A lawsuit has been filed against a certain Boy Scouts
organisation, and as you have mentioned in previous messages
about your own experiences in Montana, it would be nice if
you could share your thoughts on this matter with the rest
of us in this forum. Thanks in advance.
Usually I would try not to respond to you, but in this case ...
Any organisation, once large enough, will attract people to occupy positions of leadership whom will 'exercise abuse'. Not just the kind described in the article, but many kinds of abuse. It's called 'excessive power' where one layer in the structure covers-up the next.
Transparency can take care of a lot, but if that particular organisation is lacking one thing, then it is exactly that: "transparency".
Many different kinds of abuse are possible and with that particular organisation now opening-up to girls, then abusing the integrity of young ladies will equally need to be prevented.
Another type of abuse in that particular organisation which is never talked about is 'psychological strangulation' in church-chartered troops. I cannot say I noticed anything with regards to the catholic church or the Protestant churches or Jews, but the LDS-church (the Mornons) psychologically abuse their youth in scouting up to the point where it can be considered criminal but remains covered-up because in certain states (Washington, Idaho, Arizona) they are like 80% of the membership and nationally they provide a huge part of the budget in donations of cash.
I've seen Mormon troops coming to camp and the 10-11yr old boys (never girls, here's your first indication) at 9am are just as playful and goofy as any of the regular kids. Then the first day they move in a bunch of old men, their bisshops, and they begin mentally and psychologically whacking those kids. They are not allowed to play anymore but become stuffed with stuff from the 'Mormon Scriptures' which is a compilation of several books
Bible
Book of Mormon,
Doctrine and Covenants
Pearl of Great Price
Having tried a few pages of the "Book of Mormon" I cannot understand how a not-braindead person can even accept a single sylable of it.
These kids are being pounced-upon by a choice selection of old men and by day's end, after dinner. they are sitting there as zombies ... staring, not communicating, not playing, not goofing off ...
Abuse in youth organisations?
There are lots of organisations. I'm willing to accept there's abuse also in YMCA for example, schools, the military but always there's a psychological / moral side to it which permit the perpetrators to groom their victims until they are 'ready' for the abuse whatever the abuse will be.
And the abuse often comes from people of the highest moral and ethical standing ... churches ... especially the LDS-church which has never been the target of complaints because they were the cancer at the heart of the BSA ... and a cancer does not fight itself.
All that may change ...
The Mormons and the Boy Scouts have a collaboration that reaches back almost a century. But 2 things happened lately: the BSA finally admitted openly gay scouts and troop leaders four years ago, as well as transgender scouts, and that still worked because the church itself has them (although not outspoken because it is considered an illness which can be prayed-away). But then girls were admitted to join and that prompted the "Quorum of the Twelve" (a group of 12 really old unworldly men thinking they are the follow-up of Jezus's 12 apostles) decided "the direction they were going was not consistent to what we feel our youth need to have to survive in the world that lies ahead for them."
The LDS church has pulled its boys and their money from the BSA starting January 1st of this year and the impact of that will become fully obvious by the end of February when re-chartering will have to be completed.
The BSA is now going to have to earn its members rather than getting 400.000 signed-up automatically by their church.
It's a mass exodus with financial consequences yet unknown, which only adds depth to the recent rapid decline of BSA membership despite the recruitment of 150,000 girls. It has not ruled out the possibility of filing for bankruptcy, fees for annual membership have almost doubled, and recently the iconic Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico was mortgaged, among other properties.
Bankruptcy or not, it means the BSA has seen its best days in terms of size, budget and brand.
Nobody ever questioned how you can have people in executive positions in the BSA with a base-salary of six digits and the first-one is not 1-5.
Bottom line, perceived sexual-abuse by leaders playing with the small penises of young boys may eventually be one of the lesser problems facing the organisation. And I don't think the BSA is rich enough, like the catholic church, to pay for silence everywhere.
--- D'Bridge 4
* Origin: Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards (2:292/854)