Be Yourself, Not Politically Correct [OPINION]

Why is it a crime to be proud of who you are today? The women of the University of Alabama's Alpha Phi sorority are being criticized for an excellent recruitment video that shows prospecting pledges who they are. Why is it wrong to be yourself in America today?

I saw this item on social media last night. It made me so mad that I could not fall asleep after reading about it. A group of smart, enterprising young women got together to make a video show people who they were.

They were showing off the fun things they do together. They got the school mascot and a football player involved to show off their school pride. They are a group of like-minded people that are together doing things that college kids do. And that seems to be a crime in some people's eyes.

If you look at the definition of Sorority, it reads:

noun, plural sororities.
1. a society or club of women or girls, especially in a college.

The companion word is Fraternity: It is defined as:

noun, plural fraternities.
1.a local or national organization of male students, primarily for social purposes, usually with secret initiation and rites and a name composed of two or three Greek letters.
2.a group of persons associated by or as if by ties of brotherhood.
3.any group or class of persons having common purposes, interests, etc.:
the medical fraternity.
4.an organization of laymen for religious or charitable purposes; sodality.
5.the quality of being brotherly; brotherhood:
liberty, equality, and fraternity.
6.the relation of a brother or between brothers.

Do you see the word DIVERSITY anywhere in these definitions? No. In fact, they are defined by "having common purposes, interests, etc.". That is what these organizations are all about. Like people getting together to form a friendship bond.

I belonged to a co-ed service fraternity when I went back to college in the early 2000's. Alpha Phi Omega was a group that did service projects to help out the community they lived in. Just like the Eagles, Moose, Elks, Rotary, Odd Fellows and others. They are like-minded people coming together for social purposes.

The women of Alabama's Alpha Phi are not alone in what they did. Many fraternities and sororities make recruitment videos to attract new pledges. They all look about the same, showing people the fun and feeling of belonging that you can get by joining them.

So why did some feel they needed to make such a big deal over this one? Why did they have to drag politics into simple college life? Why did the university feel it had to condemn these women for being proud of who they are?

Alpha Phi deleted the video, which had 500,000 views on YouTube before it was taken down, but it has since been uploaded to YouTube by others. The chapter website has disconnected it's contact links. They also have taken down their Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr pages.

I wish their social media pages were up so I could congratulate them for a job well done. If I was an 18-year-old woman, I would love to join them for all the fun and frivolity. It is exactly what I would expect a sorority to be.

The controversy began with an opinion piece by AL.com writer A.L. Bailey, who called it "all so racially and aesthetically homogeneous and forced, so hyper-feminine, so reductive and objectifying, so Stepford Wives: College Edition."The headline of the story calls the video "worse for women than Donald Trump," who recently drew fire for comments to Fox News host Megyn Kelly that some viewed as sexist. Bailey also calls the sorority members "poster children for detrimental stereotypes and cliches."

That is what life is all about. Finding a comfort zone to enjoy life in and make good memories and good friends. Life is and will always be full of cliques, as "ducks of a feather flock together." So stop badgering these young women for living their dream and being proud of who they are at this time in their lives.

Filed Under: Alabama

Categories: Lifestyles, National News, Social Media