NoCal Girls flocking to BSA

[HelpfulTracks]

This came across my news feed. I have no idea about the quality of this publication beyond reading the article (which clear has factual flaws), but I thought it was interesting.

https://hotair.com/archives/2018/02/01/northern-california-magnet-girls-joining-boy-scouts/

And another article came across right after that.

https://www.theblaze.com/news/2018/02/01/girls-signing-up-in-droves-to-become-boy-scouts-in-northern-california-were-both-created-equal

Edited February 1, 2018 by HelpfulTracks

[EmberMike]

Here's the piece at a Sacramento CBS affiliate: http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2018/01/30/boy-scouts-girls-northern-california/

Seems like a more legit source. And with video. 

I couldn't get the video to play on the CBS site, so here's a YouTube link for anyone else having trouble with it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQxiQwZ4kDE

 

 

 

Edited February 1, 2018 by EmberMike

[NJCubScouter]

I'm confused.  This says girls are being permitted to sign up to be "Boy Scouts" now, when (1) girls above the 4th grade are not yet supposed to signing up for anything, yet, and (2) when they do, they are not going to be "Boy Scouts."  They are going to Something Scouts or Girl Boy Scouts or whatever real name the BSA eventually comes up with. 

And then there's the part about Girl Scout troops that are going to be, simultaneously, Boy Scout troops.  What could possibly go wrong?  

Edited February 1, 2018 by NJCubScouter

[EmberMike]

4 minutes ago, NJCubScouter said:

I'm confused.  This says girls are being permitted to sign up to be "Boy Scouts" now, when (1) girls above the 4th grade are not yet supposed to signing up for anything, yet, and (2) when they do, they are not going to be "Boy Scouts."  They are going to Something Scouts or Girl Boy Scouts or whatever real name the BSA eventually comes up with. 

And then there's the part about Girl Scout troops that are going to be, simultaneously, Boy Scout troops.  What could possibly go wrong?  

Terminology seems to be tripping up the media pretty frequently. I kind of wish the BSA addressed some of the branding considerations before going ahead with this. I didn't think it would matter much, but apparently it does. 

[ItsBrian]

31 minutes ago, EmberMike said:

Terminology seems to be tripping up the media pretty frequently. I kind of wish the BSA addressed some of the branding considerations before going ahead with this. I didn't think it would matter much, but apparently it does. 

I think the terminology is tripping the whole forum up too! 

[NJCubScouter]

47 minutes ago, ItsBrian said:

I think the terminology is tripping the whole forum up too! 

It is.  A cynic might say that the BSA set the tone for the confusion when it decided to call the acceptance of girls into certain programs "Family Scouting," ignoring the fact that even with this change, some members of the family (i.e. Mom and Dad and siblings of age 18 or more) do not, and still will not, actually be doing the "Scouting," though some of them will, as always, be doing the "leading."

[cocomax]

3 hours ago, HelpfulTracks said:

And another article came across right after that.

https://www.theblaze.com/news/2018/02/01/girls-signing-up-in-droves-to-become-boy-scouts-in-northern-california-were-both-created-equal

Holy cow!   You all should ready the comments at the end of the article!   These are mostly right wing people that love God and country that should be supporting the Boy Scouts in high numbers!  The comment section is a dumpster fire.  It makes us look like Boy Scouts!

BSA has some big troubles with public image now, and it seems to be getting worst. 

When friendly feel good news stories leaves the false impression that Boy Scouts in now a co-ed thing with troops of Boys and Girls sharing tents. . .  there is a big problem. . .

The grown man playing doctor teaching first aid with the young girls was an odd choice of photos, it is something that could be used against us by someone that does not like the Boy Scouts.  

Edited February 2, 2018 by cocomax

[Jameson76]

So...uniforms are optional now??

[Eagle1993]

I’d recognized not reading comments at the end of articles.  It’s not clear if they are trolls or simply disgusting human beings.  

[ItsBrian]

46 minutes ago, cocomax said:

Holy cow!   You all should ready the comments at the end of the article!   These are mostly right wing people that love God and country that should be supporting the Boy Scouts in high numbers!  The comment section is a dumpster fire.  It makes us look like Boy Scouts!

BSA has some big troubles with public image now, and it seems to be getting worst. 

When friendly feel good news stories leaves the false impression that Boy Scouts in now a co-ed thing with troops of Boys and Girls sharing tents. . .  there is a big problem. . .

The grown man playing doctor teaching first aid with the young girls was an odd choice of photos, it is something that could be used against us by someone that does not like the Boy Scouts.  

I don’t think some of them ever heard of venturing..

[NJCubScouter]

3 hours ago, cocomax said:

6 hours ago, HelpfulTracks said:

And another article came across right after that.

https://www.theblaze.com/news/2018/02/01/girls-signing-up-in-droves-to-become-boy-scouts-in-northern-california-were-both-created-equal

Holy cow!   You all should ready the comments at the end of the article!   These are mostly right wing people that love God and country that should be supporting the Boy Scouts in high numbers!  The comment section is a dumpster fire.  It makes us look like Boy Scouts!

The tone of the comments does not surprise me at all, considering what web site this is from. TheBlaze.com is an ultra-right-wing web site that was started by Glenn Beck.  (Apologies and sympathies to any Glenn Beck fans here.)

Another distinction between the comments there and here is:  How many of the commenters at The Blaze are actually Scouters?  I read about the first 15 comments and I saw 1 (one) self-identified leader of a Scouting-like group, specifically Trail Life. I suspect very few if any of the others even come that close to any involvement with the BSA.

[NJCubScouter]

On my second reading of these articles, there are so many odd things in the text and photos that I’m starting to wonder if this is legit.  Most of it comes from this one guy, a man who claims to be a GSUSA troop leader, and the girls in his troop who are going to be “Boy Scouts.”  It kind of reminds me of that uproar a couple of years ago about the Scoutmaster who said U.S. border agents pulled a gun on one of his Scouts.  The more additional information that came out, the fishy-er it seemed.

[EmberMike]

16 minutes ago, NJCubScouter said:

On my second reading of these articles, there are so many odd things in the text and photos that I’m starting to wonder if this is legit.  Most of it comes from this one guy, a man who claims to be a GSUSA troop leader, and the girls in his troop who are going to be “Boy Scouts.”  It kind of reminds me of that uproar a couple of years ago about the Scoutmaster who said U.S. border agents pulled a gun on one of his Scouts.  The more additional information that came out, the fishy-er it seemed.

I think it's the presentation of the story that makes it seem odd. They make it look like these girls are already in the BSA, doing scout stuff and all. But the real story with these particular girls and this leader is that they are going to sign up when they can, which may be later this year or 2019. 

A better story would have been to go meet some girls who are actually in a Cub Scout pack right now. 

[Eagle1993]

The council must have kicked off this story as a recruiting message.  Drum up some support in prep for launch.  Most seem focused on the Cub Scout program when working with the media, not sure why this council led with 1,600 girls ready to join and then got all the media tied in with a fake BSA girl Troop.   Seems like this can only cause confusion.

[EmberMike]

1 hour ago, Eagle1993 said:

The council must have kicked off this story as a recruiting message.  Drum up some support in prep for launch.  Most seem focused on the Cub Scout program when working with the media, not sure why this council led with 1,600 girls ready to join and then got all the media tied in with a fake BSA girl Troop.   Seems like this can only cause confusion.

Yeah, poor move by that council. Maybe they felt it better for marketing purposes to go with older girls, but I just don't see the logic in that. If it was a marketing move, showing off some girls in Cub uniforms doing fun Cub Scout stuff would have looked better.