Monday, 03 October 2011
Twice now in the past few days, I have been presented with information on Boy Scouts. I guess my son is at the age where he can join this club. The club engages in many great activities, and I’m sure my son would try his best to get every single little merit badge the club offers. The club appears to support some great ideals, too. From their website:
The Boy Scouts of America provides youth with programs and activities that allow them to
- Try new things.
- Provide service to others.
- Build self-confidence.
- Reinforce ethical standards.
However, there are a few problems.
First, as my wife noted, it’s a boys-only club. This didn’t bother me, really, because I pointed out that there is an equivalent club for girls (it’s called Girl Scouts), but my wife says this club is not affiliated with the Boy Scouts – it was formed in response to the Boy Scouts, since the Boy Scouts left out girls. So, I’m not sure on this one; maybe it’s an issue, maybe it’s not.
More importantly, the club requires all new members to recite (and, apparently, follow) the Scout Oath. The Oath is as follows:
On my honor I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law; to help other people at all times; to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.
What, you may ask, is the Scout Law spoken of in this oath?
It’s basically a list of attributes that members are to embody. There are a number of good qualities encouraged on the list, including being honest, brave, and courteous. The final quality mentioned is reverence, with this accompanying explanation:
Reverent – A Scout is reverent toward God. He is faithful in his religious duties. He respects the beliefs of others.
The idea of being reverent (deeply respectful) to a non-existent being is just plain silly, but even if the god of the bible exists, I don’t see why he’d be deserving of reverence. It’s hard to see how my son could do his “duty to God” when there’s no clear definition of what this is. The god of the bible made some pretty bizarre and cruel requests of his followers, and so I wouldn’t want my son following this god reverentially without first requesting a rationale for the duty. The first Boy Scout handbook stated that no one was good unless they believed in God which, of course, is complete bullshit (by this definition, all babies are bad).
Of lesser concern is the commitment to do one’s best to do “my duty” to the country. Unlike God, the country is real and it actually has bestowed some benefit on a number of people. But again, I don’t like the idea of blind allegiance. America was formed by rebellion and dissent, and there are a number of national policies that I think do not deserve “my duty” – I would much prefer my son swear an oath that he will follow his conscience or that he will try his best to make his country a good place for its citizens to live in.
Finally, no gays allowed.
The official site doesn’t appear to say anything about this, but this Wikipedia page does indicate the Boy Scouts have had a history of discriminating against homosexual members and parents.
Tuesday, 04 October 2011
This evening, Owen and I watched the Star Trek: The Animated Series episode “Albatross.” In it, the Dramians (a weird kind of aliens) accuse Dr. McCoy of having unleashed a plague upon their planet 19 years earlier. The Dramians claim the plague had a 100% mortality rate. McCoy is ordered to stand trial. While investigating the case, Captain Kirk meets up with a Dramian who survived the plague and can therefore testify on McCoy’s behalf.
When the show was over, Owen asked to see the list of Star Trek episodes. (Yes, I keep a list of Star Trek episodes handy. You never know when you’re going to need it.) I took it down off the shelf and he asked me which episode was called “Survivor.” Surprised he had remembered the episode (we watched it back in July), I pointed out that it was episode #6. Owen then asked: “If they are on a five-year mission, then how come the show said that McCoy helped the survivor 19 years ago?”
I thought this was an awesome question. First, it shows he really pays attention. Second, it appears he is already on the path of nit-picking science fiction, which is great fun.
I explained that the survivor from episode #6 is not the same survivor that was in the episode we just watched. I defined the word “survivor.” This had the added benefit of showing him why the reality show Survivor is so named. I next pointed out that, while McCoy is on the Enterprise as part of a five-year mission, he must have been part of other missions, on other ships, in the past, and that is probably when he originally met up with the Dramians.
Owen crinkled his eyebrows and thought about it for a while. I think he thought I was just feeding him a bogus answer. Finally, he accepted my explanation and asked if we could watch another episode. I said no; it was time for bed.
When I was a boy scout, the oath was a bit shorter and I swore to ” be square and to obey the law of the pack”. I never knew what being square meant, maybe I was supposed to be heterosexual, which I am. But I do remember that my first camping trips were with the scouts, and that formed the basis for a lifelong desire of the outdoors and wild places. Just be sure to take the kids camping.
Wow, I’m glad they updated “square.” I can see how it could correlate to heterosexuality, but I always thought ‘square’ meant ‘uncool.’
We have taken Owen camping a few times already and we go on nature walks often – just this past weekend we went on a half mile walk through a nature area.