Grumpy Old Gits and Their Concept of Intelligent Discourse

Where are these
people going?

Wayne G. Sayles seems to have some kind of a problem with talking about scouting. Peter Tompa on his blog wrote that the Boy Scouts used to be able to do a coin collecting badge and I wrote a comment pointing out that they still can, adding a remark that it is welcome to see that it is done in a way which poses no threats to ancient sites because it is focussed on US and 'world coinage'. I would have thought everybody would see that as a good thing, including the collectors that belong to a guild of coin collectors which has the stated mission of encouraging coin collecting. Not so, it seems. Coin dealer Wayne Sayles who runs the outfit is apparently outraged by me referring to the badge:

Peter; Regarding Mr. Barford's ignorant comment above, it is simply a testament to your own open-mindedness. I long ago blocked his comments on my own blog because they add nothing intelligent to the conversation.

Well, I wonder just what kind of "intelligent conversation" Mr Sayles thinks he is engaging in here. That he blocks the comments of anyone who has a different view from him comes as no surprise to anybody, but that is not what the rest of us understand as dialogue. Meanwhile, I encourage readers to have a look at the Scouts' merit badge and see just what there is there to criticise and try and see a reason why the ACCG Executive Director would be against it. I wish we'd had it when I was in the Scouts back in the UK, I'd probably have done it. I wonder how many of the ACCG members see anything wrong with the badge.

So, if the ACCG is NOT in fact really about encouraging young people to enter the hobby, as the outburst above seems to be indicating, what on earth is it that they think they are doing?