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LuckyCharms

(17,425 posts)
Wed Sep 26, 2018, 12:29 PM Sep 2018

I graduated from university in the early 80's.

I went to a very competitive university, and participated in a difficult curriculum.

I had a large circle of friends, both men and women. As was common at that time, and probably now, all of us occasionally drank our faces off, usually in the campus pub. We also held jobs while attending classes. Along with several people in my circle, I worked up to 30 hours a week while taking a full load of classes.

I'm going to sound like a judgmental old man, but you see, we had neither the time, nor the inclination to "run trains" on women. I met some genuinely good and decent people while there. We drank occasionally to kill stress and to celebrate accomplishments. Since we also worked, we kind of realized that we could not afford to be hung over too often.

I was local to my university, and so were many of my friends. However, the majority of students that I knew were from a large east coast city. They attended the university on their parent's dime. They didn't have to work. And many of them did not have to work very hard at their coursework either, because many of them were very intelligent, if not bonafide geniuses. I guess you had to be since the school was so competitive. I had a leg up since I was local, and I also transferred from a 2 year school, where I received straight A's for all 4 semesters. Was it not for those two factors, I never would have been accepted at this school.

I formed a heavy bias at that time against the students from the city concerning their privileged lives. They were children of very successful parents. And they did not have to work. They would have parties several times a week in the dorms, that not many local people were invited to (I lived off campus, as did the people I associated with). They would tell stories of the sexual activity that occurred at these parties. The men would talk of their conquests with women. They were proud of all of this, and they considered themselves to be special. They did not recognize that they could not be living the life that they were had it not been for the wealth of their parents. Also, many of these people seemed not to care at all about other people, and the consequences of their actions. Even at that young age, I could recognize this intuitively.

A large percentage of these people (especially men) were fucking assholes then, and based on what is happening on the news today, I have no problems painting with a broad brush and saying that many of them are probably still fucking assholes.

I do not know anything about Kavanaugh's and Judge's background. Their backgrounds may be the opposite of what I am describing above. But here's what I do know...I know the type of people they are. BMOC's (big men on campus). God's gift to women. Fucking assholes.

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bobbieinok

(12,858 posts)
2. Son went to prestige u late 80s. Rich kids just needed to pass. They would have jobs in dad's compan
Wed Sep 26, 2018, 01:01 PM
Sep 2018

At least that was son's impression.

The prestige degree was for family, personal status in their circles.

lunatica

(53,410 posts)
3. They were entitled and given a pass
Wed Sep 26, 2018, 01:09 PM
Sep 2018

Trumps’s father sent him to a military academy to teach him something, but he always bailed him out, so whatever he hoped to accomplish for his son was undone by his own incapacity to follow through.

Joe Nation

(962 posts)
4. These assholes are the definition of white privilege.
Wed Sep 26, 2018, 03:53 PM
Sep 2018

I lived in a Student Co-operative on Frat Row at a large University. The entitlement of these little pricks was open for everyone to see. Today, they run most of the corporations and government centers of power at least on the republican side of the aisle. The rape culture of fraternities is the same today as it was then. Universities cover up these crimes and say that they didn't happen on University property when they get exposed. They don't want to lose there donors. It's a sick cycle and young women are paying the costs.

yardwork

(61,604 posts)
5. I'm glad that we're talking about this.
Wed Sep 26, 2018, 08:24 PM
Sep 2018

We're talking about a class of people who have no empathy. They are ruled by greed and entitlement. They're running our country now and it shows.

torius

(1,652 posts)
6. The transition from Carter to Reagan
Wed Sep 26, 2018, 08:42 PM
Sep 2018

was a very painful time. All of a sudden this frat culture became dominant. The atmosphere, in NYC, went from warm and fuzzy to harsh and violent and investment banking became a popular career. Some creative types went punk. The noncreative types went to some prototype of the now full-fledged fascists who drool over Trump.

 

YOHABLO

(7,358 posts)
7. So with all the drinking and rapey / chaining stuff, how the hell does he get into Yale?
Wed Sep 26, 2018, 08:44 PM
Sep 2018

With all the drinking you'd think his brain cells would be fried.

KentuckyWoman

(6,679 posts)
8. I went to college in the 60's
Wed Sep 26, 2018, 08:50 PM
Sep 2018

Local affordable college with a full time job and full load of classes. We had our share of BMOC's too. A sorry bunch if there ever was one. One of them got himself a manager position for awhile where I worked.... and made life painful for awhile. I was fortunate to later meet my husband, who saw enough in me he liked to be willing to run the gauntlet until the wound became an old scar.

I agree completely with your assessment.

Nitram

(22,800 posts)
9. Lucky, I think you'll find that no one on DU would suspect you were a "judgemental old man" because
Thu Sep 27, 2018, 08:37 AM
Sep 2018

you disapprove of gang rape. So you can sleep easy tonight!

flygal

(3,231 posts)
10. the frats at my college (mid 80s) had a "Little Sister" program
Thu Sep 27, 2018, 08:44 AM
Sep 2018

I was a GDI (god damned independent) but rumors were they were picked on looks and were always available for their parties. fun!

kwassa

(23,340 posts)
11. The larger problem is that the entitled view the world differently.
Thu Sep 27, 2018, 09:31 AM
Sep 2018

And when the entitled end up on the Supreme Court, that is a real and consistent problem. Their world view is skewed by their upbringing. Kavanaugh is just another over-privileged white male that has lived his life in an affluent bubble.

This is a local story for me. I live in Montgomery County.

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