What would you think or for that matter what would other people think hearing upon about a fraternity who got together with their 35 fraternity brothers at an outdoor retreat to pose in front of a camera and does the unthinkable that no fraternity organization anywhere in the United States would in their right mind do that? What would people say upon seeing a group picture of 35 fraternity brothers wearing their Greek shirts doing the Nazi salute? An insult to the memory of the millions of Holocaust victims who were brutally tortured and murdered in World War II?
What would you do or say then? Speak up or stay quiet if it was your college's fraternity?
Now, would you even dare imagine a deaf fraternity group doing the Nazi salute for a group picture? What would you think? Before you blurt out, realize that we all make mistakes while young and did stupid things. That's forgivable. Something that happened years ago while in college. People do change for the better as we grow older and wiser. But what's not forgivable to is try and continue to shove hazing victims under the rug thinking their hazing story will never see the light of day. Pictures of fraternity brothers doing the Nazi salute along and bloody bottoms of pledges who have undergone intense paddling during Rush week are one thing. But to have pledge hazing victims are another thing whose emotional and psychological scars can last a lifetime just so that the few immature fraternity brothers would feel important.
2 comments:
It is called the Bellamy salute. One American invented it in 1890s for the American pledge of allegiance. The Italian fascists copied the idea years later, then the Nazis picked it up. Type Bellamy salute for the images and you'll see several pictures of American children doing the "Nazi" salute long before the Nazis were doing it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellamy_salute
That simply would not cut it today. The Nazi group perverted that salute and now today it's recognized as the Nazi salute. No amount of white washing will excuse that kind of salute today. None! It simply should not be done at all today.
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