Grumpy Lutheran - On WELS Hazing

Dr. Jackson,

Your recent posting had me thinking back to my long ago ZEX year.  

Just a week or so ago I would imagine the newest freshman class got mustered into MLS.

I remember how, as a freshman, the attitude and personality of the upperclassmen changed once the parents started to wander off after that "enrollment" Sunday and the dorms became pretty much devoid of adult supervision.  True, there was the occasional tutor, but the ratio was something like 2 tutors for over 140 male dormers leads to pretty thin coverage. 

It was definitely an "interesting" experience.  Whenever I read about the plebe year at military academies, or about English boarding school (such as Robert Graves' autobiography "Goodbye To All That") I always find myself doing an "experience comparison".

Although I have not kept in contact with my old alma mater, nor have I had any children who have subsequently attended MLS, I have been told the hazing that was so common during freshman year has all but disappeared.  Considering the age of a freshman in the dorm at MLS (13 or 14 years old), the "traditional" hazing would be a lawsuit waiting to happen, especially in today's litigious society.  In addition, the proliferation of cell phones with camera and video capabilities, as well as access to email, would tend to help police overt abuses.,

Our former pastor, who was about 30 years younger than myself and also an alumni of MLS, would often go on about the hazing of his freshman year.

He then made it known that he was a "townie".

Uh-huh....home every night, and home all weekend, every weekend.

"Boy, Pastor, that sure must have been tough"  ....eyes rolling....laughing hysterically (in private).

I will say this about the hazing...

While I never look back on my high (prep) school with fond nostalgia, I am proud of having endured that time without letting it break my spirit.

I even must confess that I look with some disdain on those students who entered MLS in their sophomore (or later) years and avoid that "trial by fire" ZEX year.

To a certain extent, I don't consider them to be full fledged alumni.  The same can be said for townies; sorry guys and gals, you just never had the full experience.

Ok, I guess that makes me a bit of a snob, and maybe even a little mentally imbalanced (denigrating those who did not "suffer" enough).  

Trust me, I have no right to "look down" on anyone.

Well, that's enough of walking down memory lane.

I will probably wake up screaming again tonight.

Just joking...my therapy sessions have finally silenced the night terrors.

Grumps

Just Like Hazing in WELS - "Harmless Fun" at West Point Turns into Bone-Breaking Brawl

Larry Olson - "Please stop putting me in Purgatory during lunch, OK?"

NY Times

For generations, freshmen cadets at the United States Military Academy have marked the end of a grueling summer of training with a huge nighttime pillow fight that is billed as a harmless way to blow off steam and build class spirit.

But this year the fight on the West Point, N.Y., campus turned bloody as some cadets swung pillowcases packed with hard objects, thought to be helmets, that split lips, broke at least one bone, dislocated shoulders and knocked cadets unconscious. The brawl at the publicly funded academy, where many of the Army’s top leaders are trained, left 30 cadets injured, including 24 with concussions, according to West Point.

In interviews, cadets who asked that their names not be used for fear of repercussions in West Point’s strictly controlled culture, said the fight had left one cadet with a broken leg and dislocated shoulders in others. One cadet was knocked unconscious and taken away in an ambulance and had not returned to school, they said. But a spokesman for the academy, Lt. Col. Christopher Kasker, said all cadets had returned to duty.

Though talk about the brawl on Aug. 20 had circulated on social media, West Point did not confirm it to The New York Times until Thursday...

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GJ - Hazing is embedded in WELS culture, creating an artificial closeness from shared secrets and an atmosphere of bullying and subordination, hallmarks of a sick, abusive sect.

A student at Michigan Lutheran Seminary was held outside the upper-floor window by his feet. They let go and he was injured in the fall.

One current ELS leader was whipped on his rear with a wire coat-hanger.

Another pastor was hit with a pillowcase filled with books - knocked unconscious.

Broken leg at West Point? At Mequon, the GA hazing broke one student's leg and knocked the tooth out of another.

GA "no longer exists" at Mequon because it is called HB.

The GA pope had students wade into sewage drainage water to get his "lost bowling ball," a task for new students each year. If a student obviously knew what GA was all about, the upperclassmen really worked him over.

If someone complained about GA, that was held against him by all WELS leaders from that time on - and never forgotten, never forgiven. The chances of that person being hated out of the seminary or the ministry were increased to 100%. Simply going to the dean - like John Sparky Brenner - meant that GA would be defended and the student put on the exit tract.

This enforces the code of secrecy in WELS and the ELS. I mentioned the WELS Taiwanese missionaries who went Pentecostal in front of the wife of one of these hazing victims, now in a position of power. She snapped at me, "No one is supposed to talk about that."

But be of good cheer if WELS or the Little Sect on the Prairie has defenestrated you for knowing and talking about the facts. They did you a favor. Thank God for the blessing of being gone.

When WELS-ELS church workers commit crimes, the secrecy is so tight that anyone speaking about it is easily identified and warned. Speaking the truth is called "gossip and slander" while those same people shun, slander, and lie about anyone the cult has identified as a danger to their comfort, security, and fleshpots.

Playing stupid is a good way to warn someone, "Don't talk about this."