Essay Lead......

I used two types of leads in my thesis; a short anecdote as well as a clear contrast/comparison of two very different themes.


Fraternity Serfdom by Matt Maillet

Year after year, Freshmen boys and girls make the decision to join Greek life at Syracuse University, contracting themselves to abandon all forms of personal rights and principles, for the simple sake of being initiated into a social organization. While obviously the act of hazing its new members is not a trend that every fraternity and sorority follows, certain organizations on campus carry the guilt of degrading its "pledges" with every new class. Power hungry upper classmen make it a personal goal to strip the basic rights of their new members over and over again simply because they once experienced the same type of discomfort as a Freshman. The humiliation that they faced just one or two years prior is silenced deep inside them, and many individuals make it a personal goal to make the process just as brutal for the new guys as they once had it. Even though they can still remember the shame they once had to face, the need for authority is overbearing. Adam Smith declared the following observation in 1763 regarding the mind state of many people opposed to slavery abolition at the time; "It has been universal in the beginnings of society, and the love of dominion and authority over others will probably make it perpetual." Even during a time of Enlightenment across Europe, people neglected the fact that the slave trade was morally unacceptable. While at the same time of the slave trade there were American and French revolutions protected basic human rights for millions of others, many people were still reluctant to abandon the authority and command they had over slaves. Like the power hungry senior of a fraternity who is guilty of undermining his new members, many people in the 18th century silenced their feeling of remorse and wrongdoing while continuing the heinous tradition of slavery.