I'm a new Turbografx collector. Welcome Me !

[esteban]

As I said, I was a Cub Scout and Boy Scout.

I enjoyed many aspects of it (camping, learning basic survival skills, learning about nature), but even as a kid there were many things I found "off-putting":

(1) undeniably strong presence of religion (Christianity) permeated the handbooks, activities, philosophies, etc. My local troops were all organized out of churches (leadership in Scouts were prominent members of congregation)...Boy Scouts, as an organization, was in many ways interchangeable with religious youth groups (that I also participated in).

(2) even stronger, and more problematic, was the blind patriotism/nationalism. Don't get me started on this. Even my Catechism teachers acknowledged that questioning the status quo was important (every now and then, anyway, otherwise, Jesus would have been a hoodlum).  The institutional desire for conformity in the Scouts seemed even more suffocating/oppressive than in church, if you can believe it. (Presbyterian and Roman Catholic, for the curious)

(3) Hunting/Fishing. I enjoyed marksmanship, but I stupidly opened my mouth about why I thought hunting/fishing was unsportsmanlike. Ha! That earned me some harsh rebuke from leadership team.  Also, I didn't like the way animals were treated, but I didn't say anything about that.



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Remember, my critique of Scouts started when I was a kid, when I didn't even understand all the institutional problems the organization had with homophobia, pedophilia, racism, etc.

I am sure folks have had different experiences with the Scouts.

I feel like I was the last generation to experience *some* of the OLD SKOOL scouts...I was definitely part of a "transition" where the national organization was trying to be more inclusive. Early-to-mid 80's.

[Gredler]

  Then I

I have never been in scout stuff, that was a descriptive picture you painted and supports the assumptions I had about them, but the ending left me on pins and needles!

[crazydean]

Well, the scouts is a Christian organization. The Mormon church has been sponsoring it for the past 100 years. As for the patriotism, the Boy Scouts have traditionally been involved stateside during wartime, especially WWI and WWII. Interestingly, if you make it to Eagle Scout and join the military, you are automatically promoted to E-3. I can't find a reason for this, but there ya go.

On a personal note, I had a friend in high school who made it to Eagle Scout when he was a senior. I was invited to the ceremony, even. The guy didn't seem to have many friends, and I remember wondering why anyone would want to spend time involved with such a group once they discovered that girls were a thing. Kudos to him, I guess. It takes a lot of dedication to make it that far. It's just not for me.

[TheClash603]

I don't like doing anything that involves effort which won't result in me getting money or vagina at the end, so I kinda see the anti-scout argument, especially from a non-conformist point of view.

However, the older I get the more I turn to socialism, which is the ultimate conformity and ironic considering my money and vagina point of view.

At the end of the day I don't criticize anyone's hobbies, groups, fetishes, etc...  because if you pull back the layers everyone has some deviant tendencies.

[SignOfZeta]

Would you also call kids that participate in team sports, debate club, cheerleading, etc. a bunch of weirdos? 

No, those are jocks. They're just disgusting. They don't do anything anywhere near as meaniful as what scouts do and they are one trillion times as proud. Whereas scouting attempts to Prepare you for anything, sports trains you in nothing useful whatever. It's like a training program designed to fill the planet with the worst people possible, egos that dwarf any skill set. 

Thank you Esteban for saying what I was thinking. My negative opinion of scouting was formed at an early age as well and while I broke it off early (my mother made sure I could do these kinds of things if I wanted to but never forced me) it's hard not to "fill in the gaps" as you get older.

And the military angle isn't something I mentioned but it bothers me greatly. Imagine doing all that scouting crap as a teenager instead of getting laid and staring off into space just so you can do Basic between 11th and 12th grade, go full time before you're 20, getting your legs blown off at 21, divorced by 24, addicted to heroin by 25, dead by your own hand at 28, and never having actually lived a life free of externally enforced structure duty and obedience. It's a hellish thought.

Pinewood derby cars are great though. I loved those for real. My company has an annual race now and next year there will be a modified class. I'm working on a twin chassis suspension cheat for next year but I'm not going to go much further than planning until the rules are announced.

[Killjoyy027]

I am new the community as well, welcome !


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[geise]

Edit: I REALLY wanted a Mongoose when I was a kid.  Got a Murray from K-Mart instead. 

Lol!  I started with a Huffy.  Eventually I had a Redline, GT, and a Gernaral.  Man the General's were nice bikes, but kinda heavy.  I loved my Redline for racing, and the GT was great for ramp.

[bob]

Edit: I REALLY wanted a Mongoose when I was a kid.  Got a Murray from K-Mart instead. 

Lol!  I started with a Huffy.  Eventually I had a Redline, GT, and a Gernaral.  Man the General's were nice bikes, but kinda heavy.  I loved my Redline for racing, and the GT was great for ramp.

being a serious skateboarder growing up, i never got into bikes.  but man, the redlines were awesome.  had a couple friends with them.

not knowing anything about bikes, for some reason those really resonated with me.

[geise]

Edit: I REALLY wanted a Mongoose when I was a kid.  Got a Murray from K-Mart instead. 

Lol!  I started with a Huffy.  Eventually I had a Redline, GT, and a Gernaral.  Man the General's were nice bikes, but kinda heavy.  I loved my Redline for racing, and the GT was great for ramp.

being a serious skateboarder growing up, i never got into bikes.  but man, the redlines were awesome.  had a couple friends with them.

not knowing anything about bikes, for some reason those really resonated with me.

I did both.  My first board was an Alva.  I eventually went through a lot of decks when it went all new school around 92 and 93.

[bob]

Edit: I REALLY wanted a Mongoose when I was a kid.  Got a Murray from K-Mart instead. 

Lol!  I started with a Huffy.  Eventually I had a Redline, GT, and a Gernaral.  Man the General's were nice bikes, but kinda heavy.  I loved my Redline for racing, and the GT was great for ramp.

being a serious skateboarder growing up, i never got into bikes.  but man, the redlines were awesome.  had a couple friends with them.

not knowing anything about bikes, for some reason those really resonated with me.

I did both.  My first board was an Alva.  I eventually went through a lot of decks when it went all new school around 92 and 93.

yup, i think it was '92 when "Questionable" launched and turned the whole thing upside down.

[Jibbajaba]

Edit: I REALLY wanted a Mongoose when I was a kid.  Got a Murray from K-Mart instead. 

Lol!  I started with a Huffy.  Eventually I had a Redline, GT, and a Gernaral.  Man the General's were nice bikes, but kinda heavy.  I loved my Redline for racing, and the GT was great for ramp.

My first bike was a Murray 3000, which was a wannabe BMX bike from K-Mart and which I can't find a picture of anywhere on the internet.  Then a couple of years later I got a Murray Street Machine which was a bit bigger, I think was a 3-speed, and had more of a mountain bike geometry.  Later I got a Huffy that weighed a f*cking ton, and used to ride that 5 miles each way to work and back.  Finally got a Specialized Rock Hopper, which was way better.  Never did get to have a cool BMX bike.

[geise]

Never did get to have a cool BMX bike.

Never say never!  You can still get one!  Ride that shit to work while doing tricks.

[esteban]

Edit: I REALLY wanted a Mongoose when I was a kid.  Got a Murray from K-Mart instead. 

Lol!  I started with a Huffy.  Eventually I had a Redline, GT, and a Gernaral.  Man the General's were nice bikes, but kinda heavy.  I loved my Redline for racing, and the GT was great for ramp.

My first bike was a Murray 3000, which was a wannabe BMX bike from K-Mart and which I can't find a picture of anywhere on the internet.  Then a couple of years later I got a Murray Street Machine which was a bit bigger, I think was a 3-speed, and had more of a mountain bike geometry.  Later I got a Huffy that weighed a f*cking ton, and used to ride that 5 miles each way to work and back.  Finally got a Specialized Rock Hopper, which was way better.  Never did get to have a cool BMX bike.

At least some of you guys got Kmart bikes.

I sh@t you not, I had a goddamn Monsoon and Stingray when they were so f@cking not kool.

I wanted a 10-speed generic bike, from Kmart.

I had a red maroon Monsoon. It was a bigger frame than the two blue Stingrays I used in prior years.

I would pretend that I was 100% OK with having goofy bikes ancient eras...but I would have loved a "modern" one.

I have to admit, I am glad I learned to appreciate things that were out-of-fashion. Even if it was out of necessity.

[SignOfZeta]

I had a Huffy bootleg of a stingray that was all black (I think only the wheels were plated) that said "Space Invader" on the chain guard. Talk about uncool.

I went through a shitload of bikes back then until I eventually switched to skateboards. You get so much less hurt derfing on a skateboard. Also, bikes are several times the price of a skateboard.

[Jibbajaba]

Actually, that Murray 3000 was how I found out that K-Mart wasn't cool.  I rode the bike to school the day after I got it and other kids noticed that I had a new bike, and someone asked where I got it.  So I just told him, "K-Mart".  Like so f*cking what?  "Your family shops at K-Mart?!?  You're poor!"  Etc. etc.  I had no idea that K-Mart had a bad rap.  What the f*ck was wrong with K-Mart?  They had a luncheonette and everything.

Do kids go through that shit today with WalMart and Target?  Costco?