# Hitler youth and boy scouts plus TIPS, what's the difference? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 6, 2002, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitler-youth-and-boy-scouts-plus-tips-whats-the-difference/122658 "2002-08-06T19:09:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Burnt\_Sugar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee59a6/32.png) [@Burnt\_Sugar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Burnt_Sugar)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2002, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitler-youth-and-boy-scouts-plus-tips-whats-the-difference/122658/41 "2002-08-08T11:45:25Z")
Just in case you’re not just talking about American Scouts… In Australia a scout can be a girl, and atheist and gay… I think BSA is a bit behind the times… We also don’t really have much to do with religion… it’s only in ceremonies and at Scout’s Own when on camp. And for the record Scouts is nothing like Hitler Youth, because of all the reasons people have already stated… ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2002, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitler-youth-and-boy-scouts-plus-tips-whats-the-difference/122658/42 "2002-08-08T12:38:37Z")
> [@](#): > > In Australia a scout can be a girl, and atheist and gay… I think BSA is a bit behind the times… A Scout can be all of those, though the BSA (guys) and GSA (girls) are different organizations with similar programs. The leaders, however, cannot be homosexual (well, not practicing, anyway). The organization is explicitly religious. Since pretty much every major religion and most of the minor ones do not, as a general rule, condone homosexual behavior, the BSA has decided not to allow homosexuals to lead troops as adult leaders. > [@](#): > > We also don’t really have much to do with religion… it’s only in ceremonies and at Scout’s Own when on camp. There is usually a meeting prayer and, at major camps, a few services of different types related to the local religious impulse. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2002, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitler-youth-and-boy-scouts-plus-tips-whats-the-difference/122658/43 "2002-08-08T12:48:02Z")
Some of my friends at a church sponsored (pack? den? group?) smoked dope at camp. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Hinten](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecd19e/32.png) [@Hinten](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hinten)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2002, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitler-youth-and-boy-scouts-plus-tips-whats-the-difference/122658/44 "2002-08-09T15:47:08Z")
Please note the question mark in the original post subject. I might have over expressed the hypothetical possibilities but your replies show that they were just that, hypothesis. The most interesting fact pointed out to me is that the original boy scout organization existed much earlier then the HJ. Thus the NSDAP used and copied some of the ideas for their own sinister purposes. There is no known link between boy scouts and TIPS. My assumption was, that if Homeland (not Fatherland) Security is considering enlisting postmen and gas meter readers the jump to enlisting other groups that are well organized, have a good reporting structure, are observant, and have a large coverage, is not too far fetched. I am glad you all agree that that is impossible in the current environment. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2002, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitler-youth-and-boy-scouts-plus-tips-whats-the-difference/122658/45 "2002-08-09T16:33:54Z")
Has Hinten ever been a Scout? I was, and knowing what I know of the “organization,” the idea that boys could be whipped into goose-stepping, highly-disciplined superpatriots is laughable! The Scout troops I belonged to spent most of their time running around church gyms, and planning campouts… at which we’d spend most of our time telling dirty jokes! I can just picture Tom Ridge and John Ashcroft training us, at that age, to become spies. Yeah, THAT would work. Go back to sleep, Hinten. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2002, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitler-youth-and-boy-scouts-plus-tips-whats-the-difference/122658/46 "2002-08-09T17:06:16Z")
I dunno…If you can get kids in the National Guard to shoot other kids at Kent State… ---
**Author:** ![Joe\_Cool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecb155/32.png) [@Joe\_Cool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joe_Cool)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2002, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitler-youth-and-boy-scouts-plus-tips-whats-the-difference/122658/47 "2002-08-09T19:13:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hinten \* > **There are many people right now that propose gun training at a young age, very similar to what the HJ did.** My father taught me how to shoot and handle a gun safely when I was about 4 years old - far too young to be a scout. Does that make us Nazis? Am I a victim of his evil nationalistic and racist brainwashing? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2002, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitler-youth-and-boy-scouts-plus-tips-whats-the-difference/122658/48 "2002-08-10T00:10:56Z")
Actually, if I’m not mistaken, the Girl Scouts are more open towards gay and/or atheist members. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2002, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitler-youth-and-boy-scouts-plus-tips-whats-the-difference/122658/49 "2002-08-10T01:54:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by carnivorousplant \* > \*\*I dunno…If you can get kids in the National Guard to shoot other kids at Kent State… \*\* You had a bunch of poorly trained national guardsman with live rounds who panicked. It was an abberation. Marc ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2002, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitler-youth-and-boy-scouts-plus-tips-whats-the-difference/122658/50 "2002-08-10T03:11:09Z")
I hope so. It appears to have been. 🙂 But… I wonder how many National Guard troops have live rounds after that. Have you any idea? Why would they have them in the first place? But that’s another debate. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitler-youth-and-boy-scouts-plus-tips-whats-the-difference/122658.md?page=2)