Boy Scout sex abuse files expected to be released within weeks

[Dantheman]

Extending to the entire org seems a bit far reaching.

Like the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal, BSA leadership was complicit at the highest levels and the entire organization is absolutely culpable. Abusers were often stripped of troop leadership but allowed to continue in Scouts or encouraged to quietly resign their affiliation with BSA, abusers were often not reported to the police, and when abusers were prosecuted there was often collusion between BSA and the justice system (many police, prosecutors and judges were BSA members) to protect BSA's reputation by keeping the abuser's BSA connection out of the press.

The official case total after yesterday's 5:00 pm deadline passed is 92,700: https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/16/us/bo...tcy/index.html

It is deceptively easy to "take a flame thrower to this place." The simple fact is that society's view on this has radically changed over the past 100 years. ANY institution that's been around that long has 82k cases or whatever.

Wow. OK then.

[char_]

Like the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal, BSA leadership was complicit at the highest levels and the entire organization is absolutely culpable. Abusers were often stripped of troop leadership but allowed to continue in Scouts or encouraged to quietly resign their affiliation with BSA, abusers were often not reported to the police, and when abusers were prosecuted there was often collusion between BSA and the justice system (many police, prosecutors and judges were BSA members) to protect BSA's reputation by keeping the abuser's BSA connection out of the press.

The official case total after yesterday's 5:00 pm deadline passed is 92,700: https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/16/us/bo...tcy/index.html



Wow. OK then.

Amazing no one at the top isn't in jail. Statute of limitations?

[Cono Este]

Is there a South Park episode on this yet?


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[k2skier112]

It is deceptively easy to "take a flame thrower to this place." The simple fact is that society's view on this has radically changed over the past 100 years. ANY institution that's been around that long has 82k cases or whatever.

Do you torch everything, or do you let the process play out and change along with society?

(FWIW I enjoyed my 2 yrs, my sons less as we focused on specific sports.)

Are you really saying; 100 years ago being a pedophile wasn't as bad as it is today?

I did a few years of scouts. We had a really dorky SM, are they all a little odd or off?

Had a fun time doing projects, but it was more of a hobby kind of thing in grade school. Then I found dirt bikes, pot and girls and BSA couldn't compete

[Marshall Tucker]

Are you really saying; 100 years ago being a pedophile wasn't as bad as it is today?

if you drove drunk and killed someone in the 50s, do you think you would have been prosecuted the same as today?

[k2skier112]

if you drove drunk and killed someone in the 50s, do you think you would have been prosecuted the same as today?

you obviously don't know anyone who's been sexually molested...your opinion is beyond sick and disgusting

and yes, hang, kill, prison for life for someone who takes a life (how much jail time would someone get in the 50's for having a joint on them?)

your moral compass is broken

Are you over 60?

[Dantheman]

if you drove drunk and killed someone in the 50s, do you think you would have been prosecuted the same as today?

BSA leadership was more concerned about BSA's reputation than they were about the kids being molested. They knew what was happening was horrific, that's why they covered it up for decades. Fuck every one of those guys with a piece of rusty rebar.

[crashtestdummy]

In the 70's the only college degree for professional scouting was at BYU, so there is a huge LDS influence. I worked 2 summers at a BSA summer camp, and I never got my Eagle scout. I found the whole thing to be mostly a joke. I taught Eagle scouts that could barely tie a knot. We were also told at camp to give out merit badges because that is what the scouts paid for. Earning the badge was never part of the equation.

A former assistant Scoutmaster of mine admitted to beastiality as a youth. I think it is likely he abused kids in another troop, but no evidence of it happening. And he is serving life for killing his wife.

https://www.hjnews.com/new-look-at-a...0f475ff01.html

Scouting got me through my early teens, but it wasn't the leaders, it was the other scouts that became life long friends. We would go camping twice a month, often with no adults. We even had a co-ed Explorer post at one point.

As to the leaders not reporting the abuse, professional scouters earn 6 figures, so there is the money issue.

[Marshall Tucker]

you obviously don't know anyone who's been sexually molested...your opinion is beyond sick and disgusting

and yes, hang, kill, prison for life for someone who takes a life (how much jail time would someone get in the 50's for having a joint on them?)

your moral compass is broken

Are you over 60?

Jeasus fuckin christ dude. Maybe actualy read and think before getting up on yer high ass horse.

Or just flame away if thats what gets ya off.

[frorider]

A former Scoutmaster of mine admitted to beastiality as a youth. I think it is likely he abused kids in another troop, but no evidence of it happening. And he is serving life for killing his wife.

Holy shit.

[bobz]

My BSA experience was a mixed bag, but with some significant life shaping benefits. Introduced to camping (half-assed weekend car-camping trips organized by scoutmasters who weren't expert campers, but still), introduced to downhill skiing (the 20-something son of one of the scout leaders, who participated sometimes, took 3 of us up to Badger Pass in Yosemite), introduced to wandering around in quasi-backcountry solo during the remarkably large amounts of unsupervised time during the annual 2-week scout camp (Royaneh near CA's Russian River, outstanding experiences there overall).

The whole troop meetings and scout leaders and so on were mostly eh. The two main scoutmasters were aging family guys who wanted to contribute something to the community and get out of the house, probably not necessarily in that order, but overall well meaning guys. In retrospect, one of them was a jolly alkie type, really likeable, but that's about it; the other guy was nice enough but pretty quiet, didn't make much of an impression on me, and he was probably a closet case. Then there was this third guy, who only participated as a scout leader during camping weekends and sometimes summer camp, who was on a military dictator trip; he was pretty much George Liquor from the old Ren & Stimpy show; I mostly stayed out of his way. Basically, no one in the scout troop was any kind of mentor or someone I could look up to.

But damn, I might be a different person right now if not for the annual two-week Royaneh camps. Canoeing, swimming, hiking around, and just hanging out all day with a crew of buddies. I hadn't been getting that in my teens from my parents, and it's what I needed.

Goes without saying, fuck BSA for being complicit in the rampant abuse (in case it isn't clear, I never saw or heard of anything like it in personal experience). I guess it isn't surprising that this has been part of the broader BSA culture, given that in many areas BSA groups are tied in with churches (it wasn't in my area; our troop met at a middle school and was generally secular aside from the obligatory mentions of "God" and "reverent" in the various oaths and so on).

[SKIP IN7RO]

They abuse but they save, and they save more than they abuse, but they do abuse.

[k2skier112]

Jeasus fuckin christ dude. Maybe actualy read and think before getting up on yer high ass horse.

Or just flame away if thats what gets ya off.

I musta touched a nerve

When this much abuse is covered up ALL over the country, yes, burn the fucker to the ground!

[SKIP IN7RO]

ALL over the world this shit is covered up. The fucking catholic church spent almost 300 million last year to cover up for their cocksucking priests.

[papapoopski]

My first reaction to this headline was to say burn it all to the fucking ground. But that initial reaction has not served me well.

My cousin was an eagle scout. He absolutely loved it. It’s great that there are many that have had a good experience, even positive life changing events. I see the value in the organization to provide basic life skills, camaraderie and all the good things of growing up as a boy. So how would this organization get back to that? Letting the process play out doesn’t seem like quite enough. It would require a sea change. The name and reputation are stained black. Maybe some don’t care about that. I do. Maybe let BSA die by fire and start a new organization. ASA, American Scout Association or something. It looks like there’s a lot of money in the organization so there could be monetary motivation to start a new org. Move over the good things, leave behind the rest. I have no idea. I’m just speculating.

Over 92,700 cases. Jesus fuck. Those boys, I assume many of them grown now, may look at the continuation of the BSA as perpetuating the evil that they have suffered from. No amount of money can “fix” their lives. Finding justice and knowing that some of our society has their back would be huge. I’m not going to assume I know what is in their minds. I imagine a single candle, then I’m trying to imagine what 92,700 candles would look like. If there is a god he can go fuck himself.

To change an organization from the ground up, to cleanse it of the crimes it has committed, would require hellfire to rain down upon it, legally speaking. What is left after that for BSA ? As a parent how would one trust the institution? I have two daughters. Knowing what I know now, what would one do to ensure the safety of a kid in the program. One of my great joys is seeing life through the eyes of my children. I now see things that I’ve never experienced. I would protect their innocence with my own life as any parent would.

I was a boy scout.

[bobz]

^ As my earlier rambling post implied, I think something vaguely like BSA has its place and would be valuable, as certain aspects of BSA were for me. But, setting aside that BSA should, and little doubt will, burn to the ground for its history of abuse, I think there are other reasons why BSA has lost relevance.

BSA's original reason for existence was to prepare youths for military conscription. The militaristic aspects that remained, and quasi-religious ritualistic recitations and so on, felt unnecessarily authoritarian to me even at the time (which of course was not recently). It didn't help that one of our scout leaders (fortunately not one of the main ones) thought he was George Patton or something. To say that BSA's vaguely militaristic anachronisms turn away modern kids and parents would be an understatement. I joined (again, decades ago) in spite of those aspects, and it was generally a positive experience for me very much in spite of those aspects. Something else needs to take BSA's place.