In the news this week: pop stars, duck hunters and FratPACs — and, no, that’s not a new form of booze. Here’s your weekly Friday
Darts & Laurels
Let’s start off with the FratPAC. Never heard of it? It’s one of many political action committees vying for attention from Congress — and it represents pretty much all of Greek life. Which is cool — like anyone else, Greeks have interests and are entitled to have those interests represented in government.
What’s not so nice is news that FratPAC is going to lobby for rape accusations to be investigated by law enforcement first, rather than university administrations.
Here’s the thing — this isn’t going to end sexual assault. At most, it’s going to help Greek houses cover their asses in the event of one, which will prevent campus-wide shutdowns of whole Greek systems or keeping administrators from doling out punishments before a criminal case is complete.
Let’s remember, FratPAC represents its own interests, which are essentially twofold: keeping members eligible — enrolled in school — and keeping the Natty flowing. FratPAC and its constituents are certainly allowed to lobby and fight for their interests, but institutions that are often responsible for a problem probably shouldn’t be coming up with solutions to it. But we don’t have enough room here to accurately articulate our feelings right now — expect a more complete view in Monday’s editorial. Anyway, here’s a DART to FratPAC.
Something even more questionable happened this week at a prayer breakfast in Vero Beach. Phil Robertson, bearded patriarch of “Duck Dynasty” fame, was in attendance. During the meeting, he went off on a bizarre, graphic hypothetical tangent: What if people broke into an atheist’s house? Tied him up? Raped and murdered his family? Decapitated his wife and cut off his, uh, favorite duck caller?
Robertson’s point: He’s frustrated by the idea that right and wrong can be determined by human beings instead of God. He’s not endorsing the rape and murder of atheists; it was just a tasteless attempt at rhetoric. We’re going to give Robertson a DART for this one, but we hope he learns how to express his frustrations more carefully in the future.
Also, Zayn left One Direction. If you’re utterly flabbergasted in any way, don’t bother with it — continue as you were. The singer parted ways with the flagship boy band of the 2010s because of “stress,” an industry term for “I was caught with my arm around a woman who isn’t my fiancee, my every move is recorded and analyzed, and I just want to go home.” Seriously, we feel pretty bad for poor Zayn.
We don’t feel bad for the fans who are treating this like the end of all things. Yeah, you’re definitely allowed to be upset and to vent those frustrations — but asking for time off work usually reserved in case a relative dies? That’s crossing a line. LAUREL to Zayn for doing what’s best for him; DART to people who took this way too seriously.
[A version of this story ran on page 6 on 3/27/2015]
