For what’s at stake? If fraternities were banned, kids would learn to stand on their own two feet, and be independent, not dependent on dumb group-think. They’d have to make connections for parties, dates, or for later work possibilities through the strengths of their personalities, and not through the BS-manufactured “strength” of being a member of this, or that, fraternity.
And they’d avoid being murdered.
Five members “brothers” of Pi Delta Psi, a fraternity for Asian-Americans, have been charged with homicide, third-degree murder charges. Oh, and so has the fraternity. The victim, teenager Chun Deng, a Baruch College student, went along with this gang, to a rented house in Pennsylvania for a weekend in December 2013. There, the brothers saddled the kid with a backpack containing 30 pounds of sand and, to make things fair, blindfolded him so he couldn’t defend himself against the tackles that followed.
Merry Christmas.
Blunt-force head trauma and a death later, Charles Lai, Kenny Kwan, Raymond Lam, Daniel Li, and Sheldon Wong are in heck.
The ritual that razed Deng is known as “The Glass Ceiling.”
Pathetically and laughably, the fraternity, whose ostensible mission is to “...nurture and perpetuate the continual...development of the individual through Academic Achievement, Cultural Awareness, Righteousness, Friendship and Loyalty while fostering ethical behavior...” says it is going to investigate the young man’s death.
The group should focus on adhering to its mission. And, while they’re at it, stop killing. Anyway, the Pocono Mountain Regional Police and the Monroe County District Attorneys investigated, laid the above charges, and are thinking of charging more than 30 others with crimes ranging from criminal conspiracy, hindering apprehension and aggravated assault, to hazing.
The perpetrators didn’t call 911 and waited an eternal, unconceivable, two hours before taking the unconscious guy to the hospital. But they (allegedly) called Andy Meng, the now former-national President of the fraternity, six times. He (allegedly) texted back warning of fallout to the fraternity – and to hide fraternity symbols. Meng’s out on $50,000 bail.
The twisted twerps also googled the net to figure out what was wrong with the Vic (how super-dumb-thick-non-quick are these students?)
But, alas, the killer called political correctness also lurks and rules in parts of Baruch. Commented one Baruch student graduate - it was “...very unfortunate, I think, for all the parties that got involved...” How passive the voice, how massive the mistaken opinion. Using the word “unfortunate” is derogation from decency and a descent to leniency and lunacy that, unfortunately, fits in with our increasingly non-judgmental callow and shallow society.
Baruch College, for its part, should hopefully be dazed. “Ethical sensibility” part of its Mission went AWOL. And the Deng family is suing the school for $25 million.
Baruch has permanently disbanded the fraternity’s local chapter from its school and “brought disciplinary proceedings ...” Oooooh, sounds like the movie Animal House and Dean Wormer’s DOUBLE SECRET PROBATION against the Delta Tau Chi Fraternity.
And what a disgrace, frat-rats referring to each other as brother, in the whole liberty, equality, fraternity shtick. Sure, brothers do terrible things to each other: knee each other, stab each other, shoot each other - when they are under 10, and the knives and guns are plastic - but brothers 18 and up, and pledges, should have learned manners, and restraint.
But lest we think men are the only demons in this hazing horribleness, sororities have devils - masquerading as women - if the sick stories of forced chugging of booze, drinking near-black water, being denied bathroom access, being whacked with paddles, and being forced to hold hot coals, are to be believed.
Given that most students are wusses, usually of a lefty-liberal bent, who get the vapors and get bent out of shape if they hear even a little bit of a contrary idea, (God forbid, they hear a conservative one) joining a fraternity and engaging in hazing may be their only chance to act out. This may be the one last bastion that permits offensive behavior.
Remember, being offended is, nowadays, nearly a crime on campuses. Shunned and slammed as non-inclusive or insensitive are acts of clapping, being graded for poor grammar, writing the word “crazy” – it’s ableist - serving burritos in a non-culturally sensitive way, having too many white musicians in a band that play Afrobeat music – it’s cultural appropriation. So we have these coddled, spoiled, immature kids raised and watched over by helicopter parents mixed up with fraternities and their killers. Granted, thought conformity still holds in a fraternity, but they also get a lack of diversity in ethnicity, in Pi Delta Psi for example, being of Asian-American background(s) – which is another horror that campuses try to prevent. Here, if they survive the hazing ritual, they can feel safe among their own...
The first fraternity was created in the States around 1776 when William and Mary in Virginia formed the Phi Beta Kappa Society. Debating was its mainstay. While some may view that as hazing, real fraternity hazings came later.
Despite hazing being illegal in 44 states, what is sure to kill off hazing once and for all, in all states, is the trend in elementary schools to creating a super-wimpy child, useless and unprepared for life’s hard knocks. The Mercer School District in Seattle has banned tag. It’s too”...physically and emotionally dangerous.” Now if making tag taboo, spreads, this stupid reaction to a kids’ game might have one benefit: how long can it be before hazing legally - and culturally - goes taboo too?