Considering the “actors kissing minors on screen is statutory rape” and “Germans are all neo-Nazi bastards” threads, your optimism is…endearing.
As well as implying something is happening can also be answered in two words:
Fucking Idiot
Can somebody please find a grip for 'Tooney to get ahold of? He’s been waiting for one for ten fucking years now.
I am now convinced that whatever happens in DeMolay it isn’t English grammar lessons.
How do young men “honor womanhood”, exactly? Sex change operations?
See post # 97 (“alphabet, the”) for one suggestion.
No donkey punches.
I had a thin-walled hotel room next to a newlywed couple once. The bride said, “Sir, I offer you my honor!” The groom said, “Madam, I honor your offer!” And that was pretty much how it went all night – honor, offer, honor, offer . . .
Forget all those “expose” books – this is what really happens in Masonic rituals.
That is one of the most amazing 'toons ever made. I heart it sooo much…even more than Minnie the Moocher. But just barely.
OMG, BrainGlutton, thanks for giving me bad dreams. What an amazing cartoon! Wow! I am glad to have seen this; hard to believe it was made in 1931.
This thread has more lives than Cat Jesus.
Would that be 10 or 18?
Alright, I am the state leader of DeMolay in Vermont right now and this weekend get-away that has been spoken of is called Conclave. Conclave is one weekend in the year when DeMolays go away and promote their new officers along with other activities that vary by state, many that I have attended do a lot of sport activities, some make it a teaching thing where they will have classes and such and others may do whatever else imaginable as the DeMolays do choose what they do. I can promise anyone that given DeMolay has any history with mistreatment for the children it would be slim compared to, lets say the Catholic Church, because our dad advisers have a very intense screening program to go through before being accepted as advisers.
Quoted for truth. Not that I mind - it’s a truly enjoyable trainwreck.
Almost as good as the one where 'Toonsie was worried about being exterminated by Nazis while eating a schnitzel in Frankfurt last year.
Not a Mason of any variety here, but if I were, I’d consider making reading this thread and posting an appropriate response an initiation activity.
So you ‘dad adviser’ screening program is more intense than the Bachelor’s degree and three or four years of Seminary that’s required for entry into the Catholic priesthood.
M’kay.
O that’s good. That’s very good indead. New poster, first post, and I’m caught, caught like a rabbit in a trap or a deer in the headlights! My mind is saying no, but my heart is saying I want LordBus22 to be a real person
I don’t know about his ‘dad adviser’ program, but at what point during your Bachelor’s Degree pursuit were they screening you for possible child abuse tendencies? If they weren’t, then those don’t count. Honest question about seminary, was that sort of screening traditionally part of seminary? If not, I’ll bet they’re working on it now.
Hard work to get a job and being screened for a specific potential to commit a certain kind of abuse are NOT the same thing.
Please keep in mind while reading this post that I was once young and naive. Now I’m old 
and not so naive, but I find that I believe many of the things I did in my youth. In the following, I make statements that make me sound more virtuous than I am. I merely recount my experiences and thoughts as they happened at the time.
I was in DeMolay until I turned 21. We had lotsa secret stuff. None of it worth repeating, and none of it anything to be concerned with. The young men I attended DeMolay meetings with were the same ones I went to school and Scouts with. In every venue, there were “secrets”.
I thought the principles noble in, well, principle On one occasion, we were voting on a new member, and he received a black ball (a NO vote). Although the ballots were intended to be secret, the person choosing the black ball decided to explain why. Turned out to be “political”, and a re-vote came up with all white balls. Lest you think that we all had some sort of high moral character, on another occasion, we left a DeMolay meeting to go play at a local gaming hall (~1966, rural America, nothing really wrong with the gaming hall). The others dashed ahead of me, and when I arrived, I was still wearing my DeMolay tie. I was quickly accosted by several fellow DeMolays, and told to remove my tie. After all, we didn’t want to besmirch the Order! Later, I discussed this with my Dad (a Mason). Without mentioning who said what, I said that I didn’t get it…if it were OK to be there, why not wear the tie, and if it were not OK, then why were we there? Look, this was just part of kids growing up and learning to make decisions.
On another occasion, I was at a Scout meeting with these same fellows. We met in a big hall, and we’d spread out as we worked on projects. On one occasion, I wandered up to a small group, and discovered that they were conspiring to do something very un-Scout-like. I asked them how they could say the Scout Oath at each meeting “on their honor”, and then behave that way. I was quickly dismissed with comments wondering how I could believe that stuff and how they said the Oath because they wanted to be in Scouts, but they didn’t really believe in all the principles. Members of the Order of DeMolay. Still, we were just kids growing up and learning to make decisions. Later, I discussed this with my Dad. Without mentioning who said what, I said that I didn’t get it…I understood that when I stood up and gave an oath, I stood by it. He said that oath or no, he expected me to keep my word, and act honorably at all times. He did say that I’d need to figure out what that meant as I grew up. I will say that I learned stuff in Scouting //from my peers// that was prolly not what my Mom wished for, but never a trace of inappropriate behaviour from adults in Scouting or DeMolay. In fact, I still have the deepest respect and fondness for the men who supervised those activities, and I understand what it means to say such things on an adult level.
Secret stuff: Here is where I tell all
When my oldest daughter X was 13 or so, a bunch of kids in our social circle put together a monthly meeting-of-the-minds, so to speak. Was supposed to be a place for them (boys and girls) to gather in a safe social environment. After the first meeting, I asked X how the meeting went and what was discussed. All went well until she got to discussing birth control. I was stunned. Mind you, we educated our kids about sex (as far as they needed at each age), so that they could be aware of what they were going through as they matured, and so that they could make educated decisions as they grew. I was then, and am still, generally opposed to pre-marital sex, for many reasons that I’ll not share here now, but that didn’t equate to keeping my kids in the dark. I never wanted them to be able to look me in the face and say that they “didn’t know”.
I asked her what adults were present to guide such an important discussion, and she replied that adults were “not allowed”. !!! Not allowed?!? Talk about secret societies! (I’ll go anywhere my children go, if circumstances warrant. I’ve been in my share of women’s rest rooms, much to my embarrassment.)
It turned out that most of the youths’ parents //agreed// to this “secret” meeting, because they hoped that the older youth would share things with the younger youth that the adults found “uncomfortable” to discuss. What kind of message does that send? Does this encourage bonding twixt parent and child? Does it encourage revealing questionable behaviour to parents?
I attended the next meeting, and saw X get verbally challenged by the others because I was there. She made it clear that in our house children were allowed to express their own ideas, and even to challenge parental decisions, as long as they were respectful. She said (remember, 13) that she was free to express her ideas in the meeting, even if she knew that I disagreed with them, and fear no consequences when she got home. Most of the other youth did not enjoy this freedom and openness.
In 1960, there was not much to vetting any adult who supervised children. I don’t think that it had changed much by the mid-1990s, when I began to teach HS. I don’t even recall much ado in 2000 when I was volunteering a a local HS, and on a few occasions was the only adult supervision on mixed-gender day trips to the countryside. Now that has changed. The latest process, even for volunteers, is a careful vetting. Nonetheless, I opine, unsavory folks can make it through the process on occasion. If we had a “pervert-detector”, life would be so much safer and simpler, like it was when I was a kid.
So there you have it, from an insider. I will say that I don’t agree with all the good-old-boy Mason stuff, though if it stays on the high ground it is OK. I’ve never met a perfect person, even when I looked in the mirror
I was once denied a job in a large corporation in a large city, which I wanted very much, and for which I was well-qualified (the employer’s first choice, I was told), because of the 3 Ms.
Money - I had not mentioned that I was connected to big money in town. I was, but didn’t think that a valid approach.
Masons - I had not mentioned that I was connected with Masons in town. I was, but didn’t think it appropriate to play that card.
Minority - Ah. Here’s the rub. I wasn’t one The company (a large multi-national you’d recognize) had many government contracts, and they were behind on their minority hiring. Soo…you get the picture. I didn’t get the job, though I was called foolish for not invoking Money or Masons. To each his own.
WeatheredSoul