*/ Disclaimer - I am not in a frat. /*
Okay. I think frats are kind of getting the
short end of the
stick here. Despite the
abundance of
assholes in frats nationwide, there are a couple things that need to be pointed out, just for
objectivity.
1. Not all frat
brothers are asshole pricks.
2. Frats, as odd as it sounds, do serve a
purpose.
For the first
issue: Not all frat brothers are the complete
schmucks many make them out to be. I am friends with a goodly number of them, and find them to be good-natured guys who enjoy partying and the occasional
prank. And some of them are even ::gasp::
CS MAJORS!!!!!!
For the
second: One of the things that turn many people off to frats is the
hazing. It seems
cruel,
unusual, and sometimes downright
mean. But hazing has a
purpose beyond providing the other brothers with hours of free
entertainment. That purpose is
inculcation. Pledges come in as a
group, they get hazed as a group, and they become brothers as a group. Were it not for that fact, I would wholeheartedly agree that hazing is
wrong. But the frat way of hazing is remarkably similar to the methods used to inculcate teams of
Marines and
SEALs. Those methods often produce a group of tight-knit people willing to back each other to the
hilt. And I just can't see that as a completely bad thing. What some call a
bastion of rich white
elitism really provides a support
network for people through
college and into the real world. And as far as the presence of
minorities in frats is concerned, check my writeup on
affirmative action for my feelings on that, they should be fairly clear.