Prairie_Scouter Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 Yeah, funscout, but a statement like yours makes it sound like supporters of a "blue state" run around in some sort of moral black hole, which is basically, well, a crock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
captainron14 Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 OGE, You are so right. It is so sad when there are people in our great country who consider themselves Democrat or Republican BEFORE they consider themselves an American. Things started to go down hill in this area about 1992 when President Clinton was elected. The backlash from conservatives was very harsh reacting to his push to the left and the arrogant attitude of many in his administration towards others (Too bad, we're in charge now). This was also seen in Congress. This resulted in a severe reaction of outright hatred towards the Left by the Right. Talk radio came into it's own, and a many in the media pushed farther to the left. With President Bush's election and the controversy that surrounded it, many on the Left felt it was their turn to attack the Right. Things only got worse, till the 2004 election when President Bush was re-elected, people actually considered moving to Canada rather than live in a country with a Republican in office. People started to make decisions/judgement about others purely on their political party, sometimes to the point of bigotry. Sadly, this attitude has filtered into all walks of life, leading us to where we are now Blue vs. Red. Where no matter how good for the country an idea/proposal is, if it originates from the "other" party, it is automatically bad. There is no civility anymore, it is a vicious assault on anything, everything and everyone on the "other side". Far too often it is a "scorched earth" policy (if you do not change, I will destroy you). We see this in many of the court cases against BSA as well as our Government Confirmation hearings. I wonder how many potentially great leaders out there are deciding to refuse service to the country because of this situation. My hope is that after 2008 when a new President is in power (regardless of party)the healing will begin and hopefully the partisan politics will go away (and the BSA will be there for my grandchildren). Maybe then we can getting back to respecting others beliefs and sometimes "agreeing to disagree". Maybe that is wishful thinking? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
funscout Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 Prairie Scouter, Again, I apologize that my (in my mind) innocent greeting to a fellow conservative was taken as a slam against liberals. That was not at all my intention. One of my best friends is a liberal. We disagree on MANY things, but still get along. We can tease and joke about some political things, but there are some topics we know it's not worth discussing, since we are so far apart in our thinking. I try to live a life the way God wants me to, and try to set a good example for my kids. As a human, though, I make mistakes every day. I guess you all witnessed one of them in my unintentionally offensive post. Am I forgiven? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trevorum Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 Fun, of course we forgive you. Everyone here slips up now and then and says something askew. Shoot, one of MY best friends is black (wait, did I really say that?) I mean, one of my best friends is a woman (no, that's not right either..) ... OK. One of my best friends is gay (! ...) Hmmm... how about, one of my best friends is a Conservative. ... Not that there's anything wrong with that ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GernBlansten Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 Well, funscouter, from this red blooded American who lives deep in the heart of the reddest county of a purple state who frequently has blue thoughts, no offense taken. Or would that be blue blooded? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FScouter Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 When I'm in a blue state, I listen to Big Joe Turner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrentAllen Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 Red State greetings to you, funscout! I do consider myself very fortunate, in many ways! OGE, do you really need to ask that? Sitting here in Georgia, we look at what is happening in San Francisco or Mass. and we wonder if we are on the same planet! I guess we are that different. I'm an American, from the State of Georgia. We, as a state, are very much against gay marriage. We, as a state, believe strongly that the Second Amendment gives us the individual right to keep and bear arms. I would guess there are several states in the northeast or west coast that would not agree with us. Of course, not everyone who lives in Georgia is a conservative. My county, Dekalb, is the most diverse in the state. The vast majority of the state is pretty conservative, though. This web page has been a real eye-opener for me. Here, most who join Scouts are more conservative than the average state resident. I'm not used to seeing many liberals in Scouting. A conversation about allowing gays and atheists in wouldn't last very long here - maybe 3 seconds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trevorum Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 Brent, I'd be pleased to count you among my conservative friends. I believe you are correct in that the majority of adults in Scouting today are probably politically conservative (ooo, deja vu ... I think we've had this discussion before ...). One reason of course is that the BSA automatically rejects membership from many people who happen to be politically liberal. Nonetheless, please know that there are many of us Scouters whom you might paint with a blue brush! That is one of the remarkable values of ScouterTerry's website here. It provides a forum for a diversity of Scouters to exchange views and get to know one another. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldGreyEagle Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 First Funscout, I didnt mean anything aimed at you, there have been several blue and red comments lately and I was reacting to that. Nest I live in Pennsylvania and have no idea what color "we" are. For that matter, when someone says they are blue or red, I really have no idea what that means. Ok, yes I know it means how that state voted in the presidential election, but as to who is red and blue, I dont know nor do I really care. I have stated before my job sometimes calls for extensive travel. This past fall I spent significant time in Tupelo, Mississippi (saw the King's house, man it was small) as well as time in Augusta and Winder Georgia. Now as I take it these are conservative states Yet the entire time I was there I never did meet anyone without shoes, the people I worked with had all their teeth that I could see and all could read at least the sixth grade level. Overall, they were as decent hardworking and bright as any I have met. I also have spent time in Massachusetts and on Whidbey Island in Washington and several Seattle suburbs. I have been told these are very liberal areas, yet I never did see anyone giving prophylactics away in the street for that matter the streest werent anywhere near to what I have imagined Sodom and Gommorah to have been like. Overall the people I met were as decent hardworking and bright as any I have met. Maybe I am being a Pollyanna on this, well at least a Pollyandy, but I see more common amoung us than differences. Its funny how cyclical things are, as a child of the 60's I followed the crowd in a rush to prove our individualism (I can hear the youth murmurring "what?") Growing hair long, wearing bell bottoms, doing what we could to establish our own identity, telling people that we wouldnt be pigeonholed, labeled, that we were all unique. And now in the double "Aughts" (remember Jethro Bodine, he wanted to be a "double aught" agent) we want to label outselves and others as Red or Blue, conservative and liberal. What happened to being unqiue? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prairie_Scouter Posted January 26, 2006 Share Posted January 26, 2006 No need to forgive, fun. Glad to have you here at the circus. I've had my moments; I kinda remember early on in my time here that OGE said I'd made the 2nd most outrageous comment he'd ever heard here; I don't remember what it was anymore, but I still remember wondering what #1 was I have a good friend who's about as conservative as they come, and a friend who avoids politics at all costs. I, eeek, have gay friends as well, and golly, they're just normal folks. I myself was raised in a Chicago neighborhood deep in Democratic territory with an uncle who was a Democratic precinct captain. You might say I'm a product of my environment Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
funscout Posted January 26, 2006 Share Posted January 26, 2006 Thanks, everybody! You scouters are great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
funscout Posted January 26, 2006 Share Posted January 26, 2006 Before I inadvertently sidetracked this forum, I had asked about sleeping arrangements in organizations that allow females and gays. Please believe me, I am NOT trying to start a hornet's nest, I'm just trying to better understand how this could ever work. Since Gays are attracted to other boys, they could not share a tent with another boy (gay or straight). Also, it's against regulations for a boy and girl to share a tent, so do you just have every one bunk alone? It would seem discriminatory to only make the gays bunk alone, so I'm guessing the rule would have to be that all kids bunk alone. In my son's troop, the 1st and 2nd year scouts usually prefer to have a tent-mate or two. Since campouts are still new to them, I think many of them think of this as an outdoor sleep-over. The older boys in my son's troop tend to want to bunk alone, like the adults do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
funscout Posted January 26, 2006 Share Posted January 26, 2006 Before I inadvertently sidetracked this forum, I had asked about sleeping arrangements in organizations that allow females and gays. Please believe me, I am NOT trying to start a hornet's nest, I'm just trying to better understand how this could ever work. Since Gays are attracted to other boys, they could not share a tent with another boy (gay or straight). Also, it's against regulations for a boy and girl to share a tent, so do you just have every one bunk alone? It would seem discriminatory to only make the gays bunk alone, so I'm guessing the rule would have to be that all kids bunk alone. In my son's troop, the 1st and 2nd year scouts usually prefer to have a tent-mate or two. Since campouts are still new to them, I think many of them think of this as an outdoor sleep-over. The older boys in my son's troop tend to want to bunk alone, like the adults do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GernBlansten Posted January 27, 2006 Share Posted January 27, 2006 Curious Funscouter, When do you ask your scouts if they are gay? Or do you assume they are not since they are scouts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrentAllen Posted January 27, 2006 Share Posted January 27, 2006 Gern, Do you see the whole posts on your computer like I do? Are they showing up in their entirety on your screen? Perhaps you missed the first paragraph in funscout's message: "...I had asked about sleeping arrangements in organizations that allow females and gays." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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