Perhaps the only other institution in America right now that can feel the pain of the Boy Scouts and its crumbling credibility (which has been deteriorating since circa the 80s, when reports of “inappropriate” behavior started to get more difficult to ignore, hence the implementation of the “Youth Protection” program) is the ever-fledgling Catholic Church. And yet, every time one thinks that the nail in both of its palms (yes, a Jesus reference) couldn’t possibly be hammered any deeper, a more horrific story than the last emerges. The same has gone for Boy Scouts of America of late, culminating in the filing of Chapter 11 bankruptcy on February 18th, just ten days after the “celebration” of its 110th anniversary. The move was, of course, a calculated one, as it has effectively nullified the roughly 140 cases brought against the organization regarding sexual abuse. What’s more, being “bankrupt” prevents any further cases being launched against it.
The Catholic Church, too, would likely do the same if it wasn’t divided into sub-entities a.k.a. dioceses. Like the one in upstate New York that recently, you guessed it, set another precedent by filing for bankruptcy to avoid having to pay for the endless financial woes and entanglements brought on by court proceedings, many of which were set off by the Child Victims Act, enabling those who wish to come forward about the abuse they endured a larger statute of limitations to do so. As a result, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester became fraught with mounting cases that, similarly to the Boy Scouts of America, prompted them to put a pin in the whole thing with their own “protection act”: the ol’ Chapter 11 safeguard. Yes, surely if this diocese was “successful” in doing it, others could follow, effectively setting into motion a domino effect that might eventually result in “The Catholic Church” as a whole being too bankrupt to be “touchable” (pardon the pun). Granted, this isn’t the first instance of bankruptcy being a “saving grace” (far more than God) for the dioceses of the U.S. In 2007, among others, a diocese in San Diego became the largest one to file just hours before roughly 150 lawsuits were to be heard.
Boy Scouts, an organization with a similarly falsely wholesome veneer harboring a sinister underbelly, has just effectively undermined everything about its so-called values, chief among them, trustworthiness and honesty. Maybe these were tenets easier to sell in the 1950s and early 60s, the ultimate period when phony baloney facades were embraced. Alas, like everything initially intended to be pure, and to promote values and sanctity in a world that only continues to defile them, the Boy Scouts became not a source of instilling “goodness” within its members, so much as a hunting ground for perverts. If it sounds familiar, that’s because the Catholic Church obviously did it first. And, in many respects, the Boy Scouts of America took some of the same cues with its tendency toward “all-maleness” placing volunteer leaders in a position of power that proved too tempting to suppress. Indeed, an ominous vintage ad touting, “Men not eligible for Army or Navy here is your chance. BECOME SCOUTMASTERS,” seemed to offer the subtext: PEDOS WELCOME. The accompanying image of a submissive boy being directed to a tent by his domineering “master” comes across as a retrospective cry for help in every way. And no, for the entire twentieth century, none of these scoutmasters were screened for anything except a pulse.
But when the going gets rough and one is finally expected to pay the consequences for their nefarious behavior, both the Boy Scouts and the Catholic Church have assured that all you need do is insist that you can’t squeeze blood out of a turnip (though you can squeeze a little boy’s dignity and innocence right out of him). Would that the Boy Scouts were as idyllic as the fictionalized version of them in Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom. Unfortunately, it is, as usual, the adults that must taint everything with actions determined by their own psychological damage, in turn, creating a vicious cycle as that damage is passed on to the youth they’ve victimized. All in the name of being a sexually frustrated and repressed man.
