Blog Post #4

When I asked others what they thought of hazing on college campuses, some of them didn’t think it still existed and many more didn’t know exactly what it meant. Hazing is the initiation of sorority and fraternity pledges; these initiations can involve anything from forced alcohol consumption to degradation of an individual’s self-worth. ABC’s John Quinones recently gathered a group of actors and set up a public scene of hazing on the streets of Long Island in order to exploit the unnoticed act. Because too many people ignore the topic or simply do not know the extent of it, he thought it was crucial to openly show the community just some of the things that are forcibly done to students. The test was conducted to see if people passing by would stop or even glance to see what was going on. A lot of people seemed to look in the other direction and continue to pretend like nothing was wrong, while others stopped to give the pledge masters a piece of their minds. There was also a major difference in how the women and men pledges were treated. When it came time for the girls to stage their show, there was a lot more verbal abuse that greatly relates to what women go through in reality. When pedestrians saw this, they weren’t as interested in helping; they basically just stopped to watch the show. Observing the reaction of random passersby, Quinones accomplished the goal in which the experiment was intended; awareness and caution. Not only did it raise responses from local citizens, but by airing it on primetime to the rest of the country, it educated all of us on the dangers we should avoid and the concern we should voice for these pledges. By merely walking by the commotion, we are expressing our ignorance and carelessness regarding this dangerous situation. Clearly some people do feel as if it is not their place to intervene, however our freedom of speech allows us to object to things we do not agree with especially when done in the public eye.