BSA membership peaked at almost 5 million in the early 1970s. By 2023 it was down to about a million. It wasn’t “woke politics” that drove an 80% decline in membership; it was simple demographics. The core base of BSA members (white males) slowly declined, while other demographic groups never had any interest in Scouting. Hispanic immigrants don’t join the Big Scouts. Black kids never did. Asian kids have no interest in what the Boy Scouts have to offer.
Having said that, I’d point out that this pathological fixation on “diversity” that has come to pollute our political and cultural scene over the years is ultimately going to bring about the demise of almost every iconic organization in this country. It won’t be the result of some nefarious scheme. It’s just that even in a nation of 340 million people, you’d be hard pressed to find 5 million of them — or even 1 million — who care enough about a common set of goals, standards and principles to join an organization like the Boy Scouts, the Rotary Club, the local Chamber of Commerce, etc.
Welcome to the Tower of Babel, version 2.0.
The boomer bubble burst hurt worse than demographic shift
I thought they were pretenders when I was a kid in the 70s. Friends and I learned how to camp, fish and hunt on our own without the structured BS. Had zero interest in 00’s to introduce my son to their agenda.
Let them die. Twice for what they did to Philmont Ranch. Couldn’t sell it because of the restrictions tied to the gift, so they mortgaged it instead to pay for their pedo judgments against the org. When do they lose it?
” The core base of BSA members (white males) slowly declined, while other demographic groups never had any interest in Scouting. Hispanic immigrants don’t join the Big Scouts. Black kids never did. Asian kids have no interest in what the Boy Scouts have to offer.
Having said that, I’d point out that this pathological fixation on “diversity” that has come to pollute our political and cultural scene over the years is ultimately going to bring about the demise of almost every iconic organization in this country. “
This !
They hated Whiteness. They wanted to destroy it. And they succeeded.
And the final daggers came from Regime “conservatives” like Gates and Tillerson, like it always does.
I don’t know. We had black and hispanic kids in the local pack and troop in the 70s. Not many asians, but then not many in the area either.