Even though I have exactly zero familiarity with this “explorers” program (was a Boy Scout, sort of), I’m going to say its doing a lot more good than harm. If you want to complain about this program “brainwashing,” you need to hold our mass media to a similar standard. How many PG13 movies are out there showing guns and gunplay in a totally cool, but unrealistic manner? They certainly never discuss safety issues. As a Boy Scout, I got opportunities to fire guns and arrows. Before they let you go near the hardware, there’s a ton of safety instruction. For example, I learned to NEVER point a firearm at an individual. Not if the safety is on, nor if the gun is unloaded. Pointing a BB at somebody got you kicked out of the firing range, simple as that. Kids (OK, boys) are going to be interested in firearms no matter what. Learning how they really operate in a controlled environment may very well be the best possible scenario.
I don’t think anyone’s worried about brainwashing in gun safety, and I think you’re missing the point. Are you doing it intentionally? Because, as far as I can see, none of the posts discussing “brainwashing” or using similar rhetoric were worried about the firearms involved.
See?
Duly noted. Let me rephrase, if this explorers program does a good job teaching children (OK, boys) a realistic perspective on guns, than on a whole its a positive influence in their lives.
I love the boy-scouts. I owe a lot of how I am today to my participation in the scouts. I am a card-carrying eagle scout and proud of it.
There are so many deep seeded issues in the scouts right now. There has been a huge push to put the scouts in a more political direction than I am comfortable with. Luckily our scout troop never had any connection to the mormon indoctrination that is spreading throughout the organization.
Sad sad thing. Penn and Teller did a pretty good job dealing with the Boy Scouts BS. The show has a lot of cheap shots and piss me off a bit, but in the end they get the message across. It is a noble and great organization that has been tainted by some bad upper management and political decisions.
Oh that looks so fucking cool. I wish I’d been able to do that in the Boy Scouts. We had BB guns at the camp range, yeah, but that’s not quite the same. On the other hand, I learned gun safety, which was good.
Is it just me, or do all those children look Hispanic?
they’re learning how to round up and deport their own parents
I take issue with the phrase “on a whole”, since it doesn’t really address any of the possible negatives people have brought up here. If a program like this is highly jingoistic (which I’m not saying it is, because I haven’t read tfa in it’s entirety, but that seems to be a concern raised in the thread) but teaches firearm safety, that doesn’t exactly balance out.
I’m all for more realistic perspectives on guns being taught to kids. I think that this program, as an example, is a fucking piss-poor way to do it. We’re talking about kids being trained in specific counter-terrorism tactics here, not in firearm safety. In fact, there isn’t a bit of firearm safety mentioned in the article, so I’m not sure where you’re getting that angle.
“Put him on his face and put a knee in his back,” a Border Patrol agent explained. “I guarantee that he’ll shut up.”
“Our end goal is to create more agents,” said April McKee, a senior Border Patrol agent and mentor at the session here.
In a competition in Arizona that he did not oversee, Deputy Lowenthal said, one role-player wore traditional Arab dress. “If we’re looking at 9/11 and what a Middle Eastern terrorist would be like,” he said, “then maybe your role-player would look like that. I don’t know, would you call that politically incorrect?”
Things like this are what people are worried about.
Protecting America from terrorists, atheists, and the gays.
That’s a long way from when I was in Explorer Search and Rescue. Sheesh.
It seems to me you should be less concerned about the Explorers and more concerned about what the police and immigration cops are teaching them. And that is a problem with the police and immigration cops, not with the Explorers as an organization, which has always been attached to law enforcement and first responder agencies.
Yeah because arab terrorists attacking america will be sure to use traditional arabic headgear i’m sure.
Being a boy scout and having known some explorer troops, they went to the same camps we do, Gun Safety is a #1 priority. You have to take a class before you can even use a BB gun.
Are you being intentionally obtuse? Who cares that they’re shooting airsoft guns, and who cares about firearm safety?
Yeah, the point isn’t about guns per se – it’s the increasing militarization of the police, and the over the top indoctrination of boy-scouts/explorers, not to mention the racial overtones.
Teaching kids to round up immigrants, rough up suspects, and presume Arabs are terrorists… does it really need to be spelled out what’s wrong with that?
Way more kickass than the bows and shotguns and rifles we messed about with on trips.
The indoctrination stuff is kinda lame, but I really doubt anyone other than the basket cases will take it seriously.
Hmm, I didn’t see any mention of this being used nationwide. The story seems to center on a county on the Mexican border that is essentially a criminal justice economy. The nationalism kind of makes me want to puke, otherwise I don’t see this as some national indoctrination tactic for our Boy Scouts.
Yeah, that’s funny isn’t it? Great law enforcement guy there – a regular Sherlock.
An organization which teaches kids the value of teamwork and civil service would be great. Unfortunately, this organization (from what I can see from TFA) merely tells kids that beating people up is fun, rewarding, and overall a really great idea – as long as you have a badge! And yes, that unfortunately does seem to be the attitude of many law-enforcement types in this country. It’s disheartening to see the militarization of our police forces take even deeper root by indoctrinating children this way.