Monday, February 10, 2014

Hazing Is Stupider Than Shit


Military hazing: just one form of the insanity.

I bring up hazing because of the story that has rattled professional sports today, and that's the coming out as gay of a potential NFL superstar, Missouri All-American Michael Sam.

On one of the ESPN Sports-Center-type shows, I heard some insider in the world of the NFL say that with a little bit of luck and common sense, having gays in the NFL shouldn't ruin everybody's fun. The guy said that, for instance, hazing shouldn't be negatively impacted.

I guess he figured having gays around shouldn't stop people from the joys of having a gauntlet for newbies, and that hurling epithets like n***** and f***** should be fine as vets pound away at initiates as they run through. I'm mean, after all, n****** don't mind, so why should f******?

Paid millions of dollars a year to spray water in each other's faces. Fer chrissake.

Or we could grow up as a society and knock this shit off. We don't need it in the military, we don't need it in the fraternities, we don't need it in college bands, and we don't need it in professional sports. And we certainly don't need it in the street gangs.

This is older-than-the-hills tribal shit. How many centuries do we have to cling to old tribal rituals that are really about establishing who has the sharpest horns or the biggest dicks? It is, yes, a form of organized, celebrated bullying, something we, as an evolved culture and society, could easily leave behind.

Let's end this shit now. It's for another century, certainly not this one.

The college beanie. Okay, fine, you can keep your beanies.

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