Becoming a member of a group is a relationship.
Sure. I acknowledged that. Once the kid becomes a member you have a relationship. But there are three entities involved here. First is the kid, second is the group, and the third is the membership/relationship. Each entity has an identifier/name and other descriptors--the kid is Joe, the group is the Boy Scouts, and the relationship is membership number 365241. Among the various characteristics of each entity is voluntary/involuntary. If the kid wants to be a Boy Scout, then his engagement is voluntary. If the kid joins because his dad makes him, then it's involuntary. If the Scouts accept his application because they want him, then the engagement of the Scouts is voluntary. If they accept him because they were forced to, then it's involuntary. If the parties both engage voluntarily, then the membership is voluntary. If one or both of the parties engage involuntarily, then the membership is involuntary. And if the Scouts reject him, there is no membership voluntary or otherwise.
Giving the percentage of the total population, gives a rough idea of the percentage of the population of the right sex and age to be members.
This is the kind of cheap distortion we are regularly fed by from interest groups, politicians, and talking heads and bloggers with more agenda than integrity. I don't expect that from you so am writing it off as a one-off brain infarction.
There are about 20 million boys of eligible age. There are about 3 million Scouts. That comes to about 15%. Which is a dramatically bigger number than 3 million vs the US population, which is less than 1%. It's still a minority, but unevenly distributed so it's a critical mass in some places. 1% as compared to 15% is way beyond "rough."
scoutingforall.org
ceic.mt.gov |
