Quote:
Originally posted by TRSimon
I have seen a lot of negative assumptions made because of School Daze (by people who have no exposure to NPHC organizations), but I have also seen prospects and greek organization members who felt they had to emulate certain parts of the film to maintain their credibility or perceived status. When the movie came out in the late eighties, there was a lot of uproar among the NPHC orgs, but to some extent, the film was dead on. It's 2005, and some folk still need to wake up.
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I agree: while the movie was fictitious, it was a case of art imitating life to a large extent. When I was in undergrad, a Ph.D scholar (who also happened to be an Alpha) came to our school and gave us a historical overview of hazing and how it dated way back to the 1800's-- way before BGLO's were around and how it evolved, and how we (BGLO's) picked it up from our counterparts in greekdom, who, for the sake of this conversation, were our forefathers, if you will. When he got to discussing pledging and hazing in the 80's, he mentioned how when School Daze came out, NPHC org's were speaking out and how Spike Lee's movie depicted BGLO's in the wrong light and wasn't true to reality-- but at the end of they, there was A LOT more truth to it than people were willing to face and admit to.
I think it is a sad day when people know more about stepping and pledging, than they know about our legacy and service and history of community uplift. Unfortunately, that sad day is today. I think while people are always going to gravitate toward what is "ear candy" or appealing to watch (i.e., the pledging/hazing horror stories and stepping), a lot of their shortsightedness is due to what BGLO's are showing them. I believe there was a time when people readily recognized the black greekdom was REALLY about something, it was REALLY a distinction to be in one of our orgs. But with all the petty rivalries, all the power trips that result in multi-million dollar hazing suits, and huge turnouts for stepshows in T-shirts but low visibility in service, its no wonder people buy into what they see on television.
Remember: people don't see all the grand things your NATIONAL organization is doing; they see what YOU are doing locally and form an opinion. For example, Sigma Gamma Rho as an org has very noble ideals and aims and tons of national projects, but if the local chapter on campus is beating people down, actin' up at the club, and only shows up--and out!--for a step show, it's easy to buy into the stereotype hype.