Hazing

Has anyone tried to take advantage of you? You can probably think of a few times. Some of those times people were doing it to steal from you, most likely, other times people were doing it in order to "haze" you. What is "hazing?" Basically, hazing is when a newcomer to a group is given some sort of insulting treatment.

Warning, Not Finished

For now, since I haven't worked out best in my mind who the audience is, or how best to phrase it across all audiences, I'm considering this incomplete.

Be Strong Against Hazing

Be strong against hazing. Don't mistreat new members to your group, welcome them as you would like to be welcomed. Stop others from hazing others.

Hazing is wrong.

Hazing affects all ages. Hazing happens in college. Hazing happens in the work place.

Why Do People Haze Others?

The main reason I think folks haze, is because they are insecure. They are worried about the newcomer. They want to act as though they have stronger bonds with the other members than the newcomer. They are unsure of how the newcomer will affect the group.

Maybe they have a "might makes right" pecking order in their minds, ranking themselves against others, and are worried the newcomer will somehow upstage them and rate higher. This sounds logical to me, because as they are busy worrying about what might happen, they are filling in the blanks of the newcomer's unknown actions with their own hazing/degrading/insulting behavior and don't want it applied to themselves, so they take "pre-emptive" action and strike first.

I'm not sure if any studies have been done on this. Please leave pointers in the comments.

What works best to stop folks from hazing others? What can I do? How can I step in and pacify the situation instead of inflaming it?

Mainly this depends on your age and the current circumstances.

However, it's always best to "nip certain things in the bud," which means addressing the problems of insecurity, controlling others, being mean, and other related negative behaviors and ideas, in people as young as possible.

It's always a challenge to overcome, but becomes increasingly more difficult as time goes on. Too often parents, guardians, etc... take certain behaviors for granted in a child and don't use correct methods to teach children to respect others and people with more experience (a.k.a and often, "elders").

As far as trying to stop hazing in action, I would recommend calling authorities. Call people you trust who are going to do something about it and not ignore it or egg it on.

How can I stop from hazing others? What can I do?

I am not sure I have a multi-step plan yet, and have to say that each person is an individual, unique, and the best treatment is always customized and tailored to the individual.

For Now

Learn a bunch of good sayings and repeat them often in your mind.

Do you rank people? Not everyone ranks people in their heads in a pecking order. If you do, recognize it, and consider what variable(s) you are taking in to account that cause you to rate one person higher than another.

Is it just one factor? Are there multiple factors as to who ranks higher than others? Also, why do you think it's important to rank people against each other?

A Saying

If you want cognitive assistance with fighting off the time-consuming task of ranking people, consider the following saying. Judge not, and be not judged. Condemn not and be not condemned.

I do not mean to imply you are condemning others by thinking they are greater or less than someone else, or even yourself.

But face it, ranking people is judging people. Question again, how and why you rank others.

You really can affect your behavior by keeping your goals and appropriate sayings in your mind so you can think of them frequently.

Other Resources

There are probably lots of other resources on the net to learn how to overcome the problem of hazing. Please excuse me, I haven't hunted them down yet. Feel free to leave pointers in comments.