Jack Ruppert

February 9, 2006

English 15

Argument of Definition

“Living in the frat house are the best years of your life,” one of the brothers told me at a rush event this fall. In a lot of ways, this statement is very true. When one joins a frat, he figuratively joins a family without sisters, cousins, uncles, fathers, or mothers. He will live in a house with a bunch of his brothers and engage in an ultimate form of brotherhood. Frat boys are definitely a wild bunch. No one word is sufficient in describing a frat boy because they are made up of several defining aspects.

A frat boy comes to college to learn, yes, but what may be higher on his priorities is to have fun. What is fun for a frat boy? Girls, alcohol, pot, wild parties, and fist fights are all main attractions. They are usually a rough crowd before joining, but after being enmeshed in such things for four (really 5 and half) years, who knows what kind of man they have become?

The “Farlex online dictionary” explains the term fraternity may be used to describe any number of social and charitable organizations, including the Lions Club, Epsilon Sigma Alpha, International, and the Shriners, in the United States and Canada fraternities and sororities are most commonly known as social organizations of higher education students.”

For some reason, American society as a whole, excluding college students, seem to be blind to the corruption that goes on in a frat and actually may believe they have a benevolent impact on society. This is great news for the fraternities. In most cases they are able to stay afloat because of the very supportive alumni associations. They have the finances pretty well taken care of and they do a good job keeping the organization out of legal trouble.

The whole experience begins with rush. The frats throw large parties and get a myriad of boys drunk. These social events are used to idealize frat life for a naïve freshman who really doesn’t get the full picture. Fraternities will do things such as pick up the freshman rush from his dorm room, bring him to the frat, have a large dinner, and then a large party. This is all brand new for the freshman boy who sees the fraternity life through a pinhole. He doesn’t really know what to think about it, or will it will lead him, but he does like it. He is unaware of the possible long term health detriments that become byproducts of the four years of relentless partying, which are ever present in frat life.

After a couple weeks of the rush period comes bid acceptance night. This is when the rushee accepts a bid and become becomes an official pledge. Traditionally, everyone gets smashed this night, which usually helps the innocent rushes accept the bid. Once he becomes a pledge, his life becomes the frat. The pledge programs usually start off really easy but slowly continue to get worse. Most fraternities will tell the school and national organization that the pledge program is eight weeks, there is no hazing, and there is no alcohol. The average pledge program lasts for around three months and can become extremely grueling toward the end. There is physical and psychological hazing and sleep deprivation. The brothers are known to do things such as pour a box of cereal out on the ground in front of a pledge and then make him clean it up, or blindfold the pledge and verbally degrade him in an almost sinister fashion.

Penn State current news. This article was written December 13, 2005.

“A Fraternity and Sorority Life Review Board investigation into an incident that resulted in serious injuries to a student has found the Delta Sigma Fraternity guilty of hazing. As a result, the local fraternal organization will cease to be recognized as a fraternity by Penn State as of Dec. 22. Delta Sigma Fraternity members will be prohibited from collectively operating as a group and they will not be eligible to participate in any recognized University events such as Homecoming, Greek Week, Greek Sing and Thon. The organization has until Dec. 19 to file an appeal.” {You should cite this. See the textbook for instructions on how to do that properly.}

The following comes from the Official Penn State University website. It talks about what exactly hazing is. “Hazing is any physical or mental act that puts a person in a stressful or dangerous situation. Hazing is not permitted by any of the 3 Greek councils at Penn State. Hazing can manifest itself in many different ways and it is usually hard to detect since the participants are usually willing to be subjected to these juvenile and sometimes dangerous acts. Secrecy also plays a major role.”

The fraternities are able to get away with all that they do because they are good at being secretive. However, if someone is sent to the hospital because of a hazing related incident, they will encounter substantial consequences.

Mahon, Bill. "Fraternity Found Guilty of Hazing." Penn State Live. 12 Dec. 2005. Pennsylvania State University. 10 Feb. 2006 <http://http://live.psu.edu/story/15054>.

©2005 The Associated Pre. "Penn State frat loses recognition after student hospitalized." Lancaster Online (2005).

< http://ap.lancasteronline.com/4/pa_penn_state_hazing>

"Fraternities and sororities." Wikipedia. 10 Feb. 2006

<http://http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frat_boy>.

Have No Fear,

The ESRB is Here

Nicholas Alfarano

English 015, Section 025

Kem Crimmons 2/12/06

A young teenager, age 14 (gender is not important but I’ll go with male) goes into the local video game retailer. This 14 year old has a subscription to a video game magazine. Every month for the past four months the magazine has had articles for a particular video game. This video game is supposed to have terrific graphics. The storyline is said to be very enthralling. There are many secret characters and multiple endings that can be unlocked, adding to the replay value. This game will be very much worth $50. The 14 year old saved some money he got from his birthday so he could buy this game. On the release day, he rushed out to buy the game. He brought it home and it was everything as promised. The game was very realistic in depicting guns, violence, and blood. It also contained a lot of swearing and sexual themes. When the 14 year olds parents saw what he was playing, they were not very happy, and brought the game back to the retailer and complained to the manager for letting their son buy the game.

This is a common situation that has occurred. There have even been lawsuits concerning the sale of “adult themed” video games to minors. With the growth of the video game industry since the mid 1980’s, the question of how to regulate video game content has been a concern for many parents and politicians, including more recently, Hilary Clinton. We needed a system to allow consumers and retailers to evaluate what would be suitable for people of various ages to play. This is where the ESRB stepped up to the plate.

The ESRB (Entertainment Software Rating Board) was established in 1994 (previously known as the IDSA, Interactive Digital Software Association). It is a self-regulated body that independently applies and enforces ratings, advertising guidelines, and online privacy principles adopted by the computer and video game industry. Basically the ESRB does for video games what the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) does for movies.

As with the MPAA and movies, there have been some problems with the ESRB. Concerned parents and politicians have questioned the rating system, as well as the enforcement of the ratings. The biggest concern is when a minor is able to obtain a game that has been rated for a more mature audience. To help this problem the ESRB has adopted the following ratings. EC (Early Childhood): content that may be suitable for ages 3 and older. Contains no material that parents would find inappropriate, E (Everyone): content that may be suitable for ages 6 and older. Titles in this category may contain minimal cartoon, fantasy or mild violence and/or infrequent use of mild language, E10+ (Everyone 10 and older): content that may be suitable for ages 10 and older. Titles in this category may contain more cartoon, fantasy or mild violence, mild language, and/or minimal suggestive themes, T (Teen): content that may be suitable for ages 13 and older. Titles in this category may contain violence, suggestive themes, crude humor, minimal blood and/or infrequent use of strong language, M (Mature): content that may be suitable for persons ages 17 and older. Titles in this category may contain intense violence, blood and gore, sexual content, and/or strong language, AO (Adults Only): content that should only be played by persons 18 years and older. Titles in this category may include prolonged scenes of intense violence and/or graphic sexual content and nudity, and RP (Rating Pending): has been submitted to the ESRB and is awaiting final rating. (This symbol appears only in advertising prior to a game's release.). And here is an interesting little fact for you, the reader. In 2004 the ESRB assigned 1,034 game ratings. 54% were rated E, 33% rated T, 12% rated M, and less than 1% rated at AO, or EC.

Many parents and politicians are looking for a more regulated, and enforced, ratings system. The would like to see fines for video game retailers and renters for selling or renting games rated M or AO to minors. One proposed bill even calls for offenders to be fined $5000 and one year in prison. Many proposed bills have already been shot down, especially ones calling for a stricter rating standard. Video games, like movies and books, fall under the First Amendment’s freedom of speech. The government cannot tell us what we are allowed to read, watch or play, as long as in doing so no laws are broken.

Video games are already rated based on content, and the majority of retailers already voluntarily enforce these ratings. Should all video game retailers enforce the ratings and ask for I.D. on higher rated games? It would be a very good thing. But do we need laws to enforce this? Should someone go to prison for a year for selling a video game rated mature to a minor? No.

This “problem” can be fixed with one simple solution. Parents. Parents should take more interest in what their children are doing. Or in this instance, what they are buying. Take more interest in what your children spend their time, and money, on. The parent should already be very aware that their child has a video game system. Explain to your children that you want to know what games they have, and find out what the games they want contain. Find out about a game before a purchase or rental is made. The rating is on the front cover of the game box. If you don’t understand the rating or the content of the game, flip the box over. It’s on the back. If you still don’t understand, ask the retailer. They would be more than happy to explain the game or rating to you, and help you decide if it would be appropriate for your child. We don’t need more laws telling us what we can’t do. We don’t need to send people to prison for selling a video game. Before you assign blame to someone, look to see what you could have done to prevent the problem. That’s what the ratings, and ESRB, are there for. It works.

Mike Frazier. “‘Vague’ Video Game Law Under Fire.” Knight Ridder Tribune Business News. Washington D.C. July 28, 2005. <http://proquest.umi.com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/pqdweb?did=874453471&sid=3&Fmt=3&clientId=9874&RQT=309&VName=PQD>

The Video Game Revolution. PBS. 2006. http://www.pbs.org/kcts/videogamerevolution/impact/esrb.html

Entertainment Software Rating Board. ESRB. 2006. http://esrb.org/

Kurt Indvik. “Senators Promise Game Bill.” Home Media Retailing. Duluth. December 4-10. Vol. 27, Iss. 49; pg. 1, 2 pgs. http://proquest.umi.com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/pqdweb?did=942676131&sid=1&Fmt=4&clientId=9874&RQT=309&VName=PQD

Ben Mook. “Bills proposed by MD lawmakers would criminalize sale of violent video games to minors.” The Daily Record. Baltimore. January 10, 2006. http://proquest.umi.com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/pqdweb?did=964171831&sid=1&Fmt=3&clientId=9874&RQT=309&VName=PQD

Eliza Gallo. “Proposed videogame laws appear to be proliferating at all levels.” Video Business Radnor. May 30, 2005. http://proquest.umi.com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/pqdweb?did=848162651&sid=10&Fmt=3&clientId=9874&RQT=309&VName=PQD