On greek elitism

“Jesus = Frat Daddy. Mohammad = GDI. TFM.”

“My last name could have gotten me into Yale. But Yale isn’t in the SEC. TFM”  

“My Parents are still together. TFM”  

TFM, for those who don’t already know, stands for “total frat move,” the basis behind one of the trendiest websites in the IU greek community and the rest of the collegiate world.

The concept behind the website is similar to other popular submission-based message boards such as Texts From Last Night, where fans submit their frattiest thoughts and memories for others to decide whether or not it is a nice move.

After spending a few minutes perusing the various posts on the site, I realized there’s probably some just reasoning behind why so many people have negative opinions of greek life, and I don’t blame them.

I compiled a few of the assumptions I would make about the greek system if my only insight came from this website.

Money is the determining factor of one’s happiness and satisfaction with their life.

Anyone who disagrees with this is obviously not in a fraternity and is obviously poor and not a business major.

A typical sorority girl loves to demonstrate her grasp of irony by drinking bottom-shelf alcohol in mass quantities while wearing a Lilly Pulitzer dress and her grandmother’s pearl necklace.

She also exclusively dates pre-law fraternity members and likes making sandwiches.

Being a Democrat is equivalent to being a domestic terrorist. Reaganomics is everyone’s favorite economic policy, regardless of whether they understand macroeconomics in the first place.

The SEC is the new Ivy League. Apparently the only type of crimson that’s acceptable anymore comes from Tuscaloosa, not Cambridge.

I understand that a lot of these posts are facetious and shouldn’t be regarded in a serious manner, but I do think that this website is indicative of the general mentality of our nation’s greek system.

I was on the fence about joining my fraternity at IU.

I knew that it was fairly conservative, and I would probably end up being subjugated to some ridiculous hazing rituals and even more ridiculously themed parties. But I figured I might as well give it a shot.

Well, here I am about 2,000 shots later, and I guess I haven’t really changed all that much.

I’m considered the most liberal person in my house, which I find to be rather incredible considering I am closer to what would be considered a right-leaning libertarian.

While I love the people I live and socialize with, I find it frustrating that these same people that purport themselves to be educated and informed continually demonstrate remarkable apathy and intolerance toward those who hail from different socioeconomic backgrounds.

It’s not like any of us here in the greek system actually went out and earned all the money we spend on designer clothes and imported cars.

To be brutally honest, everyone still living off his or her parents’ incomes is
pretty much on glorified welfare.

Last time I checked, that was actually a pretty liberal fiscal policy.

I’m not sure why most of us act as if we’re entitled to everything the world has to offer.

Maybe it’s some deep psychological insecurity that we don’t really belong with the movers and shakers of the old Protestant establishment regime out in Nantucket or wherever the WASPs flock to nowadays.

More likely, it’s that we want to feel good about ourselves, and the easiest way to do that is to put someone else down. It’s the same tactic that’s been around since kindergarten, and frankly, I don’t think it’s going away anytime soon.

This seems especially popular in the greek community, as indicated by the massive popularity of sites like the now-defunct Juicy Campus and its replacement, CollegeACB.

About every other post on these sites is some kind of juvenile popularity contest or libelous remark, most of which are incredibly degrading.

I just wish the greek system was less elitist and more egalitarian.

It’s the mindset of “everybody sucks but us” and “better us than them” that’s eventually going to cause the rest of our community to turn against us down the road, if they haven’t already.

After all, if you really are the best, you don’t have to go around saying it. It should just be presumed. Maybe that’s why I can’t seem to find any Harvard posts on Total Frat Move.


E-mail: halderfe@indiana.edu