Quote:
Originally Posted by AlphaFrog
If you would like to know, for the hell of it, I think we've taken the non-hazing WAY too far in the other direction. You can't even do things in good fun anymore. They USED to string the house for Bigs (you take a skein of yarn and run it up and down and all throughout the house, and then the pledge follows the yarn to find out who their big sister is...) but they can't even do THAT anymore, because it could be hazing. Physical harm, alcohol, and eating non-edible things are one thing, but harmless games for fun that are now considered hazing are ridiculous. But, one person's "harmless" is another person's hazing, so we just take all the fun out of it, and no one has a problem.  |
I feel ya a little bit on that. During undergrad, I was a new student weekend leader. At the retreat for the incoming freshmen, there was to be a trust walk. When I was an incoming freshman, they blindfolded us and walked us all around as a group to hear cool sound effects and end up at a place to watch a beautiful sunset. The year I was a leader, a bunch of other leaders complained that blindfolding was hazing. They said that the new students should just close their eyes. I laughed out loud in the planning meeting. With the number of leaders, adults, and camp staff at the retreat, I was 100% sure that no one would get hazed or even complain about it. The retreat was at a campground, not in someone's basement. I didn't argue too much because I didn't want anyone thinking I was pro-hazing, but it seemed like we (the leaders) actually were the ones trusting the new students to not open up their eyes and undermine the excitement and beauty of the event. It wasn't the biggest deal, but I didn't know people really thought like that.