Hazing

Hazing is a part of the military. Crossing the line ceremony, tacking on a crow, chief's initiation, earning a warfare pin ... all of these (and many others) elicit various levels of hazing. There are numerous videos about the hazing but it still happens.

Been there, had it done to me. Meh.

 

It's more or less removed from ordinary conscripted military service in Finland because of past problems. I at least never had to go through any sort of hazing in the military.

The uni is another matter and I've been i a few "ceremonies" but they were quite adult in nature (and I don't mean adult in THAT way). You're not forced into awfully degrading activities and it's all good fun. All participation is based on free will, usually of course there's a significant social pressure but we try take care that no one will feel overly degraded in the process and that it would be fun for all participants.

Oh and, no ones forced to participate in order to be a member in the student organisations I'm in. If it's not your thing then you're not excluded from the group. I'm in some "orders" that are another matter but they are in general for older students anyway and are very very cliquish (in fact you're basically not allowed to tell anyone anything about the orders or their activities).

 

Don't you think some of it is a bit over the line though T2? I mean, the one guy had his genitals amputated because of the injury to them. You have kids, some recently, so evidently, your hazing didn't go that far...

 

Of course some is over the line, but you can find extreme cases of practically anything. The vast majority of initiations and hazing rituals are not that bad (it only takes a few days to heal/recover from most). Yes they can be barbaric but if properly done they can also improve unit/organizational cohesiveness. When done wrong people should be punished.

Edit: I know, a bit over the top ... deleted the sarcasm. I just get irritated when people use extremes to campaign against something (and I mean in general, not to point at Beren on this since I think he was just throwing it out as a topic to stir debate).

 

When I got my accounting designation, the people at the firm I worked at forced me to complete one schedule of a tax return without using a calculator. It was horrible. To this day, just looking at a Schedule 4 - Statement of Investment Income gives me the shakes.

 

I have no idea what you guys are talking about. What on earth is hazing?

 

Now that just makes me a bit curious.....

Oh well.

 

Ritual humiliation of new or disgraced members for the acceptance and amusement of established members of a particular group.

 

Seriously? You've never heard of hazing? I suppose 8's definition of ritual humiliation of new members is a good a definition as any. The most common form you see is in joining a fraternity or sorority in a lot of colleges or universities. It is also common in the military, apparently, but it doesn't typically get to this level.

For example, at the university I attended, the "new members" were required to streak down the main street of campus before getting officially accepted. Granted, the newly accepted members were taken on in January, so it was pretty freakin' cold, and I imagine most of the guys were suffering from some serious shrinkage due to the temperature, but as the run could be completed in a couple of minutes, it's not like you were in great danger from frostbite or anything.

 

@ Harbourboy,

I realize that jumping into topics and proclaiming "I have no idea what you guys are talking about" is...well, it's kinda your thing, man. But I just have to ask... have you never heard of Google?

 

IMHO, hazing is a form of institutionalized bullying. Without intensive adult oversight, it can quickly degenerate into something truly unpleasant. I am not a proponent of this sort of nonsense by any stretch of the imagination.

If someone wants to humiliate me so I can prove to be "worthy" of being accepted into their little group, then they can go boink themselves and I'll find another group to join up with.

 

I think it depends entirely on what type of hazing is being done. While all forms of hazing are unpleasant, the majority of them are merely humiliating, and in that regard I don't have a major problem with it. Going to the point of ritualized torture and beating someone to near-death is a whole different thing.

I mean, if you go through hazing to join a frat house (and in fairness I should say that I did not join, nor even rush a fraternity in college), you have the option of doing exactly what you said - you can refuse, tell them to go boink themselves, and elect not to join the group.

 

People use the term 'hazing' for a wide range of actions. I think it is more accurate to use the term 'initiation' for a ritual or tradition of accepting new members into an organization. The overall goal of the ritual is to build a bond of trust and comaraderie between the new and the established members. Unfortunately, sometimes these rituals and traditions get perverted over time and the initiation shifts to hazing -- which is contrary to the original goal of the event.

IMO ... initiations are good ... hazing is bad. There is a pretty big difference between the two.

 

I imagine that part of the problem is people want to out-do what was done before, and when that happens, there is the risk of crossing over the line by putting people into dangerous situations.

 

There is no such thing as a fraternity or sorority in New Zealand. I thought it was just something that existed in corny American comedy movies.

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Yeah, but kinda defeats the purpose of hanging out here listening to you guys. There are some topics that you guys are more reliable experts in than some random source on Google.

 

I assure you they are quite real. The level of fraternity/sorority activity varies wildly form one campus to the next. In some campuses they are all over the place, and a significant percentage of the student body belong to one of them at some point in the collegiate years. Other universities don't have any fraternities/sororities at all. So a lot of it has to do with where you go to school.

Of course the idea of fraternities isn't limited to just colleges and universities. Among some of the more popular fraternities include the Fraternal Order of Police and the Freemasons.

 

The Freemasons are popular? With whom?

 

Perhaps a poor choice of words on my part. By popular I meant in terms of membership. There are a whole mess of people in the Fraternal Order of Police and the Freemasons. Perhaps I should have said the most famous (or infamous depending upon your perspective).