The Politics of Greece

I am a member of a Greek organization, for those who did not know.  Dater X, you can stop reading now, if your disgust with all things fraternity is just too much to stomach. ;)

When I signed up to join, I was unaware of how the process worked: rush, pledge, bid, etc.  Being a pledge basically means being the active members' bitch until you are initiated and get to mistreat the next group of pledges.  While my school is very serious about preventing hazing, that doesn't stop the actives from exercising what little power they still hold.  Tonight, I got a taste of that, in a more negative way than I have had thus far.

The pledges had to elect a leader at the beginning of this process, a person to be a liaison between the officer in charge of us, and the group.  I volunteered, and won the post.  After a meeting of the whole chapter a few weeks ago, during which a member had told a story of driving drunk people home who vomited in his car, I jokingly said that I wouldn't be driving any drunks home, since 'my ride is so fly, and I don't drink anyway, so not like I need it.'

This was a joke.  The other pledges laughed, I moved on.  Tonight, the officer in charge of the pledges asked me during the chapter meeting, in front of everyone if I had said that I wasn't going to sober drive since I don't use it.  I said yes, and that I had done so in jest.  He said I was a dumbass and then said 'you're fired.'

There are pledges who didn't particularly like the way I ran things (if that's even possible, considering all I basically did was mass text people after the officer told me what to do). These pledges told active members during the past few weeks that I didn't take commitments like sober driving seriously, spinning me as a bad guy, a snob, precocious.  The pledge who doesn't have to follow the rules.

Now the actives told the officer in charge about this, and he called me out on it.  I don't blame him, that's what I would have done too.  I think the pledges who started the drama, should have said something to my face about it.  I think the actives should have asked me about it.  But, once I got fired, those responsible for spreading my words volunteered to replace me, and won.

All in the name of brotherhood, character, loyalty, and honor.

I'm disappointed that I believed in something greater than myself.  Foolish me.