And They Have the Gall to Call us Barbarians?
Comments On Yet Another Hazing Death
What do you call men who have a 100 IQ? An entire fraternity.
How can that be? How can the union of seemingly intelligent men result in organization being less intelligent than the individual members? It’s a phenomenon that could best be described as “gestalt in reverse.” This phenomenon can also be observed in large conglomerates where an entire conglomerate's value is less than the sum of its different businesses. In the case of these large conglomerates, the prudent thing to do would be to spin off the various businesses so that each of them will be valuated according to the dictates of the market forces. Sadly, when it comes to fraternities, individual members are not spun off to be judged according to their own merits as individuals. Instead, each member imposes their own inflated and perverse sense of brotherhood on the rest of us.
The recent death of another fraternity recruit during the initiation rites reminded me of the condescending attitude fraternity members have about those of us who are non-members. Fraternity men have always referred to themselves as Greeks and to the rest of us as barbarians. How did this come to be?
There was a time when Greek civilization was at its zenith and the Greeks excelled in practically all the fields of human endeavor—whether it be in literature, the arts, medicine, philosophy, science, or warfare. Thus, not being a Greek meant to be, for all intents and purposes, a barbarian.
So many things have changed in the past two thousand years since the Greek halcyon days. To “speak Greek” now means to speak in an incomprehensible manner. To “go Greek” in the sexual context now means to have anal sex. And Leonidas, the great king of Sparta whose exploits and sacrifice at Thermopylae allowed for the seeds of democracy to grow and flourish is now just the brand name of overpriced Belgian chocolates. (They’re good chocolates, but not that good.)
Frat men aren’t even true Greeks. Just because fraternities use Greek letters to name their organizations does not make them Greek in the same manner that optometrists do not become doctors of medicine simply because they insist on being called as doctors. For frat men to be considered Greeks, they must live up to the Greek ideals. And what are these Greek ideals, you ask. In terms of nobility, it means doing the right thing, even if it leads to certain death. Socrates had the choice of death or exile through bribery. He chose death. In terms of valor and bravery, King Leonidas had the choice of obedience to King Xerxes or certain death in Thermopylae. We all now know the choice he made.
What ideals do these so-called Greek organizations uphold? Brotherhood? Where in brotherhood is subjecting your fellowman to abject pain and humiliation? Honor? Where is the honor in cowering behind a conspiracy of silence when an inductee invariably dies during their initiation rites? One does not have to be Greek to take responsibility for the consequences of one’s actions. One only needs to be a man. Yet these “Greeks” can not even meet the standards to which we mere mortal adhere.
There may have been a time when fraternities fostered all that is good among men but that time has long passed. Fraternities have degenerated so much that what remains is a malignant mass that does nothing but bring out the worst, the vilest, and the most reprehensible in men.
They’re nothing but thugs. Worthless thugs. And still, they have the gall to call the rest of us barbarians.
What do you call men who have a 100 IQ? An entire fraternity.
How can that be? How can the union of seemingly intelligent men result in organization being less intelligent than the individual members? It’s a phenomenon that could best be described as “gestalt in reverse.” This phenomenon can also be observed in large conglomerates where an entire conglomerate's value is less than the sum of its different businesses. In the case of these large conglomerates, the prudent thing to do would be to spin off the various businesses so that each of them will be valuated according to the dictates of the market forces. Sadly, when it comes to fraternities, individual members are not spun off to be judged according to their own merits as individuals. Instead, each member imposes their own inflated and perverse sense of brotherhood on the rest of us.
The recent death of another fraternity recruit during the initiation rites reminded me of the condescending attitude fraternity members have about those of us who are non-members. Fraternity men have always referred to themselves as Greeks and to the rest of us as barbarians. How did this come to be?
There was a time when Greek civilization was at its zenith and the Greeks excelled in practically all the fields of human endeavor—whether it be in literature, the arts, medicine, philosophy, science, or warfare. Thus, not being a Greek meant to be, for all intents and purposes, a barbarian.
So many things have changed in the past two thousand years since the Greek halcyon days. To “speak Greek” now means to speak in an incomprehensible manner. To “go Greek” in the sexual context now means to have anal sex. And Leonidas, the great king of Sparta whose exploits and sacrifice at Thermopylae allowed for the seeds of democracy to grow and flourish is now just the brand name of overpriced Belgian chocolates. (They’re good chocolates, but not that good.)
Frat men aren’t even true Greeks. Just because fraternities use Greek letters to name their organizations does not make them Greek in the same manner that optometrists do not become doctors of medicine simply because they insist on being called as doctors. For frat men to be considered Greeks, they must live up to the Greek ideals. And what are these Greek ideals, you ask. In terms of nobility, it means doing the right thing, even if it leads to certain death. Socrates had the choice of death or exile through bribery. He chose death. In terms of valor and bravery, King Leonidas had the choice of obedience to King Xerxes or certain death in Thermopylae. We all now know the choice he made.
What ideals do these so-called Greek organizations uphold? Brotherhood? Where in brotherhood is subjecting your fellowman to abject pain and humiliation? Honor? Where is the honor in cowering behind a conspiracy of silence when an inductee invariably dies during their initiation rites? One does not have to be Greek to take responsibility for the consequences of one’s actions. One only needs to be a man. Yet these “Greeks” can not even meet the standards to which we mere mortal adhere.
There may have been a time when fraternities fostered all that is good among men but that time has long passed. Fraternities have degenerated so much that what remains is a malignant mass that does nothing but bring out the worst, the vilest, and the most reprehensible in men.
They’re nothing but thugs. Worthless thugs. And still, they have the gall to call the rest of us barbarians.
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