Personally I've always been a bit suspicious of Baden-Powell and his urge to go scouting for young boys
A bit of a Michael Jackson if you ask me

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How sad. Unfortunately this seems a typical reaction these days. I was never a Boy Scout or even a Cub but it was regarded as a perfectly respectable organisation in my day. There's bad apples in every walk of life but to cast doubts on the reputation of a respectable & patriotic person based on the doubtful moral standards of today's society (as I've seen with Baden-Powell) is unforgivable in my opinion. Even more so when that person is dead & unable to defend himself. This sort of thing is all too common these days.

The whole concept of Scouting is outdated now & I'm surprised that any adult would want to be associated with it because of these slurs.* It might be difficult for anyone to imagine now but this was the original idea behind it.
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Personally, I think a lot of modern youngsters would benefit from it.

*PS. Or any activity involving working with children come to that. This is the result of a general lack self-discipline, lowering of moral standards & perversion being accepted as normal behaviour. IMHO

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I knew that Mark. My remarks were not aimed at you or Bjorn. This is the common concept of Baden-Powell & his scout movement these days. Nothing more than a joke.

I've experienced this sort of unfounded discrimination myself & I'm a tad fed up with it. A single man of my age living alone seems to be treated with suspicion by everyone these days. I no longer dare make eye contact or smile at a young child for fear of being accused of being a pervert. Goodness knows what would happen if I actually physically touched a child that fell over & hurt itself. I would probably be locked up. I think this is a sad reflection on our society.

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Thanks Bjorn but respect has to be earned. I think I've earned it several times over but unfortunately nobody else seems to agree.

I dunno about y'all, but in my area you had to be in the clique to be in the boy scouts.  Not so much the kids, but the moms.  My family has always been one to keep to itself (save perhaps my sister), so it was awkward when I started investigating the Scouts.

Who are you?

Not my cup o' tea thank you very much.  I stuck to reading about insects and games all by my happy lonesome.

I think that in olden times scouting turned out responsible adults, who were then kept upright by the Masons (feel freee to disagree).
Lots of people m y age still do scouts and find it immense fun...I however aren't..shall we say..accostomed to mudfights etc, so Ill stick with AIRTC thanks very much...
However many paedophiles may grace the Scouting Org...its still good....and I dont think its outdated...


A.

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I suppose it might depend on the country but I'm not sure where the Masons come into this. Freemasonry was, & still is, a secret society. Not being a Mason I'm still unclear as to what its purpose is. However innocent the organisation might be, the very fact that its business is conducted in absolute secrecy appears to give it a sinister side. In "olden times", as you put it, a Mason would not admit to being one or give away those secrets at the risk of terrible punishment from his peers. I would say the "Church" of whatever creed or denomination had far more influence on moral standards. I think this opens up a whole new area of discussion which I'm not convinced is suitable for this forum.