# How can a racist frat-boy rehabilitate himself? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 12, 2015, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-a-racist-frat-boy-rehabilitate-himself/714820 "2015-03-12T12:05:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2015, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-a-racist-frat-boy-rehabilitate-himself/714820/41 "2015-03-13T13:05:15Z")
Hands up anyone who knows a person who was a racist and wanted to stop being a racist but was forced to remain a racist by non-racists? ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2015, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-a-racist-frat-boy-rehabilitate-himself/714820/42 "2015-03-13T16:48:08Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > Oh, I don’t know. Maybe by ignoring this politically correct bullshit and continuing with their lives. Wait, too late! That’s what they’re already doing… I will guarantee that right now the University of Oklahoma ΣAE guys are sitting around their fraternity house complaining about how they are being unfairly persecuted by “whiney minorities” and “Liberals”. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2015, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-a-racist-frat-boy-rehabilitate-himself/714820/43 "2015-03-13T16:56:14Z")
Step one should be, “Don’t drink.” I’m not saying that his beliefs were caused by alcohol, that if he’d been sober he never would have said it, etc. But I think it’s fair to say that he’s got problems with decision-making, and alcohol doesn’t improve judgment. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2015, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-a-racist-frat-boy-rehabilitate-himself/714820/44 "2015-03-13T17:14:47Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > My self is my cite. You have to name at least one other. ---
**Author:** ![stillownedbysetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2015, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-a-racist-frat-boy-rehabilitate-himself/714820/45 "2015-03-13T17:16:41Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > You need a bachelors degree to get into the Peace Corps so that won’t work. Even if he had one, he’d never make the cut. It’s a very competitive program. You don’t just join the Peace Corps and head off to Africa. France is out, Peace Corps is out. Guess that means a visit to the nearest armed forces recruiter. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2015, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-a-racist-frat-boy-rehabilitate-himself/714820/46 "2015-03-13T17:27:33Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > I will guarantee that right now the University of Oklahoma ΣAE guys are sitting around their fraternity house complaining about how they are being unfairly persecuted by “whiney minorities” and “Liberals”. They don’t have a frat house. They were given 48 hours to vacate by the University who somehow own the property and were leasing it. In fact, they don’t even have a frat. The national office disbanded them. > [@stillownedbysetters](#): > > France is out, Peace Corps is out. Guess that means a visit to the nearest armed forces recruiter. That’s not a bad idea. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2015, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-a-racist-frat-boy-rehabilitate-himself/714820/47 "2015-03-13T17:27:51Z")
_Starship Troopers_ was a true story? ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2015, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-a-racist-frat-boy-rehabilitate-himself/714820/48 "2015-03-13T17:34:28Z")
Admit nothing, deny everything, make counter-accusations. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2015, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-a-racist-frat-boy-rehabilitate-himself/714820/49 "2015-03-13T17:37:03Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > You need a bachelors degree to get into the Peace Corps so that won’t work. Even if he had one, he’d never make the cut. It’s a very competitive program. You don’t just join the Peace Corps and head off to Africa. Sure about that? IIRC, the Peace Corps is pretty welcoming to [retired farmers and construction workers](http://www.peacecorps.gov/volunteer/learn/howvol/lookingfor/) > [@](#): > > Ten percent of Volunteer positions do not require a four-year degree. An associate degree combined with work experience may help make you eligible to serve as a Volunteer in areas such as youth development, health and HIV/AIDS, business and information and communication technology, agriculture and the environment, and skilled trades. Competitive non-degree candidates must have 3–5 years full-time work experience in business, agriculture, construction, information and communication technology, youth development, or nonprofit organizations OTOH, if they run off to join the French Foreign Legion, [they can’t be missing more than 4-6 teeth.](http://foreignlegion.info/joining/) Perhaps a problem for Oklahomans. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2015, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-a-racist-frat-boy-rehabilitate-himself/714820/50 "2015-03-13T17:38:15Z")
Or learn how to give the short talk about yes, that was me, I was young and stupid, learned from the experience, have done my best to learn and overcome it and grow (fill in some convincing examples) etc., and deliver it sincerely. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2015, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-a-racist-frat-boy-rehabilitate-himself/714820/51 "2015-03-13T17:39:38Z")
> [@pool](#): > > Admit nothing, deny everything, make counter-accusations. They fully admitted it and apologized already albeit through family attorneys. > [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > Sure about that? IIRC, the Peace Corps is pretty welcoming to [/url=[http://www.peacecorps.gov/volunteer/learn/howvol/lookingfor/](http://www.peacecorps.gov/volunteer/learn/howvol/lookingfor/)]retired farmers and construction workers That’s true. You can get in with years of experience in a relevant skill. This still doesn’t apply to a 19 year old privileged kid who has never worked in his life. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2015, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-a-racist-frat-boy-rehabilitate-himself/714820/52 "2015-03-13T17:47:01Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Yes, but would it work? Has it worked for others in similar situations? If a clerk in the judge’s office Googles the “before” name out of curiousity and tells her husband who tells his buddies… John Grisham – yeah, I realize that’s like citing Tom Clancy in a military thread, but stay with me on this – had a character legally change his name from A to B, and then to C, and so on, and so on, and so _nobody knows who Mr. X is,_ because backtracking to W and then searching to see whether there’s a V is something U won’t bother to do out of idle curiosity, but T was S because we R talking about someone who had a _verrrrrrry_ good reason to switch to Q after switching to P. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2015, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-a-racist-frat-boy-rehabilitate-himself/714820/53 "2015-03-13T18:39:27Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > They don’t have a frat house. They were given 48 hours to vacate by the University who somehow own the property and were leasing it. In fact, they don’t even have a frat. The national office disbanded them. It’s called “hyperbole”. The point is they’re probably sitting around scratching their heads, thinking THEY are the victims here. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2015, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-a-racist-frat-boy-rehabilitate-himself/714820/54 "2015-03-13T19:10:37Z")
Anyone remember Michael Richards? The guy who was caught on video screaming “NIGGER” at the top of his lungs? Everyone predicted the worse for him. Remember that? Everyone said his career was just as good as dead. He’s not an A-list celebrity. But he’s not living in the gutter somewhere either. Most people (read white people) weren’t offended enough to hold a permanent grudge against him. The same with Imus. The same with Mel Gibson. These frat guys are not going to end up flipping burgers somewhere. That’s not what happens to well-to-do white guys. No, this is what’s going to happen. SAE alums are going to quietly rally around them. Offers of internships and other opportunities will land in their lap so they can stay busy while waiting for the hoopla to die-down. The country is full of small private colleges more than happy to take a student like this…especially someone willing to pay full-freight so they can get on with things. And then after college, if they’re having trouble getting a job, the brotherhood will step in again. Not the leadership. Not the “brothers” who pay lipservice to diversity. But the core of the organization who sympathizes with those students, because they remember all those fond memories of singing that chant back before YouTube and camera phones. I’m betting those guys get handed more business cards in the next couple of weeks than most people accumulate their entire lives. Anyone who thinks these guys have ruined their lives has to be living in a frickin’ rainbows-and-lollipops cave somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2015, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-a-racist-frat-boy-rehabilitate-himself/714820/55 "2015-03-13T19:15:33Z")
They were really stupid and I doubt their lives ruined, but would ruination of their lives really be a just punishment in the first place? Michael Richards career already had seen it’s Zenith and he already made his millions what were you expecting to happen, I don’t really follow him did he ever do anything big after that incident, a guest spot on Curb your Enthusiasm maybe? ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2015, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-a-racist-frat-boy-rehabilitate-himself/714820/56 "2015-03-13T19:54:40Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > Anyone remember Michael Richards? The guy who was caught on video screaming “NIGGER” at the top of his lungs? > > Everyone predicted the worse for him. Remember that? Everyone said his career was just as good as dead. > > He’s not an A-list celebrity. But he’s not living in the gutter somewhere either. Well, not a great example because he was already _spectacularly_ wealthy from the Seinfeld gig. I honestly don’t think his career _has_ recovered. It’s just that he no longer really needs one, his standup was mostly done for his own sake not to make a living. > [@](#): > > Most people (read white people) weren’t offended enough to hold a permanent grudge against him. The same with Imus. The same with Mel Gibson. Maybe, I do think they got a lot of tarnish. IME ( perhaps limited ) even most white people seem to think Gibson is a loon. Don Imus is slightly more obscure, but not particularly beloved either. But in general I agree with your point. I don’t think these assholes are going to have to worry about “ruined lives” unless they start grandstanding. It will always be an ugly cocktail party-level skeleton in their closet, but otherwise if they keep their heads down they will emerge from this just fine. Memories are short, which is both a good and a bad thing. And the privileged are the privileged. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2015, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-a-racist-frat-boy-rehabilitate-himself/714820/57 "2015-03-13T20:00:08Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > You have to name at least one other. Muffin raises his hand. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Nylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/77aa72/32.png) [@Mr.Nylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Nylock)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2015, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-a-racist-frat-boy-rehabilitate-himself/714820/58 "2015-03-13T23:37:35Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > Anyone who thinks these guys have ruined their lives has to be living in a frickin’ rainbows-and-lollipops cave somewhere. I think you might be over estimating white privilege. As a middle aged white male I can say it ain’t what it used to be - frankly I’m happy about that, I myself have no desire for things to be like they were a half century ago; heck I’m glad we’re far from where we were culturally in the 80’s. Don’t get me wrong - it exists, but there are many many things the power of these privileges cannot overcome effortlessly. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-a-racist-frat-boy-rehabilitate-himself/714820/59 "2015-03-14T00:12:45Z")
This whole controversy is the biggest bunch of first-world problem bullshit I’ve ever seen. Just look at the title of this thread: \*How can a \*\*racist \*\*frat-boy \*\*rehabilitate \*_himself?_ So just uttering a stupid, grade-school level bad taste rhyme means you get branded with the label ‘racist’. This is nonsense. It’s impolite and in bad taste, but nothing more. And absolutely none of those dumb kids are anywhere in the ballpark (or city, or planet) of lynching anyone just because it contained the line ‘hang a nigger from a tree’. And the label racist has been so hyper-sensitized that now it totally dilutes the real criminal actions of real, actual racists. But even worse, _rehabilitate_?!?! Yes, they must be sent to a reeducation camp for processing. If this isn’t proof that political correctness is a form of fascism I don’t know what is. Using the word nigger like this is the quintessential example of free speech. You have to accept the good with the bad. And until black people stop using it in every other sentence I’m not going to be expected to give it any reverence. And yes, black people’s use of it is 98% exactly the same as when whites do. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-a-racist-frat-boy-rehabilitate-himself/714820/60 "2015-03-14T00:15:33Z")
> [@Mr.Nylock](#): > > I think you might be over estimating white privilege. I’m not over estimating anything. It’s just that I’ve never heard of anyone’s life being ruined after being exposed as a racist. Have you? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-a-racist-frat-boy-rehabilitate-himself/714820.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-a-racist-frat-boy-rehabilitate-himself/714820.md?page=4)