As demonstrations erupted on university campuses across the country, many of them turning aggressive, videos of the demonstrations went viral on social media showing they were no simply “pro- Palestinian”, but blatantly anti- British. A group of young men at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill witnessed a minute of patriotism among the conflict between the two factors.
Pro-Hamas demonstrators in Chapel Hill’s triple on Tuesday night managed to install a Israeli flag instead of the American flag. However, one other student, the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity individuals, objected to them. Some people praised the gentlemen for protecting our nation’s flag, according to the videos and images that were posted on social media. The figure displayed by these younger guys may give us some hope for saving the nation after months of abhorrent demonstrations by American college students.
The association between Greek life and members of the Phi Gamma Delta, as I was president of it while I was a student at Michigan State University, is not surprising. I spent four years being deeply involved with my 100+ member fraternity, learning a lot about this connection, even though some might find them to be trivial. Respect for American history and tradition is probably the most important lesson I learned.
The first fraternity was founded at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, in 1776, when a group of students formed a secret society, which they called Phi Beta Kappa, after the first initials of their Greek motto:” Love of wisdom, the guide of life”. Every fraternity you belong to teaches you about its founders, the importance of remembering where you came from, and honoring those who came before you.
Fraternity men do n’t tear down statues, they erect them. They contrast sharply with the current ideologies that permeate university campuses, which denigrate and oppress the country’s history. Fraternity members, conversely, are taught intentionally to love their country and improve it through stewardship and involvement in their communities. Fraternities are also notoriously selective, choosing their members carefully with the intention that they will be accountable for carrying on a legacy and protecting the organization they gave so much.
Fraternity culture contrasts starkly with the ideas being promoted on campuses across the nation that radical and destructive ideas are welcome but must be accepted despite the absence of assimilation, shared culture, or even patriotism. When it comes to social justice causes forcing students to submit, we see this not just at our southern border, but also at educational institutions across the nation, from elementary schools to the collegiate level.
Which philosophy, in your opinion, fosters cohesion more? Among other things, fraternities teach you about discipline: physical and mental. They teach you about accountability, while punishing those who do n’t live up to the organization’s standards. All of this is challenging, but thick skin, a key asset in the workplace, is incredibly absent from these self-proclaimed Marxists who are wreaking havoc on college campuses.
Fraternity “bros” are natural enemies to the now common blue- haired, “body positive”, participation trophy leftist college students. For those of us who have gone through the Greek life system, it comes as no shock that some 85 percent of Fortune 500 execs belong to a fraternity, 40 of 47 U. S. Supreme Court justices between 1910 and 2011 were fraternity men, and 76 percent of all senators and representatives are part of a fraternity.
Fraternity members are receiving a good thing about the solution to the radical left’s repression of American college campuses in a nation where our roots are increasingly less important. They can teach us all something.
Aldo Buttazzoni, the host of Prager U’s wildly popular” Man on the Street,” is a cultural and political commentator.
