what do you do with the pipes that want to become lighters (sorry, i need a nap!)
That.Depends on the hazing, there is no black and white.
If you want to get analytical hazing is an initiation. It is part of bonding with a group. We all suffered indignity to get here... That's good and bad. huge difference between joining a team and getting jumped into a gang (blood in blood out). That makes the shit frats do seem even more evil.Sticking the NFL Rookie lineman that just signed a 150 million dollar contract with the team dinner, perfectly acceptable.
Sodomizing the sophomore point guard on the harlem PS323135 basketball team, criminal. (i forget which school it was there but it happened).
Yes there is "good fun comradery" that builds friendships and stories of "remember when we made the rookie pitchers wear dressing in the airport and Jones wore a miniskirt? Hilarious" and then there are things that are assault, true trauma, illegal".That.
If you want to get analytical hazing is an initiation. It is part of bonding with a group. We all suffered indignity to get here... That's good and bad. huge difference between joining a team and getting jumped into a gang (blood in blood out). That makes the shit frats do seem even more evil.
Or in other words details matter.
I think there is a story about Mark Twain getting hazed with a gift of a cheap knock off counterfeit Meer back when he was still Sam.
This is one of those "traditions" that, as telescopes and david said, started to go too far. "Tacking on" started as a good gesture by fellow shipmates each sewing a stitch on a newly promoted Sailor's rank insignia patch. This represented how every member of the crew relied on you in your new appointment just as you relied on them to achieve it. As with a lot of traditions, somewhere along the way it progressed in to Sailors and Leathernecks like yourself putting each other in casts.Good point and examples of it, @AJL67. Thnx.
I don't know if it still happens, but I recall the practice for newly promoted enlisted men having the new rank or "stripes," -- "pinned on."
Basically, for lower ranks, our platoon would form two lines and the newly promoted (lower ranks, E-1 - E3, USMC) would walk in between the lines. Each person would punch the bicep of the newly promoted as he walked the line.
Sometimes, it went too far. I recall one newly promoted L/Cpl who showed up the next morning with an arm in a cast. One of his muscles had separated from the bone. Nobody wanted to really hurt him, and all felt bad I think--he was a good guy and we had regrets.
mike
Interesting observation: a little over 20 years ago, I tried a case against a prominent LA civil rights attorney involving hazing at a teenage camp operated by a religious denomination that I was defending, along with the counselors and hazing campers. The Plaintiff, a 15 year-old boy, claimed he was emotionally scarred after having been subjected to a swirlie, a wedgie, and another relatively harmless prank, even though he had participated in similar hazing involving other boys. In speaking with the foreperson after the jury was discharged, he informed me that the jury was divided--half of the jurors didn't want to give the Plaintiff anything, while the others wanted to give him something nominal. Plaintiff's counsel asked the jury to award her client several hundred thousand dollars in damages. The verdict came in at around $10,000, with the jury finding some comparative fault on the part of the Plaintiff.I wonder what the posts would have sounded like 20 years ago?
On another point, all the above posts remind me why I enjoy this website and you folks--you're a sensible bunch of people who enrich my life. Thank you.
This was 50 years ago. It wasn’t that it was so physically hard. I passed with flying colors. I could handle the shit and did in service, it was that these assholes thought it was funny and brought me closer to them. I didn’t want to be a part of a group for people that clueless. They did it because it was done to them. None of them had the courage to stand up and say this is wrong. I’m sure lots of alcohol and pot was involved. After all, it was the 70’s.I did the Greek thing in college during the early umm, well ya, awhile ago. Anyway, alcohol was allowed in those days and I have seen it all when it comes to Greek hazing. It should be and starts out to be harmless but, as with all things, people don't know when to stop. Sorry to hear of your experience trout.
The hazing ritual after becoming a moderator....is terrifying.The hazing here on PM can be brutal, depending if it's a Group 1 or Group 6 that is employed, butt in the end, it nurtures unit cohesiveness.
(If you haven't been through the PM hazing ritual yet, then, well...nobody really likes you anyways)