Hazed , Dazed but Unfazed :Part 2

Hazing is an universal phenomenon.The rites of passage to manhood are a part of every culture , be it the Thonga tribe of Africa or a greek letter society in a university in America.

Though the rites seem extraordinary and bizarre , they are remarkably similar in principle and even in detail.As a frat pledge , one has to undergo a variety of activities designed by the other members to test the limits of physical exertion , psychological strain and social embarrassment.

But one wonders...WHY ? WHY OH WHY ?

The answer seems to have appeared in 1959 in the results of a study of social psychology .A pair of young researchers , Elliot Aronson and Judson Mills decided to test their observation that "Persons who go through a great deal of trouble or pain to attain something tend to value it more highly than persons who attain the same thing with a minimum effort"The real stroke of inspiration came in their choice of the initiation ceremony as the best place to examine this possibility .They found that college women who had to endure a severely embarrassing initiation ceremony in order to gain access to a sex discussion group convinced themselves that their new group and its discussions were extremely valuable , even though Aronson and Mills had previously rehearsed the other group members to be as "worthless and uninteresting " as possible.

Different coeds , who went through a much milder initiation ceremony or went through no initiation at all , were decidedly less positive about the "worthless " new group they had joined.Strangely , research showed the same results when coeds were required to endure pain instead of embarrassment to get to the group.

Now the hazing rituals make sense.They are not acts of sadism , according to psychologists , but are acts of group survival.They function , oddly enough , to spur future sorcery members to find the group more attractive and worthwhile.The harder the struggle , the more you tend to value it.The loyalty and dedication of those who emerge will increase to a great degree the chances of group cohesiveness and survival.The severity of an initiation ceremony significantly heightens the newcomer's commitment to the group. This is the reason hazing is frequently used in the military.

Hazing has its own significance.I have to say it weeds out the weaker ones and the ones that break under pressure and it separates the boys from the men.There is no cadet of my acquaintance , regardless of what direction he may have taken spiritually or politically after those harsh days of training , who does not view the training as a crucible out of which he emerged in some way more resilient , simply braver and better for the wear.

Coming back to my story...As I said before I am a terrible dancer.I stunk up the place , setting new standards for dancing badly.It was neither dirty nor sexy.It wasn't even a tragi-comedy .It couln't even rise up to levels at which it could be judged as pathetic !

After only three minutes on the stage , I was yanked unceremoniously of the stage and asked to sing.Ahh..now this was something I could do...and so I began.