Originally Posted by Draconis

As a punk, former harborer of blind hatred towards frats, and now proud member of the Beta Chapter of Pi Kappa Alpha, I'd like to make a few points:
A) It is in no way buying your friends. I used to use that line. It doesn't translate into what really happens. That money goes towards throwing parties and rush/pledging events that are more fun than anything else I have ever done. Hell, I have more fun at some of our parties than I did playing a show in front of 500 people.
B) When you're in a frat, you refer to the other members as brothers. This isn't some bullshit secret nomenclature. They actually are like brothers. My frat IS my family away from home. There is an unbreakable bond that pledging forms and I wouldn't trade it for the world.
C) Blind hatred of anything is dangerous. The person who hates without knowledge is more contemptable than the object of their hatred.
D) Hazing, if done at all, should in no way harm the pledge. Drinking to a point, which most college students would reach on that given night anyway, allows you to get to know people you normally wouldn't, as well as providing you with stories for ages to come. I personally look forward to meeting up in 50 years with my pledge class, when not one of us has a hair on our heads and just a marble or two left upstairs, because I know that I will still remember pledging like it was yesterday. I will of course have stories from the rest of my tenure at college, but pledging is when you build friendships that will last a lifetime.

Keep this in mind when commenting on fraternities. I didn't when I first came to college, but once I got to know the brothers, I saw how wrong I had been.