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?
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.
yep. inherently suspicious movement. a quote from the dude who started it all, Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell:
it’s extremely anti-communist and pro-hierarchy. obey your king, your god, your country.
Because of the Hitlerjugend debacle?
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.
do you have some sources or examples?
Sorry I don’t, I just know from experience and talking to other people in different regions with the same experience.
If you want personal anecdotes, these are things that I know happen at scouting groups (not all, but enough for it to be a systemic issue): sharing hitler memes and memes about jews or other minorities, social acceptance of making jokes about jews or other minorities, collecting nazi memorabilia and roleplaying with them, doing roleplay games where the younger kids are put in pretent internment camps. Everyone I’ve talked to who’s been in scouting has been a nightmare to talk to about social issues because they actually believe in racist tropes.
Where are you from? This is shocking
These anecdotes are from Germany, The Netherlands and Denmark
I’m in Belgium, close but never heard that stuff.
Even with plenty of fascist scum around
I don’t think these stories often leave the inner circles of the scouting groups where this happens since they know it’s not socially accepted in broader society. I just happen to have been at the wrong places to learn about it.