So we are down to our last box of Thin Mint Girls Scout Cookies, and I am sad to announce they will be our last. Ever.
A few days ago a friend sent me a link to an article from the Washington Times about The Girls Scouts and a UN forum.
I realize this article is written by the President of C-FAM (Catholic Family and Human Rights Institutes), and is pretty bias. But I did a little (emphasis on little) research on google, and the truth is I couldn't find very much disputing the articles claims. Other than the Girls Scouts flat out denying it. (Which if it's true for them, what else could they do?)
In fact what I did find were a few more articles along the same lines (from similar sites I admit).
Life News
C-FAM
an opposing view
Regardless of whether the pamphlet (more on that later) was actually distributed. As a parent I am uneasy with any organization banning the presence of parents (i.e. me).
Let me just say if my daughter was on a field trip to a UN conference, and I was asked to leave the room. You had better believe my daughter would be leaving with me. (Everette and I have already come to the realization that if we do have a girl, she will totally hate us, because she will be dressed in a sack cloth and won't be allowed out of the house)
So the pamphlet... I found a copy of the alleged pamphlet.
Yowsah!
There is a lot of BAD advice. The pamphlet is targeted to youth who are HIV positive or involved with someone who is.
But the truth is there is some serious bad advice for ANYONE at any age or any background period .
Read it for yourself if you don't believe me. The pamphlet is entitled "Happy Healthy and Hot". The dream of every mother of a preteen daughter.
And if anyone ever presents this to my kid as solid factual advice... you are going to see a whole lotta fury from this momma bear. I am not going to fight the political fight about sex education in schools. The truth is.. in a secular world... this is what makes sense to them. I'm not saying it's right for them, I am just saying it makes sense to them.
But I am going to fight the fight when it comes to what my children are taught. While I am not sure how that will play out in the future, I fervently believe it is my right and responsibility to talk to my kids about sex and what God thinks about it. Sorry, this is one of those platforms I like to stand on. But hey-it's my blog!!
At the very least Girl Scouts have been linked repeatedly (and the YMCA as well) to Planned Parenthood, which does a lot of things I am not cool with.
So anyway back to the cookies... When I was teaching I chose not to join in the Union., in a school that was HEAVILY unionized. Emphasis on heavily... I was one of three nonunion, I know this because if you were not in the union there was a big loud sticker on your mailbox. And I was repeatedly pressured to join. My decision was in large part because the NEA shares some of their funding with some organizations I am not interested in sending my money to.
So in light of that decision, I now had another choice. I could pretend that this whole Girls Scout debacle isn't important and that it doesn't matter and keep buying Girl Scout Cookies or take a personal stand and choose not to support something I don't agree with.
It is a hard line to straddle between being too crazy militant, and being completely apathetic. But the truth is Everette and I don't consume enough GS cookies to significantly hinder our neighborhood girls cookie sales. But if I stopped buying them, I don't have to feel guilty stuffing my face with Thin Mints knowing I am telling girls casual sex will make you happy.
So Everette and I decided we're done buying Girl Scout cookies.And truthfully, they really don't taste that great all of a sudden anyway.
And for some reason, I was unable to keep this decision to myself. So I had to purge myself and spew my personal and political beliefs all over you. But its my blog and I can if I want to.
so there.
3 comments:
I've never been in the union either! I must be one of the other two!!!
I am LIVID about this Girl Scout thing. Absolutely livid.
Smile! I didn't join the union either-the rep scared me to death!!
I find the whole Girl Scouts thing interesting... Brock and I have talked about what we'll teach Emerson (which may/may not be the same thing I'd tell a girl) and have somewhat decided on a "Please please please abstain but above all, talk to us about it" policy. (And then if he comes to us and tells us he's having sex we'll say "Bad idea, but its not the end of the world." )
I'll be honest that it seems really strange to me that the Girl Scouts would deny that the whole event happened. I would be much more likely to believe they'd come up with some other story than deny it completely, which makes me think that maybe it didn't happen.
Regardless, I too think it contains some really bad advice. To me, I am really bothered by the fact that sex is discussed so casually and, while I didn't read it all, it appeared that there wasn't even any effort put into convincing teenagers to even delay sex. (Much less abstain.) I guess if the pamphlet is geared toward HIV positive individuals, it could be argued that such arguments would be a turn off but it seems as if some type of "Oops, you probably engaged in promiscuous behavior in the past and now have HIV so maybe you should try a different route this time" message would be more appropriate.
All that said, who needs girl scout cookies anyway?? You can make thin mints at home that are better anyway! =)
Post a Comment