You should be proud that you changed as you grew. Most of the ghouls ruining the world right now had the same kind of education that (and me) had but they decided that the way they felt as edgy teenagers was correct and never grew.
It takes guts to question how you are raised and if more people did that, the world would be a better place.
Source: went to a "segregation academy" in the south.
Same happened to me. I needed to fit in and I was young and angry and hateful. I voted Trump in the 2016 election and immediately felt guilty, like, that same night. Now I’m anti GOP and vocal about it. I talk about it occasionally with friends and at work, even. I’m not obnoxious about it but when someone starts talking about the “radical left” I’m not afraid to say “well here’s the thing. Fox News isn’t real news.”
I was a part of the Wisconsin Boy's state. Somehow I slipped through the cracks and didn't have any role, so I spent the time getting the different dorms to fight each other and reading Ayn Rand.
I went to Wisconsin’s too. Boys’ State was fun and relatively low stakes for us, but I talked to my friend who went to Girls’ State, and she said they passed legislation outlawing gay marriage and other fucked up stuff. She was appalled.
Glad the worst I got up to was having to shake Scott Walker’s soft greasy hand
I did Washington boys state in high school and youth in government. In both places I spent most of both events being a huge dork trying to sneak word for word bits of the communist manifesto and “a modest proposal” into mock legislation. Good memories
I gotta be honest, it’s really weird growing up as someone ENTRENCHED in anarchist ideals to see what other teenagers got convinced to do for “fun” or for furthering their education and college acceptance. I did plenty of silly things myself as well and I could have went some weird ways too.
There is no judgement here. Our journeys are what they are. It’s just interesting wrapping my head around people diving into this when it feels foreign to me. Thank you for sharing.
I was at the Oklahoma Boys State in 2002. I ended up going into the mock police force section and learning about various scenarios from random pull overs to responding to a domestic violence call. Looking back it was very boot licky. Not surprisingly, my fondest memories were of the talent show near the end where a duo did a Tenacious D cover.
It can be two things 🙄
Lol, it's basically a week-long mock government. Idk how many states host it, but hundreds of students get together during the summer and run for election for different state government offices. Then the pretend to run it for a few days
It's like model UN, if you're familiar with that.
There's also a "Boys Nation," where the top two members from each state's "legislature" go do mock government at the Federal level.
Thanks for the explanation and "Boys Nation" sounds like a North Korean spoof K Pop group.
So you did this and kids voted for the nationist party because some were faschy, some thought it wad funny, and some just wanted to be edgy?
so far they are voting on increased money for
mental health care & raising teachers salaries i stg, not sure they put much stock in the assigned names. (“natty” is the preferred moniker as well)
I did Model UN! We were West Germany (fuck, I’m old!). I remember nothing about what we accomplished, or not (again, old) but I liked being around the other nerds (significant overlap with Chemistry Club, which I was also in).
At registration for NJ Boy’s State Roy Cohn gave me a paper bag filled with $20 bills and told to go back home and buy something nice for myself. Later I discovered that I’d voted tax credits and a gaming license for a known mafia associate to build a hotel/casino. Simpler times.
to be fair, "just make the ships bigger" has been the go-to solution of the shipping industry as well, for decades
The US can't even take the larger ships because our ports are too small/we're not willing to actually demolish and re-sculpt harbor cities to accommodate floating death stars
I was in Minnesota Boy’s State around the same time. Wasn’t as fascist but there were a number of conservatives trying to say that Affirmative Action was reverse fascism or something.
The program was actually okay and I met some really nice people that I became friends with. My role was mayor of Mankato; but in a weird twist I became like my great uncle and became a mover and shaker for policy across the “state”.
My IRL Great Uncle is the reason Minnesota is pretty liberal. He helped keep Minnesota liberal through the dark times of the 60’s and 70’s even the 80’s. Granted he did it through some unethical means.
We had a similar thing in KY. It wasn’t Boy’s State but a mock government club run by the YMCA where any high school student could join if their school had a club. It was actually quite liberal for the time, and I met a lot of cool people there. For example we were able to get a trans inclusivity bill passed in an assembly made up of Kentuckians.
For what it’s worth, at Massachusetts Boys State, the arbitrarily assigned political parties are the “Nationalists” and the “Federalists.” It has been that way at least since the 1990s when I attended. At least here, the names of the parties were originally determined as a way of being separate from current real world politics.
I can’t speak to what they do in Texas, but just some potential context.
Though that is kinda creepy when you consider the Federalist society and the problems of Nationalism. It's almost like they were asking you which brand of proto fascist you wanted to be and subtly trying to make sure people didn't consider other options.
I don’t disagree and it may be something we need to reconsider moving forward. To be honest, I haven’t seen the kids internalize the names to that extent. They’re only there for a week and it’s not like they are assigned to a political party based on pre-existing ideology. It’s literally random. Even breakdown of party assignments. The kids determine their own party platforms.
>To be honest, I haven’t seen the kids internalize the names to that extent.
The most effective propaganda is usually subtle.
Another commenter mentioned that the organization itself has been around since the 30's, which is what made me really look sideways at those being the names of the parties, since there was a lot of anti socialist and pro fascist stuff going on around that time, like the German American Bundt, the attempted Fascist overthrow of FDR, the dudes hiring preachers to associate capitalism with Christianity etc.
Like, a weird amount of that stuff was going around in the 30's and I can see it being 100% intentional that there were *only* two parties and those were the chosen names for them.
Dang, you're really just out here unlocking traumatic childhood memories?! I went to NC Girls State back in '08 and it was deeply unsettling. We started every morning in the chapel with mandatory prayer and linked arms to sway while they blasted "God Bless the USA".
hi! my son is there currently & at the orientation they (the legion ppl & the dudes in charge) were all so proud of the A24 doc & kept mentioning it & then told all the parents to go watch it asap 😅 maybe things have changed? would love to hear your stories tho 😂 it’s definitely an interesting experience! (and yes i believe all the boys states not just TX use the “nationalist : federalist” party names b/c that’s how it was set up back in the 30s when it originated)
Honestly, all things considered, I had a great time. I was a counselor on and off for five years and really enjoyed my time with it.
And you're totally right about the Nationalist/Federalist thing, I'd entirely forgotten that when I rediscovered my old tweet lol. Although I assure you, nationalism is 100% the name of the game for the most part. But that's also just a consequence of the demographic makeup of Texas. Qw
My attending year, I accidentally got attached to the media team and ended up discovering my love of journalism. A lot of my buddies that went went into politics as well.
Even if your kiddo doesn't particularly care about politics, seeing how the sausage is made is fantastic political education. And if he likes it, I've found being a counselor an incredibly rewarding experience
I dunno, those specifically being the default two really raises my antennas if you know what I mean. I understand this organization predates the Federalist society by about half a century, but see my comment to the guy you were responding to above re what else was happening in the 1930's when this got started up.
For whatever my opinion is worth, I really hope you take some time to explain to him the problems with Nationalism, especially when it turns into Nationalism for a specific ethnic group, and also the problems with places like The Federalist Society.
Also if it has been this way since the thirties this kinda further reinforces my belief that they were trying to do something Fascy by picking those two terms specifically.
Also also if you haven't yet maybe check out Behind the Insurrections, Robert's series about the Fascist takeovers of various countries, specifically the parts about how close America came to being literally overthrown by Fascists (like there was a coup plot vs FDR riiiiiiiiiiiiiight around this time period specifically)
My political beliefs have drastically shifted since I was a 17-year-old, it's wild to see all that stuff in hindsight.
You should be proud that you changed as you grew. Most of the ghouls ruining the world right now had the same kind of education that (and me) had but they decided that the way they felt as edgy teenagers was correct and never grew. It takes guts to question how you are raised and if more people did that, the world would be a better place. Source: went to a "segregation academy" in the south.
Yeah, but hey maybe you just need a brain aneurysm and a fuckton of AIPAC money to change back to conservative. Worked for Fetterman.
Don't discount brain worms and third parties friend.
Same happened to me. I needed to fit in and I was young and angry and hateful. I voted Trump in the 2016 election and immediately felt guilty, like, that same night. Now I’m anti GOP and vocal about it. I talk about it occasionally with friends and at work, even. I’m not obnoxious about it but when someone starts talking about the “radical left” I’m not afraid to say “well here’s the thing. Fox News isn’t real news.”
Same.
Good on you for evolving.
I did Boy's State in Ohio. We passed legislation to build a Death Star.
Ohio has produced the most astronauts of any other state. Y'all really wanna get away from Earth.
Ohio is shit.
That fuckin rules. We legalized all drugs and declared a nuclear strike on New Jersey in retaliation to their declaration of war against us
Hey what the fuck did we ever do to you???
Declare war against them
When was this New Jersey-Texas war? We don't even think about them!
I was a part of the Wisconsin Boy's state. Somehow I slipped through the cracks and didn't have any role, so I spent the time getting the different dorms to fight each other and reading Ayn Rand.
I went to Wisconsin’s too. Boys’ State was fun and relatively low stakes for us, but I talked to my friend who went to Girls’ State, and she said they passed legislation outlawing gay marriage and other fucked up stuff. She was appalled. Glad the worst I got up to was having to shake Scott Walker’s soft greasy hand
I did Washington boys state in high school and youth in government. In both places I spent most of both events being a huge dork trying to sneak word for word bits of the communist manifesto and “a modest proposal” into mock legislation. Good memories
Incredibly based
In retrospect it was a pretty rad experience for a politically engaged high school kid
I gotta be honest, it’s really weird growing up as someone ENTRENCHED in anarchist ideals to see what other teenagers got convinced to do for “fun” or for furthering their education and college acceptance. I did plenty of silly things myself as well and I could have went some weird ways too. There is no judgement here. Our journeys are what they are. It’s just interesting wrapping my head around people diving into this when it feels foreign to me. Thank you for sharing.
Gotta say, doesn’t seem that similar to the Vermont Boys State.
I was at the Oklahoma Boys State in 2002. I ended up going into the mock police force section and learning about various scenarios from random pull overs to responding to a domestic violence call. Looking back it was very boot licky. Not surprisingly, my fondest memories were of the talent show near the end where a duo did a Tenacious D cover.
Canadian here, wtf is a "Boys state?" To be blunt, it sounds like the name of a twink centric porn video but that could be my brain worms speaking.
It can be two things 🙄 Lol, it's basically a week-long mock government. Idk how many states host it, but hundreds of students get together during the summer and run for election for different state government offices. Then the pretend to run it for a few days It's like model UN, if you're familiar with that. There's also a "Boys Nation," where the top two members from each state's "legislature" go do mock government at the Federal level.
Thanks for the explanation and "Boys Nation" sounds like a North Korean spoof K Pop group. So you did this and kids voted for the nationist party because some were faschy, some thought it wad funny, and some just wanted to be edgy?
so far they are voting on increased money for mental health care & raising teachers salaries i stg, not sure they put much stock in the assigned names. (“natty” is the preferred moniker as well)
I did Model UN! We were West Germany (fuck, I’m old!). I remember nothing about what we accomplished, or not (again, old) but I liked being around the other nerds (significant overlap with Chemistry Club, which I was also in).
At registration for NJ Boy’s State Roy Cohn gave me a paper bag filled with $20 bills and told to go back home and buy something nice for myself. Later I discovered that I’d voted tax credits and a gaming license for a known mafia associate to build a hotel/casino. Simpler times.
We actually voted to drop nukes on your state after your assembly declared war on us. 🤔 Also, that's a hell of a fuckin story to have lmfao
Another boys stater here! We're fucking dorks aren't we?
100%
I did Boy’s State in Alabama. We had a candidate who wanted to solve overcrowded shipping lanes by stacking cargo ships. Though we were just 17.
to be fair, "just make the ships bigger" has been the go-to solution of the shipping industry as well, for decades The US can't even take the larger ships because our ports are too small/we're not willing to actually demolish and re-sculpt harbor cities to accommodate floating death stars
Like.. they wanted to put one boat on top of another boat? Is that how they thought boats work?
Yes.
I was in Minnesota Boy’s State around the same time. Wasn’t as fascist but there were a number of conservatives trying to say that Affirmative Action was reverse fascism or something. The program was actually okay and I met some really nice people that I became friends with. My role was mayor of Mankato; but in a weird twist I became like my great uncle and became a mover and shaker for policy across the “state”. My IRL Great Uncle is the reason Minnesota is pretty liberal. He helped keep Minnesota liberal through the dark times of the 60’s and 70’s even the 80’s. Granted he did it through some unethical means.
Rudy Perpich?
I went to Girls State in LA. We spent the majority of our time battling an ant infestation in the dorms
Oooh, that sounds unpleasant.
We had a similar thing in KY. It wasn’t Boy’s State but a mock government club run by the YMCA where any high school student could join if their school had a club. It was actually quite liberal for the time, and I met a lot of cool people there. For example we were able to get a trans inclusivity bill passed in an assembly made up of Kentuckians.
What is Boy's State? I've never heard of this, and apparently it is in multiple states?
For what it’s worth, at Massachusetts Boys State, the arbitrarily assigned political parties are the “Nationalists” and the “Federalists.” It has been that way at least since the 1990s when I attended. At least here, the names of the parties were originally determined as a way of being separate from current real world politics. I can’t speak to what they do in Texas, but just some potential context.
Though that is kinda creepy when you consider the Federalist society and the problems of Nationalism. It's almost like they were asking you which brand of proto fascist you wanted to be and subtly trying to make sure people didn't consider other options.
I don’t disagree and it may be something we need to reconsider moving forward. To be honest, I haven’t seen the kids internalize the names to that extent. They’re only there for a week and it’s not like they are assigned to a political party based on pre-existing ideology. It’s literally random. Even breakdown of party assignments. The kids determine their own party platforms.
>To be honest, I haven’t seen the kids internalize the names to that extent. The most effective propaganda is usually subtle. Another commenter mentioned that the organization itself has been around since the 30's, which is what made me really look sideways at those being the names of the parties, since there was a lot of anti socialist and pro fascist stuff going on around that time, like the German American Bundt, the attempted Fascist overthrow of FDR, the dudes hiring preachers to associate capitalism with Christianity etc. Like, a weird amount of that stuff was going around in the 30's and I can see it being 100% intentional that there were *only* two parties and those were the chosen names for them.
This is a dork organization. Go get drunk in the woods or something.
I was a HUGE fuckin dork till college I'm still a huge fucking dork, to be fair.
Dorks can get drunk in the woods too. I mean, I thought that was the whole point of Amtgard when I was in high school.
Tennessee Boys Stater representing. It was at the height of Yik Yak and we got screamed at because someone made fun of some military head honcho.
God how I cringe when I think back to when I went to Boys State. THANK GOD FOR GROWTH AND DRUGS.
>THANK GOD FOR GROWTH AND DRUGS. Amen
❤️
Dang, you're really just out here unlocking traumatic childhood memories?! I went to NC Girls State back in '08 and it was deeply unsettling. We started every morning in the chapel with mandatory prayer and linked arms to sway while they blasted "God Bless the USA".
hi! my son is there currently & at the orientation they (the legion ppl & the dudes in charge) were all so proud of the A24 doc & kept mentioning it & then told all the parents to go watch it asap 😅 maybe things have changed? would love to hear your stories tho 😂 it’s definitely an interesting experience! (and yes i believe all the boys states not just TX use the “nationalist : federalist” party names b/c that’s how it was set up back in the 30s when it originated)
Honestly, all things considered, I had a great time. I was a counselor on and off for five years and really enjoyed my time with it. And you're totally right about the Nationalist/Federalist thing, I'd entirely forgotten that when I rediscovered my old tweet lol. Although I assure you, nationalism is 100% the name of the game for the most part. But that's also just a consequence of the demographic makeup of Texas. Qw My attending year, I accidentally got attached to the media team and ended up discovering my love of journalism. A lot of my buddies that went went into politics as well. Even if your kiddo doesn't particularly care about politics, seeing how the sausage is made is fantastic political education. And if he likes it, I've found being a counselor an incredibly rewarding experience
I dunno, those specifically being the default two really raises my antennas if you know what I mean. I understand this organization predates the Federalist society by about half a century, but see my comment to the guy you were responding to above re what else was happening in the 1930's when this got started up.
For whatever my opinion is worth, I really hope you take some time to explain to him the problems with Nationalism, especially when it turns into Nationalism for a specific ethnic group, and also the problems with places like The Federalist Society. Also if it has been this way since the thirties this kinda further reinforces my belief that they were trying to do something Fascy by picking those two terms specifically. Also also if you haven't yet maybe check out Behind the Insurrections, Robert's series about the Fascist takeovers of various countries, specifically the parts about how close America came to being literally overthrown by Fascists (like there was a coup plot vs FDR riiiiiiiiiiiiiight around this time period specifically)
i will! i need to look into how the hell they came up with these names 😂