OK, so my leftie friends can tell me I'm wrong, but waht is going on in this world. How come girls can join the Cubs and Scouts but boys can't be in the Brownies or Guides? It was "Scouting for Boys" when first set up but that is now undermined. It isn't that I mind it being mixed but it seems wrong that Scouts is mixed while Guides are not. Equality goes one way.
And, in addition, I saw someone talking about the activities. He said "it obviously sounds stupid and dangerous but we were thinking of building a bridge over a brook until the leader told us not too because it was too dangerous and contravened health and safety". TOO DANGEROUS. That was entirely what cubs and scouts should be about. Building bridges, testing them, testing yourself.
And no fires because they are dangerous, and no meat because it might offend someone........
Bah, humbug, phwooey, stupid b...y health and safety, PR gone mad ..............................
9 comments:
I think it's stupid to not let boys in brownies and guides. Really, I think they should just mix them all up into one big organisation. It's pretty much the same thing really, except guides and brownies have pixies and elves for their small group names and scouts have... I don't know what - I wasn't allowed to be one because I was a girl.
I'm really sorry - I have some thoughts on equality working both ways but I'm too tired to make them coherent enough to commit to. Another time maybe...
If we really can't have one for boys and one for girls (and I really see nothing wrong in that, boys and girls are actually different after all) then I think one combined organisation should be the way to go.
You have to be able to speak from experience when you post something like that. As an explorer scout myself, I know well enough how it feels to include girls in scouting but stop boys into guiding, however, scouting and guiding ARE different! And whilst you comment about girls being let into scouting... that isnt right for every country.
And scouting isnt about danger, it is about learning new things about people, making friendships, gaining respect for yourself and other people, becoming trustworthy...
... the list is endless. So when you suggest that certain things about scouting...
get your facts straight.
The picture you posted alongside this offended me, it is indecent and a scouting uniform should be worn to represent the belonging, the commitment and as a representation of a worldwide family of scouting. To publish such complaints about the way scouts works, then post a picture of some bimbo half dressed in a mock scout uniform? PRAT.
Oh and there are 28 million of us out here - we love it, DEAL WITH IT.
The picture was meant to be use of irony. I was a cub and then a scout myself. I have a lot of respect for the organisation and think it is a good thing. The comment was more to do with everyone needing to be politically correct.
I would love to discuss further but as you weren't brave enough to put your name to your posting then it is rather difficult.
Do not accuse me of having a lack of bravery, merely a cautious perspective of unknown websites due to getting a lot of unwanted email and spam.
And if you were a scout and cub yourself you should know that it doesn't matter whether there are girls and boys in it - and the fact you "were" a scout suggests you are no longer involved with the movement and therefore have no right to criticise.
I don't care if the picture was used in irony - it offends me.
Oh and did I mention? I am a girl and involved in scouting - and hated guides. One person making a blog post isnt going to change the scouting movement, so just give up.
OK, first let me apologise for offending you. It is never my aim to offend, although it is sometimes my aim to make people think. I would however point out that you were rude to me, and I have not been rude to you. A prat is not a nice thing to call someone, and I generally expect Scouts to have respect for others.
You somewhat miss the point of the post, and that is about equality rather than about scouting. I have no problem with having girls and boys in scouting. In fact I think it is good to have both, we can learn a lot from each other. You will see from other posts that I run a support team at Greenbelt Festival, and try very hard to make sure that this is a mixed team, I hope you would find that any of the team would tell you I treat them the same. I have a young daughter and I tell her that there is nothing that she cannot do, and definitely nothing that she can't do just because she is a girl.
My argument was that boys should be allowed in to Guides, not that girls shouldn't be allowed into the Scouts, or that it becomes one organisation with no distinction based on sex.
The second point is about danger. I do believe that we live in cossetted world. You misquote me as I do not say that scouting is about danger. I say that scouting is about testing yourself. It is difficult to test yourself if you are never put in a position to push yourself, and that includes doing things that have an element of danger to them. The world has dangers in it, we do no-one a service not to prepare them for that.
I am not trying to change the scouting movement, and I certainly wasn't criticising it (although I disagree that I have no right to criticise just because I am no longer one, I can criticise Mugabe without living in Zimbabwe).
I am trying to change the way that the world has a distorted view of many things. As such I will not give up but I do respect others views and value them as, only by listening, can we learn.
Do you know, I don't even remember commenting on this post originally - I suspect it's because I was commenting when I should have been writing an essay.
I think it's a real shame that children don't get to do things which are fun, like building bridges, because they could be dangerous. How do you learn to manage risk if you never get experience of it? 'Health and safety' has been given a bad name but if you don't learn, in a managed environment, how to decide if something is a good idea, and what works and what doesn't, ultimately the world will be a more dangerous place.
I don't think that boys and girls should be in separate organisations - I think we have more in common than we are different - here's a discussion that can run and run... I think it's having things which are FOR MEN and things which are FOR WOMEN which promotes the distinctions between men and women.
As far as the support team goes, I think the ideal is possibly mixed pairs because there are situations where it is more appropriate to have a man deal with it or a woman deal with it - but I don't think it would be a problem having two women working together - I don't think it would be more dangerous.
i think suggesting that you can't comment on something because you are not involved is foolish, and suggesting that as you are no longer a scout you no longer care about it at all is just silly. I can't stay involved with everything I've ever been involved in but it doesn't mean I don't have ideas about them.
I'm interested in how the anonymous poster ended up at your blog and whether they've read much of it - you have some quite clearly erroneous views but unfortunately argue them very well and are reasonable and measured - you're certainly not a prat.
I would like to add that Merlin's views are more 'different to mine' than 'erroneous' and that I value and respect his opinions immensely.
And he still argues them well...
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