Hazing, however, is a bigger deal than anything else. As long as we all know this violent hazing goes on, yet still treat these organizations as though they are elite and worthy of aspiration, we’re walking kids into the slaughter.
These organizations with these rigorous intake processes all carry great social gravity. In black America, fraternities and sororities are treated as an elite class. Their colors and letters mean something to most people.
Their members wear their affiliations proudly and see them as representing something larger and more noble than themselves.
Membership in Greek letter organizations is something black people aspire to as children. They don’t just decide to join an organization in college, in most cases. So many people dream of doing so from the moment they became aware of what a frat or sorority was.
But as long as we keep doing that, are we not kinda pushing kids into this system? And as long as people still want to be Greek so badly, will there be a true impetus for the abuse to stop?
People have been suing these organizations for years. Their coffers have been drained. They have been embarrassed publicly by hazing for decades. The stories now just go into a pile will all the rest. And still, people fight — and spend money — for the privilege of getting their asses kicked.
So when do we consider our role in making membership seem so cool that it’s worth going through all of that?
It should be a clear that nothing is worth being beaten. That point is unequivocal and inarguable. But if we all know that being beaten is a reasonable, if not likely, possibility of a Greek intake process, then how can anyone say that’s something one should want to enter?
I recognize not every process involves someone being sent to the hospital. I also know there are plenty of Greeks who would have walked out of some of the harsher processes. But everyone’s got to be honest: you can’t open the door for violence and expect it to stay under control. That might happen. One could say that would probably happen. But to expect it is silly. There are simply too many volatile factors at play for anyone to think order will be maintained.
The only way to stop people from being killed and injured is to completely eliminate the violence. That, also, is inarguable…unless you have so much faith in the responsibility of the 18-22 crowd. And the adults who still hang out with the 18-22 crowd. Can’t forget about them.
Will that happen? I find it unlikely.
Somewhere along the way, we have conveyed the message that pledging is worth all of that. Between the parents who almost brainwash their kids with their affiliations, the women so eager to sleep with them, and the dudes who want to be cool with them just to say they know somebody, we’ve created the impression that being in a frat means just that much in our society. If that weren’t the case, there’s no way so many people would have made it to the other side.
http://www.bomanijones.com/non-greeks-stop-hazing/
These organizations with these rigorous intake processes all carry great social gravity. In black America, fraternities and sororities are treated as an elite class. Their colors and letters mean something to most people.
Their members wear their affiliations proudly and see them as representing something larger and more noble than themselves.
Membership in Greek letter organizations is something black people aspire to as children. They don’t just decide to join an organization in college, in most cases. So many people dream of doing so from the moment they became aware of what a frat or sorority was.
But as long as we keep doing that, are we not kinda pushing kids into this system? And as long as people still want to be Greek so badly, will there be a true impetus for the abuse to stop?
People have been suing these organizations for years. Their coffers have been drained. They have been embarrassed publicly by hazing for decades. The stories now just go into a pile will all the rest. And still, people fight — and spend money — for the privilege of getting their asses kicked.
So when do we consider our role in making membership seem so cool that it’s worth going through all of that?
It should be a clear that nothing is worth being beaten. That point is unequivocal and inarguable. But if we all know that being beaten is a reasonable, if not likely, possibility of a Greek intake process, then how can anyone say that’s something one should want to enter?
I recognize not every process involves someone being sent to the hospital. I also know there are plenty of Greeks who would have walked out of some of the harsher processes. But everyone’s got to be honest: you can’t open the door for violence and expect it to stay under control. That might happen. One could say that would probably happen. But to expect it is silly. There are simply too many volatile factors at play for anyone to think order will be maintained.
The only way to stop people from being killed and injured is to completely eliminate the violence. That, also, is inarguable…unless you have so much faith in the responsibility of the 18-22 crowd. And the adults who still hang out with the 18-22 crowd. Can’t forget about them.
Will that happen? I find it unlikely.
Somewhere along the way, we have conveyed the message that pledging is worth all of that. Between the parents who almost brainwash their kids with their affiliations, the women so eager to sleep with them, and the dudes who want to be cool with them just to say they know somebody, we’ve created the impression that being in a frat means just that much in our society. If that weren’t the case, there’s no way so many people would have made it to the other side.
http://www.bomanijones.com/non-greeks-stop-hazing/
