Originally posted by PhiDelt649 from Kent, Ohio
Okay, we all -apparently- agree that hazing is horrible. That it is bad and whatnot. Yet, hazing goes on in nearly every organized group: football, greeks, Military, etc.
Basically, my chapter doesn't haze all that much, according to our definition. Our GHQ's definition includes everything from scavenger hunts to making the pledges participate in Buy A Phi.
My question: If not for some form of hazing, how will fraternities differentiate between the ones who SHOULD be here, and the ones that shouldn't. Im not saying "Kick the shit out of that guy and if he can still stand, he's worthy to join us." I could never do that and then call the guy a brother 8 weeks later.
I AM saying that Pledgeship should be 60% and 40% rough. Hazing nowadays is just another victim of the social predication America is currently going through. Everyone is leaping at the chance to take a PC stance and point fingers. As George Carlin states: "Back in the '60s, you could leave a child in a hot car for an hour while you ran into the store. Nowadays, if I leave my dog in the car for 5 minutes, I'll be lynched on the 6 o'clock news."
Men were built to be tough and to endure a great deal of mental stress. Not to be babied and gently led to manhood. That is one of the reasons we are genetically 20% stronger than females. Im not saying females are weak, btw. As far as the "Sensitive Man of the 21st Century," I dont buy it.
I treat my girlfriend like gold. Im not an asshole. Im not an elitist. Yet, I may or may not have went through my hazing.
I know I may sound like an asshole saying all these, but I believe some hazing should exist in every fraternity. Not the kind where we kick the shit out of you, but the kind in which you are under enormous pressure. The kind which forces you to think under stress, balance your time and bond with your fellow pledge brothers.
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Originally posted by PhiDelt649
I AM saying that Pledgeship should be 60% and 40% rough. Hazing nowadays is just another victim of the social predication America is currently going through. Everyone is leaping at the chance to take a PC stance and point fingers. As George Carlin states: "Back in the '60s, you could leave a child in a hot car for an hour while you ran into the store. Nowadays, if I leave my dog in the car for 5 minutes, I'll be lynched on the 6 o'clock news."
Men were built to be tough and to endure a great deal of mental stress. Not to be babied and gently led to manhood.
I know I may sound like an asshole saying all these, but I believe some hazing should exist in every fraternity. Not the kind where we kick the shit out of you, but the kind in which you are under enormous pressure. The kind which forces you to think under stress, balance your time and bond with your fellow pledge brothers.
.... :-)
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Back in the '60s, everybody did hazing - some bad, some really bad - and if something happened the chapter got no-socials probation, maybe no intramurals, for a semester or year. Fraternity alumni were in many prominent positions - on campus and off - and college presidents, who wanted success and a long tenure, left athletics and fraternities alone.
Now, if a hazed pledge is hospitalized or his mommy finds out, or if a former pledge/member/girl friend reports hazing, it will be nationally publicized (do you remember the powderpuff football girls hazing in a Chicago suburb), and your national office and your student affairs office will fight to see which can kick you off campus quickest.
If your "enormous pressurre" and "stress" gets your chapter suspended, the lawyers will go after you and the individual brothers. If hazing is a crime in your state, and it probably is, then student affairs will turn the info over to the state and local police, and you, your individual brothers, your chapter, and your national face real criminal charges, fines, and big-boys jail time.
I urge you to look at the other threads about Fiji at Santa Barbara (a copy of a 29-page lawsuit by a hazee's parents is available at the campus newspaper site), DU at Nebraska, and a lot of others in the Risk Management Section. Go to Google News and search for "hazing", and you'll see the publicity, law suits, police investigations, and jail time college, athletic, and high school hazers are getting. It's scary what happens to individuals who think "they did it to me when I was a pledge (or rookie), and now its my turn ... we all went through it."
You said "Everyone is leaping at the chance to take a PC stance and point fingers." These finger pointers have ALL the power right now. They may be pointing at you.
Probably some GC reader saw your post, and will assume that Phi Delt at Kent State hazes. They'll notify Oxford, and by Monday Oxford's hazing police will probably be at your chapter meeting.
They, and I, want you to have a strong and demanding pledge period, based on the principles in your officer manuals - not on hazing.
If you are hazing, they, and I, want your chapter closed before your actions bring down the Gods of bad publicity upon all of us.
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