<p>I am sorry, but I kept on reading “Geeks shall inherit the Earth” as “Greeks shall inherit the Earth.” :)</p>
<p>A future CC thread:
OP: When I get to college, should I associate with people with the last name Smith?
A: I knew a guy named Smith, and he was really nice, so I think you should definitely associate with Smiths.
B: Well, I knew a guy named Smith, and he was a total jerk, so I think you should avoid Smiths like the plague.</p>
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<p>Not with the way their government has been running their economy. </p>
<p>Unless, of course they pulled a Donald Trump by borrowing so much from the IMF/EU Banks that the lenders are effectively owned and are forced to negotiate favorable to them. :D</p>
<p>Oh wait! You didn’t mean those Greeks? Nevermind. :D</p>
<p>what a useful post cobrat, thanks, I appreciate the way that it contributes to the discussion at hand</p>
<p>Uh oh, I think IthacaKid must be from the other Ithaca!</p>
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<p>Of course!</p>
<p>Sometimes, levity is a good way to facilitate discussions…especially ones which tend to get heated. :D</p>
<p>Exactly right, Hunt (the Smith comment). So knowing that, learning from mistakes, what’s the best way to proceed? Are no generalizations possible? Is it better to do a “Greek life at southern flagships” or northeast lacs, for example? Or do we learn something from these general threads? Maybe the best thing would be if people said something like “in my experience xxxx” without saying “your experience is wrong because my experience was different.”</p>
<p>(LOL at Hunt’s Ithaca comment too!)</p>
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A good start is to look at the other thread MizzBee started. It has some great advice.</p>
<p>Good grief people, don’t you all have better things to do with your time? </p>
<p>I had a few minutes in between working out, walking my dogs, doing laundry, and going to work to see if there was any useful information in the parent’s cafe and i noticed this thread was still lively. Let it go and find something productive to do. The Greek haters are never going to change their minds, they are clearly unable to think critically. </p>
<p>The world has bigger problems and our non-Greek leader is going to negotiate with the Taliban. Let’s focus on that.</p>
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<p>This is what I mean by “it’s so different everywhere.” Use of the “n” word would absolutely never have been tolerated in our rush process. Why would a girl’s race even be mentioned in the first place when it has nothing to do with why you might want her as a sister? The only context I can think of where it would be mentioned would be if you needed to identify her in some context, but even then it would be “the girl who was wearing the red dress and sitting on the sofa next to Suzy; she’s from Nashville, she’s a music major and she was the one who told the funny story about moving into the wrong room on the first day.” </p>
<p>But, I suppose, because there are parts of the country and bands of stupid, flighty, ignorant girls who WOULD use the “n” word and would never “allow” a sister of another race, that somehow reflects on my sorority experience, too, and I’m supposed to apologize for it.</p>
<p>I’m sorry pizzagirl, no offense was meant and certainly I wouldn’t expect people who had positive sorority experiences to apologize. It was meant only to share a different experience than what had been mentioned. One of my nieces is having a wonderful time in another chapter of the same sorority and it has been a positive thing for her. It was not, for me, and I was and am bewildered by how people sat in that room and tolerated that behavior by agreeing to it with their presence. They were stupid, ignorant women – and saddest of all, they missed many opportunities to meet women who weren’t, based on judgements they had no right to make.</p>
<p>"The Greek haters are never going to change their minds, they are clearly unable to think critically. "</p>
<p>Lol. I can’t tell if this is supposed to be ironic or not. I will take it that way, anyway.</p>
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<p>I don’t think so, and I didn’t think that was the poster’s intent. I think it is just another person sharing their personal experience, and that it is as valid as any other. I think that all of the rational people who read this thread (or any other on any topic) understand that experiences and opinions vary. </p>
<p>Those who persist in believing only the stories–on any topic–that support their personal prejudices or reflect their personal experience we can’t do anything about.</p>
<p>Remember that the membership of any particular fraternity or sorority house turns over completely every four years (or so), so even a fairly recent good or bad reputation may change signficantly with new leadership.</p>
<p>I agree completely consolation. In that sense, contrary to what lovemykids said above, I think we are getting somewhere. It takes a while to see the patterns, and then those who want to can learn something.</p>
<p>I’m glad to know that you give <strong>equal</strong> weight to the positive stories, redpoint.</p>
<p>Excellent point, Hunt, which is why when a group is expelled from campus it is normally for 4 years. Long enough for everyone involved and those that were on campus to leave. When looking at schools with my DS, we always asked about chapters that I knew from my past. At one school the jock chapter (always IM champs, 1/2 membership in the 80s was football players) has become, proudly, the gamer/IT house. Lots of crazy smart engineering types that only throw a ball if it is inside a Madden computer game. I was able to ask an alum how he felt about the change to his chapter and he said that “the boys” are still great brothers and it does him proud every time they win something for GPA or philanthropy.
In the same vein, I was dismayed to hear that my old house has more of a sorostitute reputation than it did in the past. Hopefully that will change in the next few years as well.</p>
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<p>That’s unfortunate. I suggest removing all the pillows from the house. That should solve the problem.</p>
<p>Images of Animal House dance in my mind!</p>
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<p>The major difference with Animal House was that they were the ostracized uncool misfit house few people at Faber College wanted to be associated with…and they not only shrugged it off…but also took on the establishment fraternities/sororities, tyrannical snobby members like Neidermayer and Marmalard…and the epitome of the prevailing establishment Dean Wormer. </p>
<p>When we mention negative experiences with fraternities/sororities…the groups we’re talking about tend to lean much closer to the snobby entitled a<strong>h</strong>e Omegas rather than the anti-establishment “screw establishment” Deltas.** </p>
<p>The Deltas are not too much different from the protagonists from Revenge of the Nerds* or most non-conservatory students at my undergrad…always going against the prevailing establishment and their asskissing collaborating flunkies like Neidermayer and the Omegas. </p>
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<li>Admittedly…this is not too surprising as it was probably an attempt to cash in on the popularity of Animal House.<br></li>
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<p>** On the anti-establishment front…politically active classmates at my non-Greek LAC have accomplished much IRL…whether it is advocating for abolitionism and actively participating in the “Underground Railroad” during the antebellum/civil war*** to more recent efforts such as ‘60’s era civil rights/anti-Vietnam war/women’s rights and more recently my college classmates’ successful efforts in calling attention to and eventually forcing unremitting scrutiny and the forcing shutdown of the School of the Americas which trained South American dictators notorious for human rights abuses like Manuel Noriega, Leopoldo Galtieri of Argentinian “Dirty War” fame, and many more. This included acts of civil disobedience like protesting on the base itself. Granted, they have reopened it under another name…but they’re under much greater public scrutiny and pressure now. </p>
<p>*** The town and the college of Oberlin was considered by many pro-slavery southerners as one of the key causes of the Civil War by some journalists of that period. It even received a shoutout from pro-slavery Cadet Corporal Bent in the '80s Civil War TV series “North & South”.</p>