gsdad Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 In my opinion, eaning the Eagle rank, and being and Eagle Scout are two different things.Living up the words of the Scout Law and Scout Oath, and going through life with the moral compass expected of an Eagle Scout. I know more than one person who earned Eagle and are now incarcerated for violent crimes. Those men earned Eagle, but in my mind are not Eagle Scouts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sentinel947 Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 Sad. Obviously the whole Oath and Law thing didn't really factor into his life much. Brings great discredit to other Eagle Scouts who do what they are supposed to. Sentinel947 The checklist is to keep a Scout in the program so he can take and live with the Oath and Law. The assumption I'm making is that an Eagle Scout SHOULD have internalized the Oath and Law. When they don't, we have things like this. You don't seem to understand my argument that I made in the Respecting which Eagle thread the other day. (Emphasis added) ADVANCEMENT IS A MEANS TO AN END. The requirements, merit badges, patrol method and more are all means to helping make boys grow into good men. The rank advancement and earning Eagle is a small part of a process that if done correctly should have opened the door to an influence of the Oath and Law on the youth going through the program, whether they finish Eagle or not. The Checklist of rank advancement is important only in the context of keeping Scouts in the program. "Eagles are just people". I had to rewrite this paragraph a few times, because I think I set up strawman arguments on you. I totally agree with your statement. You and I are both Eagles. From what I can tell, we both earned it naturally, as an extension of the program. You are a Scoutmaster of a small inner city troop with your son. I'm a young ASM who still goes back to his hometown Troop to help out. We are both just people, but I'd say Scouting and our other influences growing up gave us pretty good judgment. Scouting and this young mans other influences in life failed him. "They are just people who are given opportunity." Aren't we all? Isn't that what Scouting is about? Giving opportunities to youth? Isn't that what Baden Powell wanted? We disagree on a few issues here, Basementdweller, but I do enjoy discussing these topics with you. Sentinel947 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sentinel947 Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 Sentinel, it doesn't discredit a single other Eagle Scout as far as I'm concerned. We are all of us, each of us, individuals with our individual talents, abilities, and faults. To me, the tragic fall of this individual (if that is what it is) is something that applies to him and not to any other individual. It does, however, cause me to rethink claims that scouting builds character. Perhaps scouting provides opportunities for individuals to build their own character, and while that is a good thing, it is a different matter. But it IS an interesting story. That's why I think it's discrediting. Eagle Scout means something because the program is supposed to help build character. If it doesn't help build character than the title of Eagle Scout means nothing, and the program is a joke. It's stated aim is to help create good citizens. Obviously with this Eagle Scout, Scouting failed. It doesn't apply to us, but to the program, and that disappoints me. Maybe because I'm still young and idealistic. I'll get over those kinds of gut reactions in time. Yours in Scouting, Sentinel947 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horizon Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 The interesting thing about this is that this young man created a genius bit of a site, that was out of the reach of governments and banks by keeping it remote and by using Bitcoin for the currency. The more Libertarian minded folks would appreciate that - the ability to do business outside of the reach of any given national government. However, new technology has shown tendency to have early adopters from the vice vendors. Home VCRs benefitted from pornography, and in the early days of the internet the only profitable pay sites were the Wall Street Journal and Playboy. Craig's List constantly has to work on how their site provides an easy to way to sell drugs and prostitution, even though it was set up to just be an online classified marketplace. I can see the interest in setting up Silk Road, and I wonder what his path was as it started to go bad. As some of us pray, "Lead me not unto temptation..." 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stosh Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 My brother works for the Federal Bureau of Prisons and has often commented that the criminal in today's world is either really stupid or really smart. No middle ground. The stupid ones get caught right away, the smart ones take a while, but they get caught too eventually. Stosh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basementdweller Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 The most profound line in the article.... He was a rare set of contradictions, a humanitarian willing to kill, a criminal with a strict code of ethics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basementdweller Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 In my opinion, eaning the Eagle rank, and being and Eagle Scout are two different things.So exactly how do you separate the two? Is there a magical bar of ethics and behavior somewhere I am missing????? Slapping on a backpack or car camping 25 nights doesn't make you a good person. I think you have bought into the illusion that eagle is something more than it is...... I think that romantic notion is dead, Probably about the time of Green Bars first departure from the BSA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick_in_CA Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 Apparently he was partly motivated by his libertarian and anti-tax views: “I walk tall, proud and free, knowing that the actions I take eat away at the infrastructure that keeps oppression alive,†D.P.R. wrote on Silk Road in March 2012. “Now it is profitable to throw off one’s chains, with amazing crypto technology reducing the risk of doing so dramatically. How many niches have yet to be filled in the world of anonymous online markets? The opportunity to prosper and take part in a revolution of epic proportions is at our fingertips!†Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gsdad Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 In my opinion, eaning the Eagle rank, and being and Eagle Scout are two different things.I consider being a Boy Scout, and being in Boy Scouts the same way. It works in my mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basementdweller Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 In my opinion, eaning the Eagle rank, and being and Eagle Scout are two different things.Well I am glad you have YOUR standards that you judge a boy or adult member with. It is a shame that the general public that labels every member of the BSA a boy scout doesn't have that same standard, what ever it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basementdweller Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 just an other rich boy, like the lad in Texas who killed those people driving drunk.....Oh my dad will get me out of this. The parents sole income was from renting 4 beach houses in costa rica....and who picks up and moves to be near their son's trial. I am going to guess he was raised in an environment of no consequences. I really enjoyed the part where he filed court papers to have the domains, laptop and bitcoins returned to him. Ok, just admit guilt right??? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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