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LATEST POSTS
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By AwakeEnergyScouter · Posted
I will absolutely not be participating in this phenomenon. Facts exist and they matter, period. You ignore them at your own peril. Pretending that things are one way (pravda) when they are plainly another (istina) is the root of the rot that always ruins whatever our (Swedish perspective) only remaining enemy to the east does. Just look at Karelia, and inversely the Baltic countries now compared to USSR times. If you want things to work in your country, citizens need to know what is actually happening in it and how things work on a nuts and bolts causal level, not what some high-level politician wants to be true or wants you to pretend to be the case so they can defraud your state. I can't control other people, but I will absolutely not pretend that the sky is green because it's inconvenient to someone else that it's blue. I don't care how out of touch or elitist that might seem to other people, for me that is a basic act of patriotism and cultural identity. I am of a people that doesn't operate on parallel political and factual truths. One of our defining cultural traits is that we operate on factual truth only. This might sound a little harsh, and in a sense it is but it's not directed towards you. I just grew up knowing that I would be the target of political propaganda and that a country that did not wish us well was trying to convince citizens that they should give up resistance so that they could take over our country and suck all the resources out of it too, like they already have the territory they control. I've thought about the importance of seeking and confirming truth for a very long time, in several political time periods and in different countries with and without political censorship and repression. In addition, I have a religious obligation to never give up trying to see reality as it is in order to help other people. If you give up truth and respect for the equal intrinsic value and dignity of each human being, it doesn't matter how slick your talk is, it's all going to go sideways in the end. Convincing other of something is all fine and good, but what's the point if you don't make sure to be right first? -
By BetterWithCheddar · Posted
It was challenging enough to navigate the half-truths we saw in TV ads this cycle. My son also came home and informed me about the playground straw poll. This was probably the last Presidential election where we could avoid the subject. He'll be ready for some table talk in 4 years. I applaud your efforts to search for truth, but fear we may now be living in a "post-fact" America. It's rather difficult to win heated arguments on facts alone. Instead, we should challenge kids to be better persuaders by encouraging empathy, wit, humor, and concise writing -
It has been a while back now, but I, along with most of the leaders in camp years ago, when the North Korean leader was much younger and just becoming a fixture in TV news, my scouts did a skit for campfire that spoofed him and brought down the house. At the time, we had a relatively new member, I think he was 12 or 13 at best, an immigrant from South Korea. The youth made him up with pillows and such to be Kim, and then proceeded to do one of the best satirical skits I have ever seen. Won is now in the Navy, having gone to Annapolis after graduating number one in his HS class, and also becoming an Eagle. He stayed with us through HS and until recently I heard from him regularly and we visited if he came home. His life has gotten complicated and too full I fear, but still hope to have him call and we can catch up. Point is that the youth completely caught me off guard, as well as most other adults. I suspect their skit may have been a victim of our modern society today, if the adults actually paid attention to its theme when submitted for approval. -
By AwakeEnergyScouter · Posted
Mine is cub-age as well, and I didn't think anyone would bring up current events/politics during this adventure until I realized with some shock that my child's probably entire class discusses US politics and their opinions of parties and individual politicians on the regular, including speculating or sharing who their parents voted for in the 2024 election. (Before the election, it was "was going to vote for".) Evidently we had done a good job of not voicing our political opinions in front of them (thinking as you did, that the time was later and that we ought to start somewhere nuanced and thoughtful), because they came from from a sleepover last year and asked us to vote for a particular candidate because they didn't know who we were going to vote for. The kids at the sleepover had made a pact to get their parents to vote for that candidate! The young age at which they did this really took me aback. But then again, at the Webelos-AOL overnight camp our pack attended last summer a Webelos yelled out "To elect Trump!" as an answer to the question "what do we have an election for this fall?" during that same adventure. The answer the staffer was looking for, was, of course, "president". I don't know if this is typical or unusual, but wanted to pass on the experience in case it's more in the common side. I know we definitely weren't discussing politics when I was their age. But since they seem to be, I wanted to prevent political shout-outs like the one we saw at camp. When it comes to reliable media, everyone has offered good observations already, but I wanted to add a general strategy for cross-checking and/or finding higher-quality reporting: public service media. It's never behind a paywall, and since the funding doesn't depend on advertising and the mission is explicitly to educate and inform their citizenry the quality is much higher than many private media these days. In Swedish public media, I regularly see reporting that forces politicians and civil servants to take action to fix problems, such as that 2/3 of the train delays in a certain region was due to the same five malfunctioning switches that had been due for exchange for years. Poof, those switches got exchanged real quick once that reporting was published because who wants to seem incompetent? If you only speak English, your options are more limited, but the BBC is excellent. France 24 also publishes news in English, as does Deutsche Welle. Canada, Australia, and New Zealand also publish public service news in English. https://www.bbc.com/news https://www.france24.com/en/ https://www.dw.com/en/top-stories/s-9097 https://www.cbc.ca/news https://www.abc.net.au/news https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world -
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.
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