Friday, October 20, 2006
Boy Scouts and Pirated Music/Movies
oh boy. when i grew up, i was in cub scouts, and then in boy scouts, until age 18. i was pretty busy with lots of other stuff and ended up doing all the work to get my eagle scout, but hadn't been attending as often as was expected because i had mandatory junior varsity basketball that conflicted with the scout meetings, so the scoutmaster didn't approve my eagle badge. let's just call it a learning experience.
anyway, since then i've discovered all about the boy scouts and their anti-gay stance, etc, and while i'm quite miffed about that, i still see some real value in the core of the boy scout program, if it were to be amended to be inclusive of values which i consider wholesome. their style of mentor-based learning in a wide variety of important subjects, and merit badges and skill awards to show proficiency is actually a good model, which is worth further investigating for alternate educational purposes. (sorry about that run-on sentence.)
so... the scouts are now doing work for the MPAA and RIAA. hmmm, in the scout law, the first item says a scout is trustworthy. hmmm, and the twelfth point says a scout is reverent. what if the value of being reverent to the one i consider God, as written in the bible so many turn to for inspiration, conflicts with the value of being trustworthy according to these corporate industries? from the mouth of sweet JC, it's pretty clear: "no servant can serve two masters. you cannot serve both God and Mammon(money)" comes to mind here. in short, i think this is value-perverted corporate propaganda that the boy scouts shouldn't be supporting. there may be people who argue, "oh, what about the artists, not getting their hard-earned money?" see above! this is one of Jesus' two most important messages, which, because of the difficulty in a capitalist society of addressing, or even considering it, gets ignored by most Christians.
lyrics: oh the good life is out there somewhere, so stay on my arm you little charmer. - the smiths
colors: transparent
mood: super, i got to go corduroy hunting with my sweetie, and found a pair that were okay, in maroon/wine-red.
chant/prayer/mantra: name it, frame it.
pax hominibus,
joel
anyway, since then i've discovered all about the boy scouts and their anti-gay stance, etc, and while i'm quite miffed about that, i still see some real value in the core of the boy scout program, if it were to be amended to be inclusive of values which i consider wholesome. their style of mentor-based learning in a wide variety of important subjects, and merit badges and skill awards to show proficiency is actually a good model, which is worth further investigating for alternate educational purposes. (sorry about that run-on sentence.)
so... the scouts are now doing work for the MPAA and RIAA. hmmm, in the scout law, the first item says a scout is trustworthy. hmmm, and the twelfth point says a scout is reverent. what if the value of being reverent to the one i consider God, as written in the bible so many turn to for inspiration, conflicts with the value of being trustworthy according to these corporate industries? from the mouth of sweet JC, it's pretty clear: "no servant can serve two masters. you cannot serve both God and Mammon(money)" comes to mind here. in short, i think this is value-perverted corporate propaganda that the boy scouts shouldn't be supporting. there may be people who argue, "oh, what about the artists, not getting their hard-earned money?" see above! this is one of Jesus' two most important messages, which, because of the difficulty in a capitalist society of addressing, or even considering it, gets ignored by most Christians.
lyrics: oh the good life is out there somewhere, so stay on my arm you little charmer. - the smiths
colors: transparent
mood: super, i got to go corduroy hunting with my sweetie, and found a pair that were okay, in maroon/wine-red.
chant/prayer/mantra: name it, frame it.
pax hominibus,
joel
