But while you should focus on the no. 1 stuff, you are far too easily distracted by the no. 2 stuff.

The Scouts news this weekend is a perfect example. Functionally nothing changed in the program, but they are able to make you go insane like a puppet.

Yes, I do think they are dropping this issue. I think Hegseth realized that he wasn’t going to get the traction on this he wanted so he agreed a nothing burger and declared victory for himself.

I’m not ignoring the concerns of the Trans youth, it’s just that the “demands” won’t actually change them. The BSA has already issued a statement that trans youth are still welcome in scouting. No one is going to be checking anyone’s birth certificates. Literally nothing changed.

Get a grip.

They did away with one merit badge and added one elective. “DEI” is baked throughout the scout program and basically all the topics covered in that one merit badge are covered in lots of other parts the program. Including the whole point of the scout law.

You are losing your mind over nothing. Get a grip.

Yeah, I would absolutely take issue with the head of a government institution saying something like that.

Yeah. He knows that. That’s exactly why he does it. How do y’all not know their playbook by now? There are only two plays.

1. Do evil Nazi shit.
2. Say stupid shit online to keep the press and liberal Internet circles distracted from the evil Nazi shit.

That’s the whole playbook.

This is what I was saying last Friday when the memo dropped. The memo was a nothing burger. Functionally nothing changed about the program. Hegseth got nothing he wanted.

People online just can’t help themselves from losing their minds. Literally anything can make people lose their minds. A headline could be “Hegseth declare that all banana splits served to troops be gendered as male” and y’all would lose your minds like clockwork.

You don’t even know what those are! 😂

People are so easily triggered by things online. Like, you have not spent 5 minutes in your entire life thinking about the merit badge requirements. But this article pops up and suddenly this is somehow important news for you.

Dude. Research Roblox.

Good. So video games are also used to from kids. So burn that industry to the ground right?

Schools are also used to from kids. Burn that to the ground.

Universities. Burn them to the ground.

Right?

Dude. It’s not that big of a deal. It doesn’t affect you at all. Not even a little bit.

Yes. Burn everything good and happy for internet points.

Yes, they have had historic issues and made some bad choices. So have schools, youth sports, universities, and literally EVERY youth organization more than 30 years old. So why take away this opportunity from kids today just so that you can feel morally superior?

Dude. It’s going to be an elective merit badge. And merit badges take YEARS to go through the requirement system. Trumps goons are going to be gone before this even makes it to the program.

It’s really funny to me how the BSA Scouts are, at the same time, too conservative for liberals and too liberal for conservatives. Y’all need to touch grass.

Here’s what really happened: Hegseth blinked.

The dude clearly figured that he wasn’t getting the online traction with this that he wanted. So he farted out a stupid set of “demands” for the scouts to agree to. Ultimately very little in the program is changing. The scouts lose 1 merit badge and replace it with an elective badge. (The scouts aren’t going to start checking birth certificates at sign up. )

This is a win for the scouts. They change almost nothing, and Hegseth moves onto someone else to bully for internet points.

Dude. Literally no one is out there screen shotting “tankies” on lemmy. It’s just in your head.

Persecution complex really knows no bounds.

Orthodox

The Orthodox communion is having a bit of a revival right now. Which happens on occasion for them, because they are really misunderstood in the West.

For example, in the 2000s they had a brief boom period where “new-agey” type people were attracted to the mystical aspects of the church. I think that boom was short lived because those people really just wanted spiritual consumerism, and, as far as Christian denominations go, Orthodoxy is hard work. It’s not for beginners. If you aren’t born into it then it’s really hard to break in. (By my understanding is that if you do the hard work the community and spiritual benefits are really meaningful.)

Unfortunately, today their current boom (if it’s still going on, this information is a few years old now) is coming from Proud boys-type people. They were interested it it because it’s seen as adequately homophobic and sexist for them. My guess is that their interest was ultimately short lived as well because they aren’t going to be interested in doing the work any more than the Live-Laugh-Love crowd was.

That preserving rituals is important for maintaining community.

To stay consistent with the running joke of the meme, heresies would be forks that don’t work and I wouldn’t recommend for anyone to use.

Like WSL being prosperity gospel.

Orthodox

I’m sure the Catholics would disagree with me, and that’s fine with me. But personally I would say the Orthodox are the oldest continuous movement of Christianity. Not only do they historically beat out the Romans by a few decades, but also they have maintained a far more consistent liturgy over the millennia. The Catholics have had a a good handful of major liturgical changes that I would say constitute a few major breaks in historical consistency.

That’s not a criticism from me. I’m Anglican.

The writers are terrible, but “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” and “Total Money Makeover” are both really good books for middle class folks.

I read them before I learned how terrible their authors are.

Give me a plushy and I’ll volunteer for the control group