Scout’s honor? Time to bring the Boy Scouts of America up to date

[fgoodwin]

Scouts honor? Time to bring the Boy Scouts of America up to date

 

http://www.pasadenaweekly.com/article.php?id=3353&IssueNum=17

http://tinyurl.com/k96l2

 

By Hannah Naiditch

 

About two years ago, the Supreme Court ruled that the Boy Scouts of America could use membership criteria that excluded homosexuals and atheists. It was a big victory for the Scouts, but its rules have backfired. Its donations have declined because it is in conflict with many of the donors anti-discrimination policies.

 

Recently the Boy Scouts made news again. The California Supreme Court ruled unanimously that Berkeley did not violate the rights of the Scouts when the city revoked their free berthing privileges.

 

With all the recent and past publicity, it is interesting to look back at their founder, Lord Robert Baden-Powell, who started it all in Great Britain in 1907. Baden-Powell was a controversial figure. He was an officer of the British Empire and a hero in the Boer wars. However, some historians also see him as a militarist, an imperialist and even as a racist and a fascist. Two major books have been written on this subject and both were originally published in London. There is a harsh critique by Michael Rosenthal published in 1986: The Character Factory: Baden-Powells Boy Scouts and the Imperatives of Empire.

 

The other book was written by Tim Jeal: The Boy-Man: The Life of Baden-Powell. Jeal is critical of what he sees as some of Rosenthals excesses. For instance, Jeal addresses Baden-Powells anti-Semitism by asserting that Baden-Powell had several Jewish friends and a Jewish doctor and therefore could not have been an anti-Semite. He also points out that there was at that time considerable anti-Semitism, not only in England, but in Poland, Russia, Romania, Austria and Germany. He characterizes Baden-Powell as a man of conflicts and nave on some issues.

 

Jeal explains that Baden-Powell was not alone in his admiration for Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and that his feelings were based on his hatred for communism. Baden-Powell used the swastika symbol on his Thank You badges that were given to individuals who had helped the Boy Scout movement. According to Rosenthal, he used the swastika because he was a Nazi sympathizer, while Jeal blames it on Baden-Powells naivet and his stubborn claim that the symbol meant good luck in Sanskrit. Both authors agree that Baden-Powell was deeply troubled by what he saw as lack of physical courage and military resolve.

 

Baden-Powell saw a moral decline of the British people, especially British youth. He believed in authority, obedience and conformity; hardly the values that qualify as a foundation for democracy. Baden-Powell denied that the slogan Be Prepared had anything to do with war, but he was a great believer in military might and saw the urgent need not only to defend but to expand the British Empire. He was also a great believer in maintaining the purity of the white race. He hated niggers (as he called them), Jews and homosexuals, and he admired Hitler and Mussolini.

 

What does this history tell us of the traditional values that the Scouts are so proud of? What kind of character are the Scouts trying to instill in their young charges? Whatever the truth about Baden-Powell may be, he was like most of us; a product of his time. Those were the days of declining empire and declining national pride. They were also days when fascism was rampant all over Europe and an accused homosexual could end up in jail. Interestingly enough, Rosenthal claims that Baden-Powell didnt want to exclude atheists. He blamed atheism on an impoverished environment and hoped these boys would change their view when they joined the Scout movement.

 

Is todays Boy Scout intolerance an echo of the past? Boy Scout leaders claim that their core values have remained the same since 1910, a claim that may be true but troublesome. Our Constitution, which reflects our democratic values, does not require a belief in God, nor does it allow discrimination based on sexual preference. The values of Baden-Powell are not the kind of values that form the basis of a free society.

 

Times have changed since the days Baden-Powell formed his Boy Scout movement almost 100 years ago. Those were the days of manifest destiny and empire, when Europeans called the blacks of Africa primitive savages.

 

Maybe the time has come for the Scout oath to represent not the values of the early 1900s, but to reflect the modern democratic values of our nation that are based on a system of inclusion.

 

04-27-06

[Herms]

Don't you have something better to do??

[evmori]

Rubish!

[John-in-KC]

Fred

 

You make me very glad I rolled Eastward from the Peeple's Republik of Kalifornia in 1978, and in general have not looked back.

 

All: Two comments: This is a local to Southern California alternative newspaper. Consider the source. (Even I, a Native Son of the Golden West who now talks of the PRK must do so). Second, Eagle Scout Victor Cass, a graduate of Troop 4 Pasadena (one of the oldest troops in all Southern California) wrote an excellent counterpoint.

[Beavah]

Don't shoot da messenger, Herm. FGoodwin is just doing his usual bit of keeping us all informed about the news. Saves us from being blindsided if someone brings up this article at our next community event.

 

 

[Miki101]

John,

 

Do you have a link to Victor Cass' response?

 

 

[Aquila calva]

Hmmm. First line = "About two years ago..."????

 

Wasn't that Supreme Court decision in June of 2000? So, that would be "About SIX years ago...."

 

Bad editing, perhaps!

[MaScout]

I just Googled "Victor Cass" and came up with the following link to his response:

http://www.pasadenaweekly.com/article.php?id=3405&IssueNum=19

 

YIS, Ma

[Novice_Cubmaster]

Kudos to Mr. Cass. What a beautiful piece of writing.

 

And thanks to Ma Scout for posting the link.

 

NC

[acco40]

Benito Mussolini was a well respected figure in the United States before the war and before he became "dictatorial." Early on, he helped put public companies into private hands, preached pacifism, anti-imperialism and had an adversarial relationship with socialists. Only later on did he consolidate power in his hands only, move back to the opposite extreme of rigid governmental control of industry, align himself with Hitler's Nazi/Fascists and gravitate to an extreme form of aggressive nationalism. That is the Mussolini that most remember/despise.

 

In the USA (and I assume Britain), the Scouting movement "worships" the ideals, as represented by the oath and law and unlike Christianity that worships Jesus, Scouts is not a Baden-Powell honorific society. Lots of "talk" about Baden-Powell's sexual orientation exist too, but all in all it is irrelevant to the BSA in this day and age.

[NJCubScouter]

So, Beavah, when you are at "community events," you often find that people are whipping out articles about the Boy Scouts and wanting to discuss them, do you?

[Oak Tree]

I thought Beavah's reply made perfect sense, but I did get a chuckle out of NJCubScouter's imagery. The politics of Scouting are naturally extremely important to a high percentage of the population, and you need to be debate-ready at a moment's notice. Well, maybe not...

 

I do agree that it's useful for fgoodwin to post the articles here. It's interesting to see what all's being written about Boy Scouts. And every now and then, someone does bring up something.

 

Oak Tree

[Fuzzy Bear]

Whenever a person looks backward in time and attempts to piece it together using the records, there is a distinct probability that the report will be measured using today's standards and not those of the original. This is like the Monday Morning Quarterback replaying the game without so much as being in the stands or watching on T.V. Take some of the present day events in our world and try to make sense of them. Wait fifty years and then see how right or wrong you are on those issues. Judging B.P. by drawing historical assumptions and mingling present day standards is to take a compass bearing on an individual that is assured to miss the mark. Most in Scouting accepts that B.P. was fully human and that what he did was exceptional in spite of his humanity. His legacy stands in spite of those that wish to besmirch one individual's life that was outstanding by any measure.

 

The author of the article would also benefit from looking further into Scoutings history. There have been changes over the years and several have tried to make it more relevant. Some of the changes have lasted and some have been a disaster. We have yet to see a time that Scouting hasn't changed something. There are people constantly calling for changes within the BSA at all levels. Visit your local District Committee meeting and get involved deep enough to hear the continual drumbeat of change. It is always there but change doesn't occur overnight; it takes time.

 

The basic standard of Scouting is the Scout Law. It was changed in the U.S.A. early on when James West added the last three points of the Scout Law. Today, we feel that the twelve points of the Scout Law embodies all that is necessary to be prepared for life even though B.P. thought that ten was enough. I imagine that several of us here would be willing to add a few more if only we could and if given the chance. We don't know what will happen in the future much like we have a difficult time knowing or appreciating what went on in the past. We just hope that when it comes our time to make changes that we have the wisdom to know what is right and what will keep us on course.

 

 

FB