Quote:
Originally posted by sugar and spice
The divide between Greeks and anti-Greeks is pretty big at my school, although clearly I can't speak for all of them. Anti-Greek sentiment is high, and I can't always say that there is no reason for it (hazing is a problem among the fraternities here, alcohol is big within the Greek system -- although alcohol is just as big with non-Greeks too), but more often than not there is a lot of non-Greek judging of the system because not enough people are familiar with it. All they see is the alcoholic side of things, and as my boyfriend has pointed out, there hasn't been much of an attempt from the Greek system to reach out towards non-Greeks, although the same is true in reverse.
I think this is one of the biggest problems with the Greek system, at least here: most people don't have enough experience with the Greek system to know what it's about, so they're forced to rely on the stereotypes from 90210 and Sweet Valley University. But there's only so long that Greeks feel like being the "teachers" and ambassadors and spokespeople for what Greek life is about before they get sick of it. We can't be the model citizens all of the time. This isn't exactly a rare theme -- any time you're part of a misunderstood group you'll find the same issue. I've seen it in feminism, relating to racial or religious groups, various political movements -- it's tough to spend all your time worrying about how people perceive you.
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I think that your heightened sensitivity is heavily influenced by the Madison Greek System, as well as by people with whom you directly socialize. At FSU, I do not remember independents having anti-greek sentiment in any significant number. I don't believe that your perception of pervasive greek-independent hostility is an endemic trait with most Greek systems.
As for the gdigirlfriend thread, I found it to be perversely cathartic.
Hybrid Mode
