We're talking about an organization that is shunning a kid.
Its more reasonable to say that the kid (or his parents) are shunning the organization. The group has their setup, they invite anyone who agrees with that setup to join. Anyone who doesn't like the setup can form their own formal or informal group. The Boy Scouts are not society or even a huge portion of society. Less than one percent of the population is a member (slightly more than one percent if you include adult volunteers).
The Girl Scouts of America have a different, more liberal attitude. Others can feel excluded by that as well, they might like to join, their friends might be in the group, but they (or more likely their parents) might keep them out because of the groups ideas. Any stand such a group holds (esp. since its a group involved with children, and people are more upset about ideas they don't like being transmitted to children than to adults), is likely to offend someone. No group can be all things to all people.
A job, an organization, a group of friends that hang out, all are voluntary associations of people. Freedom is supported far better by diversity between groups, than it is by enforced diversity within a group.
That's one of the main reasons for federalism. Different groups of people can have different ideas and different sets of rules on a state level (or on a local level to the extent the states allow it), rather than having an enforced centralized set of rules or principles cover most things.
(Ideally you also have groups that have diversity within them, even if not every group is that way, some mixing has its benefits compared to people with different backgrounds or ideas only staying tightly in their own group, ignoring or fighting against those outside.)
Forcing an organization to change because he's unhappy with their policies is unreasonable, and if that's what's commonly done, then its borderline totalitarian.
Or the government can, as you say, use force.
Yes that would be the borderline totalitarian case, at least if it was the government's normal mode of operation. |
