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Why paddles though?

To make it more kinky?

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
Why paddles though?

I'd make a joke about beating pledges, but the paddle is, in today's Greek Life, a decoration and a gift given from one person in the fraternity/sorority to another. In my fraternity, we give paddles to our big brothers as a token of saying, "Thanks for being my mentor." Other times it's to welcome the new person into the long standing traditions of the organization. Some universities and campuses don't allow greek life organizations to give paddles because of the negative image that they have (which you're reaching for), because 25 years ago the paddle was used by some hazing rituals to paddle the new member. But to be fair, 30 to 50 years ago, paddles were a common sight in some high schools (my dad's high school had plenty of paddles) and were used for corporal punishment at the time. They're outdated now, but for Fraternities and Sororities, they're a decoration, not a weapon.

This one goes out to all the boys lacking a fraternity tonight, and of course those who are sans testicle.

Not all hazing is "sexual" in nature.

Quite honestly, I had no issues with the hazing I went through with my fraternity in college. Granted, it was much more tame than other stories (like this one) that I've heard.

Worst thing was being woken up in the middle of the night and sat down in a bucket full of ice water.

It was something that every brother had gone through, so it was a "connection" that we could all share and relate to.

It brought our pledge class together as a group, and even resulted in more interaction with some of the members who were out of house/off campus.

When not taken to extremes, and done in a "good" manner, it's very beneficial for both the pledges and the brothers.

 Alfndrate wrote:

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
Why paddles though?

I'd make a joke about beating pledges, but the paddle is, in today's Greek Life, a decoration and a gift given from one person in the fraternity/sorority to another. In my fraternity, we give paddles to our big brothers as a token of saying, "Thanks for being my mentor." Other times it's to welcome the new person into the long standing traditions of the organization. Some universities and campuses don't allow greek life organizations to give paddles because of the negative image that they have (which you're reaching for), because 25 years ago the paddle was used by some hazing rituals to paddle the new member. But to be fair, 30 to 50 years ago, paddles were a common sight in some high schools (my dad's high school had plenty of paddles) and were used for corporal punishment at the time. They're outdated now, but for Fraternities and Sororities, they're a decoration, not a weapon.

Well if the zombies ever come, The paddle can be a weapon

 hotsauceman1 wrote:

 Alfndrate wrote:

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
Why paddles though?

I'd make a joke about beating pledges, but the paddle is, in today's Greek Life, a decoration and a gift given from one person in the fraternity/sorority to another. In my fraternity, we give paddles to our big brothers as a token of saying, "Thanks for being my mentor." Other times it's to welcome the new person into the long standing traditions of the organization. Some universities and campuses don't allow greek life organizations to give paddles because of the negative image that they have (which you're reaching for), because 25 years ago the paddle was used by some hazing rituals to paddle the new member. But to be fair, 30 to 50 years ago, paddles were a common sight in some high schools (my dad's high school had plenty of paddles) and were used for corporal punishment at the time. They're outdated now, but for Fraternities and Sororities, they're a decoration, not a weapon.

Well if the zombies ever come, The paddle can be a weapon

Nah, a baseball bat works better. The zombies aren't going to bend over and grab their ankles so I can teach them whats what.

 Sparkadia wrote:

 Asherian Command wrote:

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
Dont most frats have a Paddle with their Frat name carved out of it?

Not the one I went to. Of course mine is filled with a bunch of video game designer nerds.

I envision an alternative approach, like being forced to play Desert Bus for 3 days or E.T on the Atari.

THE HORROR!

Actually ours was just playing really bad games. I mean really REALLY bad games. Someone actually purchasing them still boggles my mind.

 Asherian Command wrote:

 Sparkadia wrote:

 Asherian Command wrote:

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
Dont most frats have a Paddle with their Frat name carved out of it?

Not the one I went to. Of course mine is filled with a bunch of video game designer nerds.

I envision an alternative approach, like being forced to play Desert Bus for 3 days or E.T on the Atari.

THE HORROR!

Actually ours was just playing really bad games. I mean really REALLY bad games. Someone actually purchasing them still boggles my mind.

I and one of my pledge brothers had to write a song about how the president and vice president were in love with each other, we then had to sing it in front of the chapter. I also volunteered to DD one night at a party (since I didn't drink at that time), stayed out an hour later than normal, and ended up driving three people to McDonalds just after the menu changed from dinner to breakfast (3am), and since it took so long one of the guys said he'd give me 10 bucks if I asked the manager for his phone number.

Nothing like the "snake pit" from when another fraternity occupied our house.

 Alfndrate wrote:

 Asherian Command wrote:

 Sparkadia wrote:

 Asherian Command wrote:

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
Dont most frats have a Paddle with their Frat name carved out of it?

Not the one I went to. Of course mine is filled with a bunch of video game designer nerds.

I envision an alternative approach, like being forced to play Desert Bus for 3 days or E.T on the Atari.

THE HORROR!

Actually ours was just playing really bad games. I mean really REALLY bad games. Someone actually purchasing them still boggles my mind.

I and one of my pledge brothers had to write a song about how the president and vice president were in love with each other, we then had to sing it in front of the chapter. I also volunteered to DD one night at a party (since I didn't drink at that time), stayed out an hour later than normal, and ended up driving three people to McDonalds just after the menu changed from dinner to breakfast (3am), and since it took so long one of the guys said he'd give me 10 bucks if I asked the manager for his phone number.

Nothing like the "snake pit" from when another fraternity occupied our house.

Hey man 10$ could get you 20 packets of ramen noodles. I call that a fair trade.

I suspect when the towel impacted the testicle, it caused it to rotate in such a way that the spermatic cord that the testicle is hanging from got twisted. This is called testicular torsion and is a medical emergency, as oxygen to the testicle is cut off.

If you ever have pain in your testicles, you need to go to an ER right away for a ultrasound. It's usually epididymitis, a minor inflammation of the epididymis - the sperm tubes near the testicle - but it could be torsion.

 kronk wrote:
Using these prosthetics, can you add a third?

I'm asking for a friend.

And by the third post, the thread achieved it's apex.

 Ouze wrote:
I suspect when the towel impacted the testicle, it caused it to rotate in such a way that the spermatic cord that the testicle is hanging from got twisted. This is called testicular torsion and is a medical emergency, as oxygen to the testicle is cut off.

 kronk wrote:
Using these prosthetics, can you add a third?

I'm asking for a friend.

And by the third post, the thread achieved it's apex.

What about four? Krogan style.

I'm done.

Testicular torsion huh? Well. Hopefully the poor boy didn't suffer that badly while it went through.

Man, until you posted that, I had forgotten about that in Mass Effect. "You got a quad on you, Shepard".

 Jehan-reznor wrote:
Never understood it, the torture people will go through to be part of a club.

Shared hardship can form strong bonds.

Is your commitment to your frat somehow worth the degradation and pain you're putting yourself through? Fraternities are great, for multiple reasons, but any of them that require dumb initiations like that are probably not worth joining.

I guess you could argue that the Marine Corps is just a really big fraternity wrapped around a military organization. I don't understand College culture though. You're all strangers, with nothing in common at all, nothing but your artificial dedication to stylized greek letters, and the fact that you're affluent enough to attend a university.

 Alfndrate wrote:

but that you have connections instantly with people you've never met. I wouldn't have the job I currently have if it wasn't for my connections with TKE (teke). The guy that told me about the job interview was is a teke, the guy that mentored me for my first three months was a teke, and a few other people around the office were tekes, all connections we made in college.

...

You pay for the privilege to be associated with other people (like minded and not so like minded)

And that is the real problem with frats. It reinforces the "old boys" network, which is extremely damaging. Just take a look at the amount of work the UK civil service is having to do to brake down the old boys network here. Making connections and getting jobs not through merit but through happening to be in the same "club" at university. At least in the UK it is Oxbridge colleges that are the problem, where entry is based on merit. Where it is based on just being willing to go through whatever "ritual"it is even worse and just strengthens social exclusion.

Seeing how getting top jobs works in the US, between frats, unpaid internships and other socially exclusive actions, it is no wonder the US is becoming more and more socially divided.

The UK doesn't have Frat Clubs or violent hazing rituals, though I remember when joining University of Liverpool Medical School there was a big event at which the freshers had to take part in activities such as trying to prick a balloon held by a female student, with a cucumber with a pin in the end clenched in one's crotch, by thrusting from behind. Another example was eating a bag of crisps off a reclining female student's crotch, without using one's hands.

This was done in a spirit of comedy rather than humiliation, and may seem odd to the modern eye but it was the early 1980s and things were different then.

Violence and humiliation are expressed in US culture in a more celebratory way than in Europe, so violent and humiliating rituals such as this hazing are more likely to occur. Though it must be said it is the outlier of the spectrum rather than a norm.

Seaward correctly said that people who have been through a shared bonding experience are more likely to form a cohesive group. Just in this case things seem to have gone too far.

Fething weird Americans..

 Steve steveson wrote:

 Alfndrate wrote:

but that you have connections instantly with people you've never met. I wouldn't have the job I currently have if it wasn't for my connections with TKE (teke). The guy that told me about the job interview was is a teke, the guy that mentored me for my first three months was a teke, and a few other people around the office were tekes, all connections we made in college.

...

You pay for the privilege to be associated with other people (like minded and not so like minded)

And that is the real problem with frats. It reinforces the "old boys" network, which is extremely damaging. Just take a look at the amount of work the UK civil service is having to do to brake down the old boys network here. Making connections and getting jobs not through merit but through happening to be in the same "club" at university. At least in the UK it is Oxbridge colleges that are the problem, where entry is based on merit. Where it is based on just being willing to go through whatever "ritual"it is even worse and just strengthens social exclusion.

Seeing how getting top jobs works in the US, between frats, unpaid internships and other socially exclusive actions, it is no wonder the US is becoming more and more socially divided.

I was notified about the job because I knew the guy was in my fraternity, I was recommended for the job because I worked at my university's IT department while he was a student there (working in the same department), I got the job on my own merit, I kept the job on my own merit, I was almost fired from the job 6 months ago because of my own lack of skill in an oft-used skill I had not mastered in that time period.

In my experience, the fraternity method is not an old boys club, it's a foot in the door. I could get the job because of who I know, but I can just as easily lose the job because of my own inability to do the job.

Networking's more effective in the job hunt than not networking?

Shocking. And outrageous.

Networking is for fools without bootstraps.

 Monster Rain wrote:
Networking is for fools without bootstraps.

I only have velcro

Networking sounds socialist.

Alf, did you have a fraternity name?

And was it Otter?

I bet it was Otter.

 Gitkikka wrote:
Alf, did you have a fraternity name?

And was it Otter?

I bet it was Otter.

Depends on who you asked.
My big brother called me Little, and I called him Big.
Most people called me by my last name (but that was pretty much everyone anyways)
A few people called me "fething donkey cave"
And one guy called me Captain Ahab because it had gotten out that I had boinked a fatty in high school. But that was better than the kid who got hammered on his 19th birthday, and took a woman back to his room so large we dubbed him Red Leader, and her the Death Star. We got in trouble for that one, half of the fraternity was 'studying' in the hallway of our house to see who he had taken back to his room.

 Alfndrate wrote:

I was notified about the job because I knew the guy was in my fraternity, I was recommended for the job because I worked at my university's IT department while he was a student there (working in the same department), I got the job on my own merit, I kept the job on my own merit, I was almost fired from the job 6 months ago because of my own lack of skill in an oft-used skill I had not mastered in that time period.

In my experience, the fraternity method is not an old boys club, it's a foot in the door. I could get the job because of who I know, but I can just as easily lose the job because of my own inability to do the job.

Would he have recommended you if he only knew you from working in the IT department? In which case that is nothing to do with being in a fraternity. If not then that there is the problem. Getting fired or not is irrelevant, its the matter of getting a recommendation because of being in the fraternity with someone. In your first post you specifically said that you would not have your job without your connections you made in your fraternity, and how people you didn't know treated you better because of your fraternity. That is the very definition of an old boys club. Not that you get to keep a job no matter what, but that you gain an advantage because of membership of a particular exclusive group, In the US normally your fraternity, in the UK your university or Oxbridge college.

Nothing wrong with connections, or groups or clubs. It is when those connections are abused that there is a problem. Networking is when you use those connections.

 Steve steveson wrote:
If not then that there is the problem.

Why's that a problem? Do you only ever throw bones to people you've worked with in your specific career path? I certainly don't.

It might be a problem if you were seriously misrepresenting the person you're recommending, but otherwise, I don't see what's wrong with it. If I flew with you, or if we were on the sailing team together or whatever, I will happily say, "Hey, Steve steveson's a stellar dude, bring him in for an interview." I've done exactly that, in fact.

That's just the nature of networking.

 Steve steveson wrote:

 Alfndrate wrote:

I was notified about the job because I knew the guy was in my fraternity, I was recommended for the job because I worked at my university's IT department while he was a student there (working in the same department), I got the job on my own merit, I kept the job on my own merit, I was almost fired from the job 6 months ago because of my own lack of skill in an oft-used skill I had not mastered in that time period.

In my experience, the fraternity method is not an old boys club, it's a foot in the door. I could get the job because of who I know, but I can just as easily lose the job because of my own inability to do the job.

Would he have recommended you if he only knew you from working in the IT department? In which case that is nothing to do with being in a fraternity. If not then that there is the problem. Getting fired or not is irrelevant, its the matter of getting a recommendation because of being in the fraternity with someone. In your first post you specifically said that you would not have your job without your connections you made in your fraternity, and how people you didn't know treated you better because of your fraternity. That is the very definition of an old boys club. Not that you get to keep a job no matter what, but that you gain an advantage because of membership of a particular exclusive group, In the US normally your fraternity, in the UK your university or Oxbridge college.

Nothing wrong with connections, or groups or clubs. It is when those connections are abused that there is a problem. Networking is when you use those connections.

It's possible, there were several student techs in our IT department that graduated at the same time I did, all of them just as good at their jobs as I was. It's quite possible that my name jumped to the top of the list simply because he and I were in the same chapter of our fraternity, but he had graduated from university the semester before I joined, so we were never active members at the same time. As to the people I don't know treating me differently, it's never anything more than, "Hey you're a teke, I'm a teke?!" and if we're in the appropriate setting, a drink or, in my case, food might be bought.

In turn when we had an opening, one of my fraternity members asked me to give my resume to the manager (he had been stalking our company's job board for a few months). He emailed it to me, I printed it out, and said, "Here is that resume I was talking about, he's a pretty good guy and a hard worker." that was it.

I never really understood the whole frat thing... I've haven't encountered these university societies in Canada. I'd probably join a "boring" one if I had to so that I could avoid having to share my testicle separation story on Dr Phil.

I'm thinking that there may be some bitterness about "networking" or "boys clubs" or whatever you want to call it because....well...there are socially awkward people who aren't good at "making friends and influencing people". And though they may as equal a performer and equally qualified as anyone applying, because they don't have that social networking skill they don't get hired.

Guess what?

It's something you can learn to overcome. Don't blame "the system" for your own shortcomings and societal awkwardness when it comes to networking.

And really, when you think about it, that's all that a job reference is: somebody that you worked for (or personally know) who can vouch for your abilities.

It's the same thing as a fraternity brother giving their HR person his fraternity brother's info and saying "You really should consider this guy".

One of the things about fraternities is that often they do attract like-minded individuals.

It's not necessarily true throughout the national organization, but chances are that if Bob Smith is a TKE, and he sees that Jack Johnson, a fellow TKE from a different school is applying, he will find that some of the qualities that Bob values will be some of the same qualities that Jack has...know what I mean?

It's much...well...easier....for Bob to believe that Jack has the qualities he desires in an employee because he knows what kind of ideals and qualities his fellow TKE brothers *tend* to believe in due to their association to the fraternity.