Skip to comments.
From the Frat House to the White House (Whale Excrement alert)
NY TIMES ^
| Dec. 1, 2001
| Dr. Diane Roberts
Posted on 12/01/2001 9:35:00 AM PST by andrew
From the Frat House to the White House
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
December 1, 2001
From the Frat House to the White House
By DIANE ROBERTS
 USCALOOSA, Ala.
George W. Bush is the most secretive president since Richard Nixon. He wants to hold closed military tribunals. He makes his vice president hide. He wants to conceal his White House documents Ñ and other presidents' papers too. He won't let his attorney general disclose the names of people arrested for Ñ well, whatever it is, the Justice Department doesn't explain. Sure, there's a war going on. But George W. has always been inclined to the hermetic. After all, he was molded in occult clubs of upper-middle-class white men who meet by night and engage in ceremonies they are sworn not to reveal to outsiders.
George W. belonged to Yale's Skull and Bones, a society so secret that members do not even admit to being members. But his formative experience was in Delta Kappa Epsilon, a fraternity founded in 1844 at Yale for men embodying "in equal proportions the gentleman, the scholar and the jolly good fellow." Besides George W., famous brothers include his dad and his dad's vice president, J. Danforth Quayle. J. Pierpont Morgan was a Deke, as were William Randolph Hearst, William Wrigley (the chewing gum magnate), Howard Heinz (the ketchup magnate) and Howard Johnson, mastermind of turquoise and orange motels. The DKE Web site proudly displays a drawing of "Mt. Dekemore!" with the heads of five Deke presidents: Rutherford B. Hayes, Teddy Roosevelt, Gerald Ford and the Bushes, p*re et fils. When George W. was admitted to Yale (clearly a university committed to diversity even in academic achievement), DKE was happy to pledge him. He went on to be elected chapter president. For the uninitiated (those who don't share my Greek bona fides, for example, as winner of a paddle-decoration award in my college sorority) the Dekes never resembled the dubious Deltas in "Animal House" with toga-draped John Belushi-types crushing empty cans of Bud on their foreheads. The Dekes do not now and never have offered a home for freaks, geeks and nerds. Dekehood is both more worldly and more ambitious than that. To outsiders, fraternities seem like a weird hybrid of Masonic lodge and open bar. When the brothers aren't practicing secret handshakes and branding each other with hot irons, they spend time drinking like the pros they are. Once out of college, many frat men begin to observe the conservative values they paid lip service to in their undergraduate lives. Doubtless many of them unwittingly paraphrased St. Augustine, crying out after one more Stoli martini, "Lord, give me chastity and sobriety Ñ but not yet!" But the point of fraternities is not the partying; it's that there are insiders and outsiders, those who are allowed to know the mysteries and rituals, and those who aren't. The drunkenness may be public, but the important fraternal business Ñ like knowing the hidden meaning of the coat of arms Ñ is only for brothers. It's a powerful thing, being privy to the secrets of the brotherhood. Yesterday the North American Interfraternity Conference in Washington named George W. its Gold Medal Award winner. He is, after all, the ultimate Deke Ñ well placed, well liked by all the guys, and able to keep a secret.Ê Diane Roberts is an English professor at the University of Alabama. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"Stop Smoking"
Advertising Feature
|
|
|
|
|
|
TOPICS: Editorial; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS:
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-20, 21-40, 41-60 next last
I've already done the groundwork folks:
Here's a quite thorough Google search on Dr. Roberts.
This piece shows the degree to which the NY Times is desperate to lower Bush's sustained high marks from the public.
And this has new editorial page editor Howell Raines' fingerprints all over it:
Roberts is an English prof at University of Alabama, Raines' alma mater.
A quick look at Dr. Roberts C.V. shows that there's a strong ideological strain which she likes to propogate through state-funded institutions (National Public Radio and U of Alabama).
(Where's the time to teach your students the discipline of writing and the English language greats, Dr. Roberts? )
Roberts, like Raines, is part of a cabal of academic-minded elitist Southerners (see, Ted Turner) who attempt to redeem the conservative image of the South by pushing their liberal bona fides in Yankee country. (I know the type: I'm a Los Angeleno who got an American Studies degree in the South.)
Please let Mr. Raines know that you see what he is up to, and that he should be a little more straightforward with us in the future. In the spirit of not being 'secretive', of course.
1
posted on
12/01/2001 9:35:00 AM PST
by
andrew
To: andrew
Seriously, this made the New York Times? With all the tinfoil hat talk of secret, elite Skull and Bones clubs, this could have been the ramblings of one of our, um, more interesting Freepers.
To: andrew
But the point of fraternities is not the partying; it's that there are insiders and outsiders, those who are allowed to know the mysteries and rituals, and those who aren't.
No, Dr. Roberts, you are wrong: The point of fraternities is the partying.
There's nothing quite as noxious as vacant cultural analysis dressed up in pretty language.
3
posted on
12/01/2001 9:42:04 AM PST
by
andrew
To: andrew
Once again, I say: CALL YOUR STATE LEGISLATOR AND GET TENURE REVOKED!!!!! Alabamans, you are paying HER salary and she is not teaching---she is writing op ed pieces that have NOTHING to do with her specialty!
Tell me why I, as a Midwestern housewife and business owner, cannot have an op-ed piece? WHY would a lowly college professor get a chance to do this? Because she is a buddy of Raines, that's why!!!
Also, I would like ANYONE who is a Deke to write to the Times! This is not only a hit piece on the fraternity but on ALL fraternities, and I hope this woman, IF she was a sorority member, has her membership REVOKED!!! PUBLICLY!!!
I am so mad I could spit!!
To: andrew
I didn't get past the first paragraph. ENGLISH PROF.??? The prose is so juvenile, I thought it was from a college paper.
5
posted on
12/01/2001 9:47:06 AM PST
by
AmishDude
To: andrew
She doesn't look very happy ...
6
posted on
12/01/2001 9:48:51 AM PST
by
x
To: andrew
You know, I could be way off here, but I'd bet that Dr. Diane Roberts was never a member of a fraternity.
OTOH, I'll bet she's had lots of experience with them.
And is it me, or do all of these insane, outspoken liberal nincompoops seem to be English professors?
7
posted on
12/01/2001 9:49:03 AM PST
by
AmishDude
To: andrew
Excuse me: Raines is now the editor of the whole paper! He used to be the editorial page editor.
8
posted on
12/01/2001 9:50:29 AM PST
by
andrew
To: andrew
"George W. belonged to Yale's Skull and Bones, a society so secret that members do not even admit to being members. But his formative experience was in Delta Kappa Epsilon, a fraternity founded in 1844 at Yale for men embodying "in equal proportions the gentleman, the scholar and the jolly good fellow." Besides George W., famous brothers include his dad and his dad's vice president, J. Danforth Quayle. J. Pierpont Morgan was a Deke, as were William Randolph Hearst, William Wrigley (the chewing gum magnate), Howard Heinz (the ketchup magnate) and Howard Johnson, mastermind of turquoise and orange motels. The DKE Web site proudly displays a drawing of "Mt. Dekemore!" with the heads of five Deke presidents: Rutherford B. Hayes, Teddy Roosevelt, Gerald Ford and the Bushes, p*re et fils." I'm sure that Ms. Roberts will be delighted to discover that she shares the same views and prejudices as the Birchers and tinfoil-topper crowd.
It's rather stunning that an opinion piece of so little depth appeared in a serious newspaper, much less the New York Times, as opposed to "The New American", "Weekly World News" or "Fred's Website".
The Times sinks lower every day...
9
posted on
12/01/2001 10:05:07 AM PST
by
okie01
To: okie01
Every single time I read one of these tirades about fraternities, specifically Skull & Bones and in this case DKE, one word comes into my mind:
BLACKBALLED
Sounds like somebody didn't get to pledge the "group" she wanted to be in.
10
posted on
12/01/2001 10:07:28 AM PST
by
Howlin
To: AmishDude
Punt, 'Bama, Punt!
11
posted on
12/01/2001 10:11:11 AM PST
by
Howlin
To: Howlin
I want to know what sorority she was in. I will bet you dollars to donuts that she wasn't.
This reads like the paranoid whinings of the anti-Greek crowd when I was at IU. Ha! (Miss Marple did not join a sorority, getting married her freshmamn year and decamping for a tour of Europe as an Air Force wife.) There were plenty of people I knew who did pledge, and others who didn't and spent an awful lot of time telling everyone how terrible sororities and fraternities were.
To: andrew
That was the dumbest essay I've read in a while. She cracked the code of fraternities. It really isn't about the partying. It's about knowing what the coat-of-arms means. Ahhh. How could I have been so naive.
To: AmishDude
You know, I could be way off here, but I'd bet that Dr. Diane Roberts was never a member of a fraternity.Pretty safe bet, I'd say
...especially when she writes:
For the uninitiated (those who don't share my Greek bona fides, for example, as winner of a paddle-decoration award in my college sorority).
However, I will bet that she has shared her Greek bona fides
This woman is in dire need of a HBI.
FReegards,
14
posted on
12/01/2001 10:18:12 AM PST
by
VMI70
To: andrew
Sounds like a little payback from the geeky girl who didn't make it into Chi O or Tri Delt. I'm sure all the other ex-geeks who live on the Yupper West Side are clucking in agreement.
This is so laughable to anyone outside of Manhattan. Thanks for the humor break!
To: Miss Marple
Can't you just feel the contempt oozing from this woman??? LOL..I love it..I love watching GWB get them all riled up because he is as "OUT THERE" as their buddy X42 was...LOL
16
posted on
12/01/2001 10:19:20 AM PST
by
Neets
To: andrew
BTW, this article screams that she got nailed in her college days by a frat guy, who never called her.
To: Miss Marple; Lizzy W
Precisely. Let's see what Lizzy has to say about it!
18
posted on
12/01/2001 10:25:03 AM PST
by
Howlin
To: No Left Turn
ROFL!
19
posted on
12/01/2001 10:25:29 AM PST
by
Howlin
To: VMI70
(those who don't share my Greek bona fides, for example, as winner of a paddle-decoration award in my college sorority)Ah, the old gray lady of journalism. Such quality stuff here. Why do I have this sneaking suspicion that she might be a little too obsessed with paddles? OK, AmishDude, stop there.
Oh, and I did intend for her sex to be taken into account when I mentioned the "frats". Makes the second remark meaningful, I think.
HBI?
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-20, 21-40, 41-60 next last
Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson
