The Final Straw

Over the past few months, we've seen a spike in coverage of hazing and hazing related activities in professional sports and other areas. Many have posted great blogs about the topic and calls to action for the fraternal movement. I have spent many early morning runs pondering the topic, and wondering what we could be doing differently. I've avoided adding another blog to the pile, mostly because I wasn't sure I had anything different or unique to say. That is, until this morning.

I'm a fairly frequent Twitter user, and follow several hundred fellow Tweeters (or Twitters as Betty White would call them...). This morning, one of my favorite country bands, Lady Antebellum (@ladyantebellum) posted the following tweet:

"Lady Hazing is back!! The latest victim is big, bad @blakeshelton. Check out the new Webisode and sing along here: http://bit.ly/bKcnTG"

Really? When did hazing become so cool across the board? It is because of the social media explosion over the past few years? Or has it always been around and we just haven't noticed it because we didn't used to have so much constant contact with others through Twitter, FB, etc?

I've felt somewhat helpless about the whole situation for the past few weeks, as more professional sports teams and ESPN pile on more fuel to the problem. And I'm not quite sure where to start. I'm pretty sure that ESPN won't miss me as a single viewer, especially since I tune in so infrequently. I'm fairly confident most professional sports teams won't miss my ticket sale, since I don't catch that many games. I don't think Lady A will miss me at their next concert.

So what can I do? What can you do? What can we do together? Clearly we aren't doing enough. I think it is time to get the dialogue really started - with lots of voices participating in the conversation. Signing petitions is a good start - many of us have done that over the past few weeks. But I think we need to do more. Individually and collectively. It is time to make a bigger dent, and with the beginning of a new semester, the time is right. Start throwing out your ideas. Think big, broad, and bold. Challenge yourself, and challenge others.