Recently, Deadspin published a private email from a sorority member to her sisters explaining, in florid and humorous and decidedly vulgar language, the ways in which they were failing to conform to expectations. For this, she was made the subject of much fun. She was called a terrible person, she was labeled "insane sorority girl," blogs tracked down her real name and Twitter account and broadcast her tweets for the world to see*, and ridicule was heaped upon her.
I say god bless that girl. It's about time someone stood up for standards. (Warning: Much vulgar language to follow.)
We, as a society, have essentially said "Screw it, anything goes." But not the Hero of Delta Gamma. She was drawing a line in the sand. She was reminding her confreres that there are expectations in this world, and we have those expectations for a reason. She was asking her sisters to behave with a modicum—just the tiniest little bit—of respect for the people her sorority was mingling with:
This also applies to you little shits that have talked openly about post gaming at a different frat IN FRONT OF SIGMA NU BROTHERS. Are you people fucking retarded? That's not a rhetorical question, I LITERALLY want you to email me back telling me if you're mentally slow so I can make sure you don't go to anymore night time events.
Modern Greek life—just as ancient Greek and Roman life before it—functions as an honor culture. You show respect to get respect. The Hero of Delta Gamma understands that fact and, surrounded by people who do not, she loses her cool in the most glorious way possible. She is using shame as a weapon, a tool to whip her "friends" into shape. She also understands what is best in life:
I've not only gotten texts about people being fucking WEIRD at sports (for example, being stupid shits and saying stuff like "durr what's kickball?" is not fucking funny), but I've gotten texts about people actually cheering for the opposing team. The opposing. Fucking. Team. ARE YOU FUCKING STUPID?!! I don't give a SHIT about sportsmanship, YOU CHEER FOR OUR GODDAMN TEAM AND NOT THE OTHER ONE, HAVE YOU NEVER BEEN TO A SPORTS GAME? ARE YOU FUCKING BLIND?
I for one would like to salute the Hero of Delta Gamma for pointing out the obvious: "Sportsmanship" is no excuse for stupidity. Cheering for the other team—or for "both teams to play really well" or for "everyone to just have fun"—is asinine. It is the opposite of everything sports should teach us. And what do sports teach us? In life there are winners and there are losers.** The Hero of Delta Gamma? She's a winner. And she's tired of being surrounded by losers.
As a bonus, here's a very-NSFW dramatic reading of the Hero of Delta Gamma's letter by Michael Shannon:
*As an aside, I'd just like to point out that when the Free Beacon highlighted the Twitter account of a post-collegiate, gainfully employed, and fully adult woman who asked an asinine question at a presidential debate, we were the worst people in the whole world. But when websites publish a private email (albeit with redacted info) of a college kid and then other websites track down said college kid's name and Twitter feed in order to mock and scorn her, well, no big deal. Nice double standard you have there, Internet.
**Except in soccer and hockey. And this is why soccer and hockey have failed to take hold in America. Because ties are just losses that don't count against you.