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Printer-Friendly ModeFrat, anti-frat Facebook groups equally immature
November 13, 2006 —
If I started a Facebook group entitled "Say no to pro-homosexual groups!!", do you think people would be able to appreciate it as a joke? And what if I didn't say it was really a joke? What if I had put up a crossed-out picture of men or women kissing as the main photo for the group? Still funny?
Probably not. In fact, I doubt that would ever be taken as a joke.
Recently, there has been a group created on Facebook called "Say no to Frats!!" The main photo for the group is of the Sigma Pi and Tau Kappa Epsilon Greek letters crossed-out. There has also been a group created in response to it called "OH NO! ANTI FRAT FACEBOOK GROUP! Good work, you really got us."
Let me note that I am not a member of either one of these groups, though I was invited to join and have friends in both.
That being said, what the hell was the point of the anti-fraternity group? I am by no means an advocate of fraternities, but I also don't really have anything against them. They've been present in the college environment for a long time, and they aren't really a negative influence. They do community service activities and raise money for public service organizations. Yes, even SVSU's own Sigma Pi and Tau Kappa Epsilon do this. Plus, they hold and sponsor events that benefit the campus community. Do they have parties? Yes. The marching band has parties, too. So what?
The creators of the "Say no to Frats!!" group say that they "don't do anything good except act like douchebags." First, I will again refer to what I've already said. Second, what is a "douchebag"? I'm pretty sure they are no more "douchebags" than the average college male. Furthermore, I know frat-guys who seem pretty normal and friendly. So, I would bet, if you did some sort of math to figure out how many frat-guys are "douchebags," you would find the percentage quite similar to the average college male population.
The creators of this group also say that the local fraternity parties are "nothing like a real frat at a big school or the kick-ass ones in the movies." Is there some sort of rule as to what makes a fraternity real or not? Does it depend on what size school a fraternity is at? I've been to fraternity parties at both SVSU and CMU. I didn't notice any huge differences. Maybe CMU's fraternities aren't real either. As for the "kick-ass ones in the movies," ummm...maybe I'll create a group called "Say no to SVSU!!" because it is nothing like the universities I see in the movies.
The creators also say something about this being a joke, but just a line or two before call the fraternities' response "retarded." Clearly, you're joking. I mean, you're not in any way directly attacking two specific organizations on campus and not putting any sort of "this is a joke" note in your description. The creators also attack the fraternities by insinuating they don't know what the words "harsh diction" mean. I considered picking specific grammatical or syntax-related idiosyncrasies in their description and notes, but found too many to be specific.
As for the fraternities' response group, it's disappointing. As a friend pointed out to me, this was their shot of really proving themselves, but they chose to lower themselves to the same level of the instigators. The first incarnation of the group was quite offensive, using homosexual slurs. The updated version is slightly less offensive, but still says they were called out "for really no reason by people no one in this school pays ANY attention to." The "for really no reason" makes sense, but the second part of that quote seems unnecessary.
In the end, I can't really blame the fraternities, on some level, for creating the response. Yes, it's a free country. Yes, you can create any form of Facebook group. But why? If you have a problem with the fraternities, why don't you address them in person? Or maybe that is the real answer: Facebook seems the perfect place to attack something without having to really act upon it. So in the end, this whole thing seems to be more about the lack of gall and audacity that seems ever-present in our current generation and trust me, I include myself in that category as much as the next person.