What is Wrong With
People
I just read
an article about Fraternity hazing at LSU.
Several people were indicted for extreme hazing of pledges. The crap these idiots did and the crap the
pledges allowed is mind blowing.
These
pledges were made to get naked and lie on ice, or broken glass, were kicked and
urinated on. This is not the first time
I have read about extreme fraternity hazing lately. Young people have died being forced to drink
to access. It makes you wonder why
people allow this to happen to them.
It is scary
what peer pressure will do.
We had
hazing a thousand years ago when I was in a fraternity, but it was mostly fun
stuff, pranks, some mild paddling and some “suggested” beer guzzling. Thinking back we mostly drank beer, forced
guzzling of hard liqueur if we had hard liqueur might have had serious
consequences, so perhaps we were stupid too, but we were lucky we could only
afford beer.
Anyway.
Hazing was a
way to bring people together, to share in nonsense somehow was bonding. We were blindfolded and made to eat worms,
which turned out to be marmalade jelly.
We were forced to exercise to exhaustion and then eat dry cereal. We had to learn useless shit, (although
occasionally knowing the Greek alphabet has helped me in trivia games) and wear
funny hats around campus.
As pledges
we never had to do anything dangerous, and lots of the stupid stuff was in way
of learning to trust the fraternity members.
I remember
as a final initiation we were brought individually into a room and faced a member
holding a hot poker from a roaring fire.
I was asked to swear my all to the fraternity and to accept a final test
of my allegiance.
Saying yes I
was thrown on a table, my shirt raised and eyes covered. I remember thinking, that if these
m-----F----er’s actually brand me with that poker, I would not only quit the
fraternity, but I was going to kick as much fraternity brother ass as I could
before they subdued me.
I was
branded as was every pledge with the extreme cold of dry ice. We still joke about this final pledge
ceremony when we have our annual reunions some fifty plus years later.
I never knew about Fraternity hazings until I saw it in movies and even then didn't think it was real. Surely such abominations couldn't be real? but they are, I saw on the news one day long ago about serious injuries etc. I still think it's atrocious and wonder why it is allowed? Why does anyone need to prove they are worthy of any fraternity?
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this I realise that, although I hated school life, it was actually a doddle. The worst thing that happened to me was having my plaits pulled!!!!!
ReplyDeleteNever have thought that torture of others to determine loyalty was an intelligent activity. To me it is an extreme reflection of insecurity.
ReplyDeleteI wonder ... do women have similar sorority initiations?
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
Never having gone to college, I never did the fraternity thing. I had enough "fun" in high school, thanks.
ReplyDeleteI never understood the appeal of fraternities or sororities. It irritates me that universities continue to allow their existence, but I suppose they can't upset their deep pocketed alumni. 🙄
ReplyDeleteI was in a junior college so no frats there. I know Jack was in a fraternity at Bowling Green in Ohio but either I never asked or I've forgotten if he told me about pledging. At the Chiro college in Chicago he belonged to any honorary fraternity and we did fun things as families and nothing harsh. Anyway, the things people do to belong to something makes me cringe but when you're young you just want to be a person who belongs or fits. Plus you think you're immortal.
ReplyDeleteI was never in a fraternity, but despite some of the dumb things fraternities were known to do, I never imagined that we'd be in 2019 and people would be indicted for extreme stuff. They should probably punish them as hard as they can to discourage others from following suit.
ReplyDeleteI wonder today if your fake branding might not be a reality. They really have gone nuts with some of the "tests". Glad you bear no scars.
ReplyDeleteI just finished binge watching 13 Reasons Why on Netflix. It dealt a lot with peer pressure and bullying in high school. I can see why people would want to know fraternities and sororities, though not sure why they would go to extremes to do so. I think we all want to feel we "belong" or "connect" with people that might "have our back" if we need it, especially when we were younger if we thought it was "cool" to be part of that. I was never the cool kid in school and didn't go to college, but felt I belonged to the little group of friends I had. Maybe we need to teach our kids its okay not to be "cool" and that it is not necessary to do silly pledges to be part of something.
ReplyDeletebetty
Yes some hazing is really serious stuff. If I had to do some of those things I'd pass too. It's supposed to be fun, not deadly.
ReplyDeleteHave a fabulous day, Joe. 😎
I remember having to wear a beanie but we didn't have fraternities so no real hazing. Well, one year I had to swim across a small river carrying a rope for an annual tug of war between the Freshmen and the upper classmen, typically all members of the football team. Guess you know who won.
ReplyDeleteThat's crazy! I'm glad my boys didn't join a fraternity. Not even the pull of future networking and free-flowing alcohol could lure Genius into their ranks.
ReplyDeleteIt's a sad day when a person who is pursuing some sort of degree to educate themselves does something so stupid. Fraternities and sororities are rare enough these days, some shut down after someone's son or daughter dies from participating in a hazing incident. They are supposed to help students achieve and become leaders in their communities, but those lessons seem to have been lost.....along with all common sense.
ReplyDeleteIt's real, and i for one am real tired of it.
ReplyDeleteDoing wrong is like a joke to a fool, but wisdom is pleasure to a man of understanding. ~ Proverbs 10:23, English Standard Version
I just don't get it...by the time you're past high school age, shouldn't people have some sort of maturity?
ReplyDelete