Quote:
Originally posted by Leslie Anne:
I really can't understand what you are all so upset about. So ER did a show where a pledge dies from consuming too much alcohol. IT HAPPENS!!!
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Leslie Anne,
I think what makes everyone so upset is that if any other group was treated so negatively in the media, everyone and their brother would be accusing the networks of discrimination and slander. But with Greeks, since they're misperceived as a group of rich white males, it's OK to bash them all you want. Yes, I've seen Greeks act like drunken idiots, but I've also seen athletes, musicians, seamstresses, you name it do the same. No one is disputing that the incidents do happen, it is the magnitude that they are given.
It's become a kind of shorthand for negative things and that's stupid and lazy on the part of writers of the shows. Kind of like during World War II, when all you had to do in a screenplay to label someone "Bad guy" was give him a German accent. Obviously there were hundreds of thousands of Germans out there who weren't bad guys in the least.
It also gives people a very false sense of security - oh, as long as I don't/my child doesn't go Greek, they'll never drink too much, etc. etc. Irresponsible drinking is a SOCIETAL problem, and until this country wises up and tries to solve it with some laws that make sense, it will continue whether Greeks exist or not.
[This message has been edited by 33girl (edited April 28, 2001).]