I will be the first to admit that what I am suggesting may seem like a small thing to most people. After all, we have had two more massacres of innocent people to add to the long list, there are GOP politicians who are utterly corrupt, and so on. The daily news is dreary and depressing. I don’t feel like I need to go over the long list of daily horrors with my fellow KOSsacks.
There is one small media campaign I would propose.
The Boy Scouts.
Yes, The Boy Scouts
Here’s my problem: I don’t have a Teevee and I don’t often watch Trump rallies on video, but I notice that they carefully select the on-stage crowd behind Trump to reflect a certain demographic and give a subliminal message as to who his supporters might be. (“Oh, that guy up there looks just like cousin Harold!”) Lots of politicians do this.
And of course, we had “The Plaid Shirt Guy” back in 2018:
I did watch one rally not too long ago and there was a Boy Scout in uniform on the stage. I’m sure it was no accident that the Scout was there behind Drumpf.
And who could forget the debacle at the 2017 National Jamboree:
For another viewpoint on that same event, here is Jake Tapper’s analysis:
Okay, enough background.
The other night I did see some sort of video clip (sorry, unable to find that specific one) and there was yet another Boy Scout on stage, in uniform, being used as a prop. This is against the stated policy of the national Boy Scouts.
Contact the Boy Scouts
What I am suggesting is for people to contact the Boy Scouts and request them to uphold their policy, including reminders to all adult scout leaders as to the need to be nonpartisan.
I looked for the contact info online. Now, as we all know, the BSA has had its share of controversies, and only last week they became the defendant in yet another lawsuit regarding the shielding of child abusers. So, it is not a surprise to me that they would set things up in such a way as to shield themselves from these public campaigns. And, I am not asking you to harass them, merely to register your opinion. So here goes:
National Service Center
Mailing Address: PO Box 152079, Irving, TX 75015-2079
Physical Address: 1325 W. Walnut Hill Lane, Irving, TX 75038
Office Phone: 972-580-2000
Questions or comments: membercare.scouting.org
Donation Support: DonationSupport@scouting.org
Media inquiries: PR@scouting.org
The Chief Scout (i.e., the Chief Executive Officer) of the BSA is named Michael Surbaugh. (please note, this name is publicly available). Members of the Executive Board are listed in Wikipedia.
What we can do is to ask them to remind all their local branches as to the policy of remaining nonpartisan, and to forbid their adult leaders from allowing boys to be used in this way.
Thank you