seeing through the haze

A couple of weeks ago, this banner suddenly appeared on one of the University of the Philippines buildings near my apartment:

Having no idea who Marlon “Along” Villanueva is – or, unfortunately, was – I asked D, who tends to have a better idea of what happens around these parts. Turns out the poor sod was the victim of a hazing incident. From INQ7.net, the online version of the Philippine Daily Inquirer:

CALAMBA CITY, Laguna -- An agriculture economics student at the University of the Philippines at Los Baños died Saturday from severe physical injuries believed suffered during fraternity initiation rites at a resort in this city, police said yesterday.

The rest of the article is here.

I had to ask D what hazing actually was. Fortunately, it seems that it’s not a big thing in Oz. Unfortunately, Philippine universities have inherited the US fraternity culture, which puts hazing on a pedestal. It’s not just a US thing though. I read a week ago about a Russian soldier who was a hazing victim. He lived, but he was so badly beaten that he had his legs and genitals amputated. Makes you feel quite ill, really. The people who killed Marlon were people he wanted to be friends with. Hopefully, if nothing else, it might turn people off the idea of frats and their associated wankery.