• Boycott the Boy Scouts of America

    If you just arrived in America today, you might assume the  all-male youth organization dedicated to snappy, highly accessorized uniforms and manly woodland excursions would be a fun, tolerant group of people. Instead, like a gay delusional Christian on their wedding night, you just wind up frustrated and confused.

    The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) is symbolic of America’s tortured conscience, its delusional self-image problem. That is why an organization which says that its goal is to help boys become young men of character and virtue kicks out ones that not only have scrupulously demonstrated their worth for years, but displayed true moral courage as few people that age will ever do. The BSA can and will boot you for being gay or for not believing in a god— two things that have nothing to do with character or virtue. It’s not exactly the hallmark of patriotism either. The BSA bills itself as deeply patriotic, but kicking out people for being different? Where is respect for freedom in that? How can you good ol’ American liberty while persecuting people?

    Whoever is propping up these comically obsolete strictures are clearly very frightened people. They deeply fear change, the future, and people who are either not like them… or are a little too much like them for their comfort, and that’s a shame. I was never a scout or interested in scouting, but I understand many are and that it means a lot to them. Excluding them so sooth insecurities is just grotesque and I defy you to watch this and not agree:

    http://youtu.be/biDYvZdEcnE?t=9m5s

     

     But wait, aren’t they are private group? Isn’t it their right to discriminate?

    Well, yes and no. Thanks to a congressional charter, they do get a load of tax dollars. That’s outside the scope of this writing, but watch Penn & Teller to learn more about that.

    But the answer is yes, they are nominally a private organization that can define its own rules and regulations, including hateful ones. That’s why we are calling for a boycott. As a private individual, you have the right to choose not to support them.

    The Chick-Fil-A fiasco from earlier this year proved that public sentiment and boycotting can push even large organizations (or corporations) away from socially regressive positions. This may be one reason why both Intel and UPS has ceased all of its funding of the BSA. Kudos to them.

    What you can do

    • Help us raise awareness and keep the conversation going
    • Do not support the BSA by buying Christmas trees/wreaths from them
    • Do not donate funds until and unless they change their policies
    • Do not participate in any capacity

    Check out more coverage of this boycott at the following blogs.

    A Voice of Reason: Al Stefanelli
    Arizona Atheist
    Atheist, Intermarried
    Atheist Pig
    Atheist Revolution
    Avante-Garde
    Barrels of Oranges
    Bitchspot
    Camels with Hammers
    Dangerous Talk
    Daylight Atheism
    De-Avanzada
    Debunking Christianity
    Deep Thoughts
    Deity Shmeity
    Dispatches from the Culture Wars
    Emily Has Books
    Friendly Atheist
    Hausdorff’s Bible Blog
    Incongruent Elements
    Kriss the Sexy Atheist
    Laughing in Purgatory
    Left Hemispheres
    Martin Pribble
    My Humorous Agenda
    Ramblings of Sheldon
    Reason Being
    Rippere, Always Evolving
    Skeptically Left

    Category: Uncategorized

  • Article by: Edward Clint

    Ed Clint is an evolutionary psychologist, co-founder of Skeptic Ink, and USAF veteran.