Update XXI: "Scientific Facts Are Not Hard And Fast Rules."

[Gustaf]

There is a whole subculture waving Confederate flags in Sweden too, so yeah.

[#CriminalizeSobriety]

I have just crossed underneath 13 days until my new career.  The time is drawing near.  First, though, I get a mini-Spring Break vacation at my parents this week.  I will head down to my parents this afternoon (Tuesday) and spend the next five nights with them.

You never "eat healthy" when you're with your parents. Is this when we finally break into the plane of three hund-o?

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

You're a Christie lover again, Bushie?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Why wouldn't he be? Bushie can relate more to a President almost as fat as he is.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

I have just crossed underneath 13 days until my new career.  The time is drawing near.  First, though, I get a mini-Spring Break vacation at my parents this week.  I will head down to my parents this afternoon (Tuesday) and spend the next five nights with them.

You never "eat healthy" when you're with your parents. Is this when we finally break into the plane of three hund-o?

Easily.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

Yes! The climb to 300 ends this week!

[Lief 🗽]

This might be his last chance to break the big three double zero for a long, long time (or at least until he's escorted off the premises at [redacted] in 3-4 weeks).

[King]

I don't know guys. I find grocery stores and grocery store patrons have a higher tolerance for incompetent disabled employees.

[redacted] will probably move him from meat to bag boy to grocery cart collector before finally escorting him off the premises.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Ok, who is the Onion mole..........seriously

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

I don't know guys. I find grocery stores and grocery store patrons have a higher tolerance for incompetent disabled employees.

[redacted] will probably move him from meat to bag boy to grocery cart collector before finally escorting him off the premises.

What's the image everyone gets when Bushie is escorted away from a job? 

I see this...

[Joe Biden 2020]

I love the lack of faith everyone is displaying...

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

I love the lack of faith everyone is displaying...

XXI seasons of precedence.

[J-Mann]

Um... I think you would know better than to tar all with one brush.

I have never done ANY-THING that I (nor anyone else) would call reprehensible - sure I've done stupid things that I wouldn't want on YouTube, but they certainly were self-inflicted acts of stupidity that didn't involve belittling, attacking, assaulting or offending anyone. I'd urge against suggesting, even in passing, that I would or have.

As I said, this was not your standard frat, I was asked by 'those types' to join and refused, for those exact reasons. For the record, there was no binge-drinking, none of the stereotypical parties, no cruising around for women to take advantage of. It was multi-racial, multi-faith, lots of different socio-economic backgrounds, gay and straight etc etc.

Of the number of bids I received, it was the only one that seemed to fit my own sensibilities and views, ie not your typical frat.

As I said, mine was highly unusual, considering I saw a guy get punched out of a window from another house across the park. I didn't live in the house, but I spent my nights there playing poker, playstation and bags and the only drinking was an occasional game of beer-pong. The binge-drinking and total stupidity came from living in graduate apartments with other foreign students.

Yeah, there are tons of things I've done I wouldn't want on Youtube. I'm going to guess that's true for the vast majority of humanity. Congratulations, you've got me there.

In regards to your comments on overall behavior--embarrassing the school at sporting events, acting like pretentious pricks around other campus groups, or whatever--again, I'm speaking from what I believe to be an atypical experience. My chapter has been involved in representing the school through student orientation for as long as I'm aware. My freshman year, our president was the student director of orientation, and another brother will be leading it this year. Four out of five candidates for Student Government Association executive positions were Greek, all three fraternities will likely have some level of power in SGA's senate or leadership next year. In regards to other chapters at my school, there's obviously going to be a range that spans from incredibly atypical characters (like a guy in my chapter who's a junior who has drunk maybe once) to all sorts of degenerates that give members of the leadership (myself) constant headaches. While my chapter's not the best example of "diversity", no Greek organizations are all white. The president of our next door neighbors the semester I rushed is gay and very involved in Greek Life on campus.

Yeah, this is all anecdotal and specific to my school. A larger school with a larger Greek Life is probably going to be a lot more dominated by stereotypes of guys who are "legacies", involved in the Young Republicans, rich to sh#t, very "bro"-ish, and so on. An obvious example is the one cited in this thread. However, off-color jokes and talking about a sorority member's breast size is by no means going to be specific to fraternities. If that were the case, it would be a very civil society that we live in indeed. If your point is that exclusionary groups are going to foster a less-than-ideal mindset in regards to "out" groups, I guess that's not entirely deniable. It's also going to foster a sense of in-group loyalty that I view as, in many ways, constructive--granting people a smaller, more palpable community than their larger university that they can work to actively build and support. While that's not the view of it that everyone takes--I'd be f#cking glad if other members of my organization had a more serious sense of actually contributing to the organization--that's the direct effect it's had for me. And if I say the word "geeds" on occasion, okay, whatever. I was already an asshole before I joined, as opposed to an asshole who's forced to go to community service events and has an incentive to perform competently in leadership roles.

I have no idea if anything I said was coherent, but whatever.

I owe you both an apology for being harsh ... most likely a reaction to the BS I'd heard about this while listening to the radio yesterday and hearing caller after caller say how terrible SAE was and then defend their same organizations as "different" than all the others. That irritates me because it portrays the SAE douches as something out of the ordinary ... and behaviorally, they're not.

My point is, a lot of behaviors that happen in general can be exacerbated inside an exclusive group. And those exacerbated behaviors often have negative tones in fraternities or sororities. There's nothing shocking about the SAE behavior at all.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

I love the lack of faith everyone is displaying...

Come on, Bushie! Even you don't believe you'll lose weight. Why should we? We have such precedent that we'd be fools to actually think you'll lose weight.

[Lief 🗽]

Bushie can't even turn off the North West Southern Idaho Technical School vs. Upper South Dakota Girl's Secretarial College college baskebtall game for an hour to actually focus on studying for his job or on exercising so that he doesn't collapse after the first few hours of standing. And he gets mad at us for not having any faith in him...

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

Um... I think you would know better than to tar all with one brush.

I have never done ANY-THING that I (nor anyone else) would call reprehensible - sure I've done stupid things that I wouldn't want on YouTube, but they certainly were self-inflicted acts of stupidity that didn't involve belittling, attacking, assaulting or offending anyone. I'd urge against suggesting, even in passing, that I would or have.

As I said, this was not your standard frat, I was asked by 'those types' to join and refused, for those exact reasons. For the record, there was no binge-drinking, none of the stereotypical parties, no cruising around for women to take advantage of. It was multi-racial, multi-faith, lots of different socio-economic backgrounds, gay and straight etc etc.

Of the number of bids I received, it was the only one that seemed to fit my own sensibilities and views, ie not your typical frat.

As I said, mine was highly unusual, considering I saw a guy get punched out of a window from another house across the park. I didn't live in the house, but I spent my nights there playing poker, playstation and bags and the only drinking was an occasional game of beer-pong. The binge-drinking and total stupidity came from living in graduate apartments with other foreign students.

Yeah, there are tons of things I've done I wouldn't want on Youtube. I'm going to guess that's true for the vast majority of humanity. Congratulations, you've got me there.

In regards to your comments on overall behavior--embarrassing the school at sporting events, acting like pretentious pricks around other campus groups, or whatever--again, I'm speaking from what I believe to be an atypical experience. My chapter has been involved in representing the school through student orientation for as long as I'm aware. My freshman year, our president was the student director of orientation, and another brother will be leading it this year. Four out of five candidates for Student Government Association executive positions were Greek, all three fraternities will likely have some level of power in SGA's senate or leadership next year. In regards to other chapters at my school, there's obviously going to be a range that spans from incredibly atypical characters (like a guy in my chapter who's a junior who has drunk maybe once) to all sorts of degenerates that give members of the leadership (myself) constant headaches. While my chapter's not the best example of "diversity", no Greek organizations are all white. The president of our next door neighbors the semester I rushed is gay and very involved in Greek Life on campus.

Yeah, this is all anecdotal and specific to my school. A larger school with a larger Greek Life is probably going to be a lot more dominated by stereotypes of guys who are "legacies", involved in the Young Republicans, rich to sh#t, very "bro"-ish, and so on. An obvious example is the one cited in this thread. However, off-color jokes and talking about a sorority member's breast size is by no means going to be specific to fraternities. If that were the case, it would be a very civil society that we live in indeed. If your point is that exclusionary groups are going to foster a less-than-ideal mindset in regards to "out" groups, I guess that's not entirely deniable. It's also going to foster a sense of in-group loyalty that I view as, in many ways, constructive--granting people a smaller, more palpable community than their larger university that they can work to actively build and support. While that's not the view of it that everyone takes--I'd be f#cking glad if other members of my organization had a more serious sense of actually contributing to the organization--that's the direct effect it's had for me. And if I say the word "geeds" on occasion, okay, whatever. I was already an asshole before I joined, as opposed to an asshole who's forced to go to community service events and has an incentive to perform competently in leadership roles.

I have no idea if anything I said was coherent, but whatever.

I owe you both an apology for being harsh ... most likely a reaction to the BS I'd heard about this while listening to the radio yesterday and hearing caller after caller say how terrible SAE was and then defend their same organizations as "different" than all the others. That irritates me because it portrays the SAE douches as something out of the ordinary ... and behaviorally, they're not.

My point is, a lot of behaviors that happen in general can be exacerbated inside an exclusive group. And those exacerbated behaviors often have negative tones in fraternities or sororities. There's nothing shocking about the SAE behavior at all.

I'll admit, some of the fraternity songs we have sung on the bus on the way to formal in the past would be... how do you say... less than flattering to those of the female persuasion.  Fraternities have certainly come a long way but they still have a long way to go.  None of us are perfect angels. 

[IceSpear]

Bushie, what do you think of Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" program?

Also, would you eat the chicken in a can?

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

Bushie, what do you think of Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" program?

Also, would you eat the chicken in a can?

It's certainly no place for no woman (much less a darkie) to be tellin' us what to be eatin' and when to be exercisin'.  Only food job Mooshelle Hussien Obummer got is to make sure Barack chicken good and crispy.  

And Bushie would obviously love a homemade delicacy like chicken in a can.  

[memphis]

I don't think Bushie would go for the canned chicken. It doesn't emerge ready to eat or throw in a microwave. Bushie is all about the convenience. If convenience food is gross, that's ok but being gross is not by itself a characteristic that interests Bushie.

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

I don't think Bushie would go for the canned chicken. It doesn't emerge ready to eat or throw in a microwave. Bushie is all about the convenience. If convenience food is gross, that's ok but being gross is not by itself interest Bushie.

He does the Chef Boy-are-dee pizza kits with Ma and Pa.  I think preparing chicken in a can could be a fun family activity for his upcoming 5-day vacation from farting on his couch in Tulsa. 

[memphis]

I don't think Bushie would go for the canned chicken. It doesn't emerge ready to eat or throw in a microwave. Bushie is all about the convenience. If convenience food is gross, that's ok but being gross is not by itself interest Bushie.

He does the Chef Boy-are-dee pizza kits with Ma and Pa.  I think preparing chicken in a can could be a fun family activity for his upcoming 5-day vacation from farting on his couch in Tulsa.  

If the can came as part of a kit with other ingredients and Mama and Papa did all the legwork, sure, Bushie would go along for the ride and eat the finished product. By himself in the Tulsa apartment, where he has never, even once, used the stove, not a chance.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

I don't think Bushie would go for the canned chicken. It doesn't emerge ready to eat or throw in a microwave. Bushie is all about the convenience. If convenience food is gross, that's ok but being gross is not by itself interest Bushie.

He does the Chef Boy-are-dee pizza kits with Ma and Pa.  I think preparing chicken in a can could be a fun family activity for his upcoming 5-day vacation from farting on his couch in Tulsa. 

If the can came as part of a kit with other ingredients and Mama and Papa did all the legwork, sure, Bushie would go along for the ride and eat the finished product. By himself in the Tulsa apartment, where he has never, even once, used the stove, not a chance.

I can imagine, in this scenario, that Mama and Papa make the dough and heat up the sauce and then call Bushie into the kitchen to sprinkle on the cheese before they heat it.

[Joe Biden 2020]

Guys, you're making me look bad.  I know you're just playing, but you're making me look bad.  Could you please stop?  You're making yourselves look bad in the process.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

Guys, you're making me look bad.  I know you're just playing, but you're making me look bad.  Could you please stop?  You're making yourselves look bad in the process.

I wasn't aware you need assistance on that front.

[Joe Biden 2020]

Anyway, I am down to 12 days until my new career begins.  Even if the forum doesn't think it will last, doesn't mean I'm an automatic goner there.  Give me a chance here especially considering it is a completely different industry than what I'm used to.  Maybe change will be a good thing?

I did get some encouraging words from my uncle (Mom's brother) today saying he was proud of me for taking this job and putting an end to the unemployment.  He says just bringing in a paycheck, have more (and hopefully increasing) financial independence and being independent in a different city will be good for my psyche.  My uncle thinks this will be good for me.  I appreciated the words of encouragement.