The problem with scouts is it tries to instill you with both a sense of survivalist mentality (which is a good mindset to have camping/hiking, not so much in civilization) and tries to instill you with a set of morals that look good on paper but get twisted by people to mean what they want

I've talked about this on length on twitter - everything the boy Scouts taught me is something I hold very dear including the fact that people with those morals can still be shitty

I have lots of feelings about the boy Scouts separately as an after school activity and as an organization

The org is a horrific beast of capitalism and conservatism. They're bad people

I always put on my resume that I'm an eagle scout. I'm proud of what I accomplished and I'm proud of the positive impact I had in my little shithole town growing up.

But I'm not proud of most of the folks I was with. I got bullied a lot in my own troop despite time and again being the top competitor in non-physical activities. The boy Scouts instills a sense of dog-eat-dog in some folks and the org at large actively encourages that

@vahnj I was a cub scout for 2 years but got kicked out and later barred for being too queer (her two sons kept picking fights with me for not being "normal") and not believing in god

Fuck the BSoA and everything they stand for.

That said, just 'cause an organization is terrible doesn't mean they can't also provide valuable life lessons and legitimate and intentional help. I'm glad you were able to take positive things from your experience. ♥️

@mawr sounds about right, sorry your troop was garbage :(

Good ones are hella rare.