the Disillusioned kid: Dib Dib Dob Dob
| Email | Home | Linkage | Profile |

Wednesday, August 03, 2005

Dib Dib Dob Dob

Regular readers may be surprised to discover that I used to be in the Scouts. I had an amazing time I got to do all sorts of things I otherwise wouldn't have: go karting, climbing, abseiling, canoeing, hiking, ravine walking, plunge pooling, camping, bivouacing and more. The experience helped me grow up, expanded my horizons and encouraged my love of the Great Outdoors.

Towards the end of my time in the institution I began to feel quite uncomfortable at various aspects of Scouting, not least the militaristic overtones and the obligatory patriotism. It was clear, however, that few of my fellow Scouts took any of this stuff very seriously and so it was easy to deal with it ironically and not take it too seriously.

The cause of this atypical introspection is the decision to allow George W. Bush to address 30,000 American Scouts at their national jamboree. By all accounts the young audience were not at all uncomfortable at being addressed by a war criminal and mass murderer viewed with contempt by much of the world's population. Indeed according to one report, "As the President left the stage, the chant of 'USA, USA' could be heard—probably for miles."

And what exactly did Georgey have to say?
When you join a scout troop, and put on the Boy Scout uniform, you make a statement. Your uniform is a sign that you're a certain kind of citizen -- trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent. These are the values of scouting, and they're important values for America.
And so on and so forth...

It might be pointed out that the Boy Scouts of America is a much more reactionary organisation than its British counterpart. It excludes "avowed homosexuals" from its ranks, meaning that gays cannot join either as leaders or members. The reasoning behind this ban? Organisers claim that homosexuality violates the Scouting oath to be "morally straight" and the Scouting law to be "clean"! Nonetheless, I can't help wondering if the problems that Bush's speech highlight (subservience to power, a worryingly potent patriotism etc.) might lie in the concept of the organisation itself which, it's worth recalling, has its origins in the British military.

Screw the Scouts, it's all about The Woodcraft Folk.

Side Projects

Carnival of Anarchy
The Peace Pipe
UK Watch Blog

Acquaintances

Against the Current
Atopian.org
Culture hits and gendered bits
Daniel Randall
In The Water
Mike Wood
On The Barricades
Pizarro's Sword
Space Cat Rocket Ship
Surveillant Assemblage
TashCamUK FotoPage
The Naked Lunch
The Peace Pipe
The World of the Dynamite Lady

Strangers

Anarchoblogs
Antiwar.com Blog
Arte & Lingua
Barker in Valencia
Blairwatch
Bloggerheads
Blood & Treasure
Bombs and Shields
Boomablog
Born at the Crest of the Empire
Chase me ladies...
Chicken Yoghurt
Craig Murray
Dead Men Left
Direland
Disreputable Lazy Aliens
Empire Notes
Europhobia
Friends of Al Jazeera
Global Guerillas
Guerillas in the Midst
I Blame the Patriachy
Informed Comment
Insultadarity
Janine Booth
Lenin's Tomb
Life of Riley Blog
Media Watch Watch
Neil Shakespeare
NO2ID NewsBlog
One Hump or Two?
Otto's Random Thoughts
Perfect.co.uk
Pitch In For Uzbekistan
Registan.net
Run over by the truth
Solidarity With Iraqi Workers
Shut Up You Fat Whiner!
Sudan: Passion of the Present
Talk Politics
The Anthropik Network
The Daily (Maybe)
The Devil's Kitchen
The Disillusioned
The f-word
The Head Heeb
The Killing Train
The Revenge of Winston Smith
The Socialist Unity Blog
The Wicked Truth
Theory of Power
Things I Don't Have Time For
This (Fresh) Gringo
This Is My Truth
Thumping the Tub
Time The Dreaded Enemy
UK Watch Blog
UK Poli Blogs
underbrella
Under The Same Sun
Uzbekistan.neweurasia.net
What Fresh Hell Is This?
Where is Raed? (RIP)
Who Are You to Accuse Me?
Words and Rocks
Zeropointnine
Z-Net Blog

Neighbours

Asbo Community Space
Defy-ID
Eastside Climate Action
Faslane 365
Freecycle
Indymedia
No Borders
Nottingham Student Peace Movement
Refugee Forum
Stop the War
Sumac Centre
The Demo Project

Ivory Towers

Anarchist Studies Network
Centre for the Study of Social and Global Justice
Postanarchism Clearinghouse

Miscellania

Anarchist FAQ
Antiwar.com
Chagos Discussion List
Chagos Support Forums
Electronic Intifada
Future of Iraq Portal
Index of Political Blogs
Indymedia UK
Infoshop
Iraq Occupation Focus
Pledgebank
Refuser Solidarity Network
SchNEWS
Socialist Unity Network
The New Standard
UK Chagos Support Association
UK Watch
Weekly Worker
Wikipedia
WriteToThem.com
Z-Net

The Progressive Blog Alliance

Register here to join the PBA.