Context: I was a Boy Scout for a number of years, making Eagle in 2020 right as COVID was really kicking off.

It was right afterwards, however, that the CSA scandal started popping up everywhere (which thankfully I was never exposed to or involved in during my time), and lately it seems like the organization & movement as a whole has fallen by the sociocultural wayside.

I would say that my time as a Scout did me objective good; I learned a decent amount about first-aid & survival-craft, participated in a number of volunteer & civic projects, and it generally made me a more well-rounded person. However, there’s no denying the impact that something “bigger than the Catholic Church scandal”, as I’ve heard it described, has on an institution such as this.

I’d like to get the community’s opinion, however; were any of you Scouts? How was your experience? What is your opinion of the institution today?

  • Salah [ey/em]@hexbear.net
    2·
    4 hours ago

    Scouting in Western Europe has close associations with national socialists. In a way all children programs serve a propagandist purpose and I think a socialist scouting-like program could be beneficial for children and society.

    • huf [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
      2·
      59 minutes ago

      yep. inherently suspicious movement. a quote from the dude who started it all, Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell:

      On 17 October 1939, Baden-Powell wrote in his diary: “Lay up all day. Read Mein Kampf. A wonderful book, with good ideas on education, health, propaganda, organisation etc. – and ideals which Hitler does not practice himself.”

      it’s extremely anti-communist and pro-hierarchy. obey your king, your god, your country.

      • Salah [ey/em]@hexbear.net
        2·
        2 hours ago

        Yes but not only that. Today you will see many scouting groups being places where right extremist ideology is being spread without any supervision or intervention by governments.