occasion I might if it seems important enough. Few of those come along though. I used to get the Sunday L.A. Times, but it got so bad that I stopped it. Our local paper on a good Sunday takes maybe a half hour, including the comics, and only a few good local pieces show up. There are a few descent online mags, and once in a while I find something in them, though often have the paywall thing again. And we all know how great the various TV "news" outlets are. And now it is harder to verify things, as the fact-checking is suspect as well much of the time. Thanks for views shared; they helped a bit. -
By AwakeEnergyScouter · Posted
I just scheduled the "talk with an elected official about whether they were elected using majority or plurality voting and why" requirement of My Community, and decided to add this to the invite. "Note about scouting and politics: The scouting movement is nonpolitical in that in our roles as scouts and scouters in uniform, we do not express support for any particular political candidate in any particular place. We are a civic movement that recognizes the inviolable human dignity of each human being, freedom of thought, religion, assembly, and expression; democracy, equal rights under the law for everyone, rule of law, and human rights. We encourage our members to take an active role in creating a harmonious society that is consistent with our value foundation, but also encourage each member to reach their own conclusion regarding which political candidates have the best suggestions for how to do that in the country in which they live, consistent with freedom of thought. Given that we have over 50 million members worldwide, our fellow scouts and scouters are almost guaranteed to be mixed political company, but actively voicing support for the importance of human dignity, civic freedoms, democracy, equal rights, rule of law, and human rights is not considered political as far as the scouting movement goes, even if they are contested in a country with a scouting organization." I also agree that advising youth on not getting their news from social media is a good idea. "I read it on the Internet so it must be true" is the new "I saw it on TV so it must be true". Being able to evaluate the source of information and knowing how to cross-check it is a key skill in an information society. -
Well, the program isn’t making it any easier, google “Boy Scouts woke” and there is very little positive responses from all sides of the spectrum. The program is caught on a cultural yoyo that makes it difficult for anyone to discuss. My wife and I travel internationally quite a bit and I often find myself bragging about the benefits of scouting I observed from my experience. I have found folks of all backgrounds and nationalities are intrigued with the scout program and want something like it for their community. I don’t step into the resent changes because I don’t want to turn the discussion political. I like to leave it positive. Barry -
Does that mean that we can expect multiple council mergers in the next year or two? It is my understanding that national does not want councils under 5000 youth.
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