Evidently last semester the oft-heard phrase "stereotypical frat guy" made its way into Illinois State University's Daily Vidette, igniting a firestorm of criticism from outraged victims of the generalization. Well, maybe not a firestorm so much as a little puff of flame in a wastebasket.
But regardless! Now comes columnist Matt Spialek of the local Delta Chi rising to defend his greek brethren against the calumnies of stereotyping and the scourge of journalistic laziness lumping disparate individuals together. The title of his op-ed piece today: "A Greek Tragedy." His thesis, and helpfully, also his byline: "Something must change both in thought and action, in Greek and non-Greek, before we can get past the stigma of beer cans and barn dances." Mr Spialek (like your correspondent) rushed his fraternity in spring of sophomore year, so he is quick to aver that "I had friends. I surely did not need to 'buy' any." This implies freshman rushees don't have any friends and do need to buy them, but let's leave that aside. What is the grand purpose for which he joined Delta Chi, the principle that can bring together greek and independent?
Well, a "new experience," which doesn't take Mr Spialek very far rhetorically, so he shifts gears and cribs a page from Thomas Jefferson for the knockout blow: "the pursuit of happiness." Yes, if only greeks and indies would just look past the methods they choose in finding contentment during these "four, maybe five years of this unique transition between childhood to adulthood," and see the overarching purpose, all men would be united in a bond of shared goals.
Certainly Mr Spialek cannot be faulted for his optimism, nor his flights of visionary fancy. ("We are all doing what we love . . . let's give each other a break.") Words for even the "stereotypical frat guy" to live by.
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