Parents Down, Predators Up

ken0254 · #1 08-12-2005, 01:43 PM

I cannot BUHLIEEEEEVE what this so called Cultural War Warrior wrote. He has a PHD tooo??? I can't believe the crap he spouts! He says:
"youngsters would be allowed to attend a nudist camp with or without their parents. This would leave some children without any family members to introduce them into the nudist philosophy, etiquette and overall lifestyle."

Ummm...... can someone tell me how often non-nudist children are sent to these summer camps? By and large, these children are already aclimated to the nudist lifestyle!

He then goes on with further dribble and says:

"A nudist camp exposure for teenagers without screening of nudist members, staff and parental supervision of one's own children can be a risky affair. The lack of supervision and screening is compounded in our transient society."

It seems to me, camp counselors are screen better than most other camps, a church camp in King George Cty seems to come to mind right off the bat here. If I remember right, counselor to camper ratio is much lower at nudist camps than at many other camps. There are many more examples in this article where Dr. Maglia is so far off the mark it isn't even funny. Unfortunately, with his credentials, he'll carry more weight than most of us can. It's a shame he didn't take the time to truly research the positive aspects of nudism and of nudist summer camps before putting this piece of dribble out. Of course that might have meant he'd have had to actually stepped inside a nudist resort for this research to begin with!

ken

ken0254 · #2 08-12-2005, 01:43 PM

I cannot BUHLIEEEEEVE what this so called Cultural War Warrior wrote. He has a PHD tooo??? I can't believe the crap he spouts! He says:
"youngsters would be allowed to attend a nudist camp with or without their parents. This would leave some children without any family members to introduce them into the nudist philosophy, etiquette and overall lifestyle."

Ummm...... can someone tell me how often non-nudist children are sent to these summer camps? By and large, these children are already aclimated to the nudist lifestyle!

He then goes on with further dribble and says:

"A nudist camp exposure for teenagers without screening of nudist members, staff and parental supervision of one's own children can be a risky affair. The lack of supervision and screening is compounded in our transient society."

It seems to me, camp counselors are screen better than most other camps, a church camp in King George Cty seems to come to mind right off the bat here. If I remember right, counselor to camper ratio is much lower at nudist camps than at many other camps. There are many more examples in this article where Dr. Maglia is so far off the mark it isn't even funny. Unfortunately, with his credentials, he'll carry more weight than most of us can. It's a shame he didn't take the time to truly research the positive aspects of nudism and of nudist summer camps before putting this piece of dribble out. Of course that might have meant he'd have had to actually stepped inside a nudist resort for this research to begin with!

ken

**Bob S.** · #3 08-12-2005, 10:23 PM

ken, where did you hear or read this? Got any links?

"A nudist camp exposure for teenagers without screening of nudist members, staff and parental supervision of one's own children can be a risky affair."

I would hope that the AANR-ER does screen the counselors. That is, after all, the law in VA. As for screening members, does the YMCA screen all of their members? They can easily have sexual predators amongst their membership and have no idea. And parent volunteers (or anyone who comes to work with the children--police offiers, animal people, anyone who comes to talk and do activities for the children), like we use at my day care, are not screened.

Bob S.

Sauna · #4 08-13-2005, 01:06 AM

In my country everybody who works with children or youngsters must have clean papers. No mention of such crime or suspicion of it. That is a law. Also smoking is forbidden in presence of younger than 16 years in camps or other organized situations for children or youngsters.

Who says what kind of PhD it is. From mathematics or something else and from which university.

ken0254 · #5 08-13-2005, 03:32 AM

Bob S.

It was in the latest update of Nudes In The News. Here's the link:

http://www.hernandotoday.com/columni...B3248NZBE.html

ken

missouriboy · #6 08-13-2005, 04:28 AM

Well, okay, with that link I was able to read the entire thing, and to learn the full context. And, hey, the man is on the side of the parents, actually, not the side of those taking parental rights away from them! Note that he said, "A nudist camp exposure for teenagers without screening of nudist members, staff and parental supervision of one's own children can be a risky affair," he means if all three factors are missing, it would be risky. And he's right, of course. I don't think he meant that he thinks all three are actually missing in the instant case, but I can see how his wording will make many people think so.

Then when he said, "The lack of supervision and screening is compounded in our transient society," I think he was speaking of all children's activities in general, not just nude camps. He was lamenting the fact that political correctness and government meddling, by taking over parental rights and duties, is a bad thing.

So, overall, I think he's coming down on the side of parents. Right from the title of the piece.

Walt Iliff · #7 08-13-2005, 05:31 AM

He may be coming down on the side of parents, but he's making an assumption that the staff at the Youth Leadership Camps is not screened properly....in point of fact each staff member must:

1. Be an AANR member
2. Have a letter of recommendation from their home club.
3. Have a letter of recommendation from a regional or national official
4. Have an interview with a member of the Youth Camp committee
5. Pass a criminal background check.
6. Follow the rules governing staff behaviour during camp, including:
a. NO TOUCHING of any camper including putting on sunscreen (a fellow camper of the same sex can help in this regard) The only exception to this rule is in the case of an immediate physical emergency.
b. At no time is a staff member alone with a camper, and both a male and female staff member must be present.

The physical area where the campers stay is set apart from the club hosting the youth camp and a physical perimeter is established. No one (including parents) who hasn't gone through the screening process and signed the rules acknowledgement is permitted within that perimeter. Outside that perimeter, the campers are accompanied by several staff members and the director of security.
If only ALL youth camps in the US were run like the nudist Youth Leadership Camps ALL our children would be safe. We have had 16 years of camp experience without a single incident. We have proven that our system works.

Walt Iliff

**Bob S.** · #8 08-13-2005, 09:44 PM

Again, I am copying my reply from cyndiann's MNL.

I agreed with the article until it got to the part about the nudist camps. Parental rights are being eroded and something needs to be done about it. But where the article states that the camps are a further case of erosion due to their existence, I see the government's involvement as a further erosion in that they do not have the right to choose whom they can trust to keep their children using their own parenting philosophy (nudism).

"This would leave some children without any family members to introduce them into the nudist philosophy, etiquette and overall lifestyle."

Pardon me Domenick, your ignorance is showing. He just reported on this story with no knowledge of the nudist summer camps nor did he bother to do something as basic as research, which I guess shows how good of a journalist he is.

Parents are the ones who send their children to any camps. They are the ones who decide which camp, pay, make arrangements, drive them there. What does he think happens? A random bus just arrives at their doorstep and the parents just puts their child there? Nudists are the people who send their children to nudist camps. Christians send their children to Chirstian summer camps, parents of Boy/Girl Scouts send their children to boy/girl scout camps. Geez, is that such a hard thing to imagine?

"Yet some modern parents insist that children from age eleven to eighteen without adult assistance can handle peer pressure and temptation that exists in these circumstances."

Again, ignorance is Domenick's middle name. Why does he assume there is no adult supervision? Or is he just trying to stir something up? Adults set up the camp. Adults serve as counselors. Domenick needs a lesson in journalism 101. First do research. That or go work for the Weekly World News. I hear Pat Robertson is meeting with aliens at this minute on their spaceship to discuss bringing Christianity to the other planets.

Bob S.

**Bob S.** · #9 08-13-2005, 09:54 PM

Walt, I work with children and can't see rule 6a as being absoluitely practical. Aren't there games and activities that require contact? Banning ALL touching is the same as banning all clothes at a nudist park. It is impractical.

The first three guidelines that you outlined actually go beyond what is required in most hirings. Numbers 5, and 6b are official VA rules.

"No one (including parents) who hasn't gone through the screening process and signed the rules acknowledgement is permitted within that perimeter. Outside that perimeter, the campers are accompanied by several staff members and the director of security."

That is an excellent preventive measure. This does make the nudist summer camp the safest for children as no other camp I know of requires anyone, including parent volunteers, to be screened. And no camp that I know of has personal security to protect the campers.

Bob S.

missouriboy · #10 08-14-2005, 03:41 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Bob S.:
...Domenick needs a lesson in journalism 101. First do research. That or go work for the Weekly World News.

But Domenick isn't even a journalist...

quote:
He is a psychotherapist and the owner/director of Wider Horizons School.

But, alas, the casual reader will see the silly PhD in his byline, and assume he is the top expert about anything he says. They will count his writings as the due-diligence result of their own research.

The journalism professionals who allow these opinion pieces to appear in their periodicals should accompany them with this disclaimer: "If you want to learn what goes on in nudist camps, ask the man who's never been in one."