Gatekeep, or Die

Reflecting on the extent of the loss of BSA.

By guest contributor TJ Martinell.

Our friends over at WBS Apparel have a shirt that reads “Gatekeep. Always.”

I have a separate proposal for a shirt whose slogan should serve as the official motto of White Boy Summer 4.0: “Gatekeep, or Die.”

That’s the best takeaway from the recent announcement by the entity formerly known as the Boy Scouts of America that, having completed the task of longhousing the organization, they would make it official by renaming themselves “Scouting America.”

To be honest, I was tempted to write a separate article. Aside from Eagle Scout and Order of the Arrow, my titles within the BSA are long and accomplished. Senior Patrol Leader. Troop Guide. I was even an Assistant Scout Master for a brief spell in my early twenties. I did Scout outings on sailboats moored in the same neighborhood Bill Gates lives in. In short, I have some nostalgic memories that, to borrow a phrase, I bitterly cling to and would love to discuss. Like delivering a eulogy, I’d like to focus on the good times.

But right now, I’m not in the mood. Such recollections might come another time.

Frankly, the recent announcement was akin to a 105-year-old man finally dying, but he’s been mentally out of it since he was 89. The loss was felt by many of us well before the final nail on the coffin was hammered in. The rot within the organization was there already when I first joined in 1999.

Now that the dust has settled, we must reflect on the extent of the loss. BSA was obviously a male-only space. It was a place where boys could not only be boys, but have their own private space in the world apart from females and the feminine. A space where the masculine dictated norms and culture. A place where many boys felt a sense of belonging and could develop not just friendships, but the social skills necessary to form and maintain more of them later in life. A place where boys could earn the admiration and respect of other boys through achievements not exclusively focused on “getting the gurlz,” which is now effectively the only way they are permitted to demonstrate their manhood.

We’re at the endgame of consolidation by the Longhouse. Apart from maybe gangs and similar groups, young men have nowhere to go that isn’t ultimately controlled by females. All their interactions must be filtered through the feminine, and there are social consequences when their behavior, feelings, emotions, thoughts, and actions go contrary to it.

Make no mistake: the social and cultural consequences stemming from the loss of entities like BSA are impossible to calculate. Many boys who would have found and formed healthy male friendship and companionship will end up isolated, atomized, extremely online, and radicalized. In some extreme cases, they may turn to violence in the form of mass shootings and school shootings. Unless something is done, we may see the day when only old men remember what it was like to be around other men and not under female supervision.

Even if they don’t become another incel killer like Elliot Rodger, the up-and-coming generation of boys can still post vitriolic hatred online towards women that whips them up into a hysterical frenzy leading to more speech-policing.

Rather than reflect on society’s culpability in creating toxic boys, we’ll hear calls for censorship, gun control, prescription drugs, and a further eroding of our civil liberties from the very people maintaining Longhouse policies. And the problem will only grow from there.

All this, because the powers that be who controlled groups like BSA didn’t gatekeep. No, I’m not just talking about keeping out women. I’m talking about keeping out those who undermined the integrity of the organization to the point where it lacked the moral courage to resist its own destruction.

People can point fingers, but this isn’t about specific people and naming names. I’m not terribly concerned with finding certain individuals, specific scapegoats to pin the blame to. Whoever had the power to prevent it failed. They failed either because they did not oppose it when it happened, or they allowed people hostile to the BSA’s essence to gain power.

Let’s not also forget that they have deprived men like myself of a space to influence the younger male generation positively, to help them avoid mistakes we made, and to share with them the wisdom we’ve learned through our experiences.

Our Heritage, Norman Rockwell, 1950

Gentlemen, whenever you’re about to start something, keep this in mind: Gatekeep, or die! It’s that simple. Anyone who doesn’t take that principle seriously must be kept out, and you must avoid joining any group not led by a man who by his conduct conveys this mindset.

When it’s time to pass the torch (a concept quite alien to our current aging generation of men), you must hand it off to someone proactively watching for infiltrators and hostile elements. If he doesn’t take these threats, no matter how trivial, as seriously as a doctor identifying a cancer cell in your body, realize that you’re handing control over to someone who will eventually kill it.

All of the institutions in America that have been converged had people who didn’t gatekeep. The BSA is just the most recent example, and we will all suffer as a result.

Lessons not learned in blood are soon forgotten. One can only hope that the next generation of men will learn it with as little blood as possible, and not forget it.