David CO

You'd think the SE would have read the red form, wouldn't ya?

Sorry, there are children on-line. I can't repeat how our side of the conversation might go.

Actually, I would like to get you and your scouts started on dodge ball. If we should somehow meet in a campground someday, my unit would very much enjoy joining you for a game.

For sure. I, for one, don't particularly care if scouts play laser tag. BSA is not facing financial and PR oblivion because some scout leaders choose to disregard the rules and let the boys play laser tag.

Join the club. This is how BSA executives treat most of us volunteer scouters. This attitude is not reserved solely for those who have been sexually abused. Smug, insolent defiance sprinkled on top of contempt. Well said. Very well said.

BSA expects to keep the camps. Fat chance.

I can't remember the exact details, since I haven't re-watched the series is many years, but I kinda recall something similar occurring on Spin and Marty, which was serialized on the Mickey Mouse Club, and later combined into a video. It had something to do with an old abandoned mine. Boys pretended to be a ghost to scare other campers. Maybe a ghost miner protecting his gold mine, or something like that. Who knew that the Mickey Mouse Club was such a hotbed of child abuse?

Well, if that is true, then he has certainly come to the right forum.

Sure. Some people might feel that my entire football program was abusive. Others might say it was abusive to make my gym students take group showers. But that's not my point either. I'm talking about actual abuse.

Neither do I. I don't know any scouters who abused kids. I don't know any scouts who were abused either.

I don't think that will be the relevant question in the lawsuits. I think they will be looking at how safe/unsafe BSA was at the time of the abuse.

They thrived in our ranks because BSA didn't want to inform the public about their existence. BSA understood the scope of the problem, but they kept quiet about it. Using a movie metaphor from the 70's, they knew that there was a shark in the water, but they still let the 10 year old boy go out into the water with his rubber raft.

BSA should have told the truth. Scouting wasn't as safe as they made it out to be. They knew it wasn't safe. They knew that thousands of boys were being sexually molested. Yet, they kept this important information from the parents. BSA didn't give the parents correct facts so that families could make an informed decision on their participation in scouting.

For good reason. Nobody should be deprived of employment opportunities because of unsubstantiated rumors.

I don't agree with your position that other youth serving organizations and schools were not trying to keep child molesters out of their ranks. They were. Many of them did a better job of it than BSA.

I did. I said so at the time. I thought keeping "secret" files was a stupid idea. Ever hear of the Pentagon Papers?

Yep. That's it. I don't speak psycho-babble.

This is the part I cannot understand.

No. BSA is not the victim.

Yes. My bishop does talk about that, and I find it a little bit disturbing. If the statistics are true, (and I have no reason to think that they aren't) how should we intemperate this? Do Catholic students actually prefer having on-line classes over in-person instruction? As a teacher, I don't find that very flattering.

What will it define itself as? Every time BSA has tried to redefine the scouting program, it has suffered a membership loss.

You're dreaming. There is no way to turn the child sexual abuse scandal into a positive message.

Not at all. I have some very strong feeling about the direction I feel my Church should be taking. Other religions may do as they please. They don't concern me. They have their own beliefs. I don't think myself a hypocrite for not interfering in the course they set for themselves. Same in scouting. If I had my way, we would have girl scouts, boy scouts, and co-ed scouts, each with its own organization. I would join the one I want. The others may do as they please.

Just like the scout executives. They have been wrestling with that question for years.

You are right about one thing. Dual membership might have the effect of intimidating one organization to be more like the other. I think this is a bad thing. People should choose the group they like and leave the other alone.