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PaperclipPerfector  2d ago (text post)   1817 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for September 25, 2026

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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The reaction to fraternity hazing incidents is extremely funny to me. “These poor willing adult male participants were socially pressured to do something humiliating to strengthen the bonds of friendship. Such harm can’t go unnoticed; we must publicly humiliate them on the news for millions of people to see and comment on while showing their faces on video whenever possible.” It’s just so stupid.

I think outrage normally occurs only when the behavior is harmful, not just humiliating.

What's harmful about it, absent the humiliation, though?

In the story du jour, the victims "had visible injuries consistent with being physically assaulted", and the text of the state's "hazing ban" criminalizes only "acts which endanger the physical health or safety of a student", without reference to humiliation. I believe past stories also have involved injury or death.

Kind of elides the nature of the injuries, and emphasizes the condiments though -- I'd think if there were serious (consentual in any case) injuries it would have been mentioned?

Athletes often have visible injuries too -- is college athletics considered harmful? (I suppose I should say "widely considered" given that the outrage machine is winding up on the concussion thing RN)

I don't claim to have investigated this topic in the slightest, but my impression is that hazing is considered bad because the details of the process are known beforehand only to the existing members: the victims don't know whether the hazing is humiliating or harmful, and therefore cannot consent properly. This goes double in sports and military situations where there's no expectation of hazing at all so the victims never consented even to humiliation, and triple in military situations where the victim was drafted and never had the opportunity to consent at all.

The purpose is to add a cost to just joining. This has benefits especially if membership in a group is particularly valuable. And in some cases, being a frat can give you a leg up in job hunting or provide scholarships among other benefits.

I'm the furthest thing from a frat-boy defender myself, but I think pretty much everyone knows that hazing is (by nature, really) going to involve some physical discomfort and embarrassment? In the case of frats I'd expect some pretty extreme BACs to be involved as well; that's about all I know!

"Physical discomfort" is not "harm significant enough to warrant assault charges".

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