Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/06/11/statue-of-scouting-founder-and.html
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I’ve always thought of the Scouts’ original mission (prepare cannon-fodder for the British Empire) as eerily reminiscent of the Hitlerjugend, Mussolini’s Ballila or the Soviet Komsomol they predated, but I didn’t realize how close it was. Someone must have read Plato’s Republic closely and taken notes on how necessary it is for totalitarian regimes to indoctrinate children.
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Their original mission came from how badly the British Army got pasted by Dutch farmers in South Africa in the Boer War. So the future imperialist cannon fodder would have outdoor skills.
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So they are perhaps trying to protect it? Strange. You would think if any statue could swim it would be his.
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You’ve inspired me to stir the pot and change the name of an expansive stretch of terrain on home turf.
For that, I thank you.
The scary thing is that it was still better than the organisation Baden-Powell left to form the scouting movement.
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It’s been a little while since I’ve read it, but I’m fairly certain that Jon Savage addresses this issue in his book Teenage.
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Hmmm…there’s a beautiful trail in North Vancouver called the Baden Powell Trail. Maybe it’s time to be renamed.
https://trailsbc.ca/loop/lower-mainland/hike-baden-powell-trail-42-km
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Can we also get rid of any commemoration of Henry Ford?
The guy was ridiculously, ultra (ne plus ultra) anti-semitic.
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My mother wouldn’t let me join the Boy Scouts. She said “ you’re not going to be some little Nazis”. This was back in 1962.
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Maybe we should set fire to our Ford Pintos in protest. Wait…, too late, they already blew up.
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IDK. Put the statue in a museum so that it can have proper context.
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May as well put it on the moon as far as the (stereotypical) racists are concerned.
“We can commemorate the positive work without commemorating the man."
They positively work to expel all agnostics and atheists from the organization, so maybe they’ve got a bit further to go before resuming their circlebackpatting.
I know this is the classic “Not all” arguments, but I had a great experience with Scouting and a troop that was focused on outdoor skills, first-aid/CPR, SAR, camping, and having fun. I’m Canadian and I know it’s much different than in the States. I know with the events we had with American Scout troops was uncomfortable, they felt like a little military organization… I have a kid of my own now, and I would love for him to have the same experiences that I had with Cubs/Scouts etc, that said I really question whether I want him to be a part of that organization after learning more about it since I’ve gotten older. The unfortunate part is there really isn’t a lot of organizations that would be able to provide that experience.
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Three things that just don’t really go together… 
I had the misfortune of having to go to a BB group. Even the fun activities weren’t fun.
About the best I can say about it is that it got me a day off from school once. Songs of Praise were filming at the church, and they wanted shots of us marching down the road. They told us they had the shots they wanted at around 10:30, but the permission letter had asked for the full day, so I went home and played video games for the rest of the day.
I would rather have gone to Guides, but I doubt that the church would have agreed with me on that.
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I liked the outdoorsy stuff far more than the seemingly endless parades and flag waving and interminable church services.
At least I learned how to sharpen a knife and get a good fire going but I think I may also have inadvertently pledged my soul to the Queen.
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