I've been a fan of the Discovery Channel show Deadliest Catch since it first aired. Here lately, though, it's started going the way of most reality shows with less focus on fishing and more about creating a good guy/bad guy dichotomy between the different boat captains and highlighting the dissension in the crews. The producers of the show also seem to be "creating drama" where none needs to be; after all, as the show title says, it's one of the deadliest jobs in the world.
The show has slowly been losing my interest; where I couldn't wait to watch it, I simply don't care now. I won't go into all the drama that's happened over the last few shows but it was the last episode that's making me think I will probably start watching something else. I'll try to explain why in as few words as I can.
Most of the captains are superstitious and have rituals they do. That's fine, although when they pray to the "crab gods" I have to cringe a little bit. (I'm not an expert on Greek or Roman mythology, but I don't recall any crab gods) One boat, the Northwestern, has a crew member bite the head off a fish that they use for bait. I've never seen anyone really "forced" to do it and one of the part-owners, the head deck hand, will often do it.
Keith, the captain/owner of the Wizard, is more superstitious than most and that's saying something. One of his deckhands (Freddy), while on another boat, once shaved his head in a Mohawk cut to change their luck when the pots were coming up empty or nearly so and afterwards they started catching more crab. On the last episode, Freddy insisted a new hire (a "greenhorn") shave his head and the young man refused. Freddy went ballistic, threatening the kid and it's easy to see the greenhorn's days are numbered on that boat. (see excerpt from the show)
It's been disturbing to me to see the majority of the comments on the show's Facebook page about the incident; most people are saying they would have done it, that you should "do what the captain says you should do". What great little Nazis those people would have made! Several idiots said the young man's refusal to get his head shaved was an indication of how far our society has fallen while others said he should have done it "for the good of the team". I could rebut that on the post or in this one, but won't. It's really too asinine to try to explain why and how wrong they are.
I've been around hazing a lot; it started in junior high, when the eighth graders decided we younger ones had to be initiated into that level of school. The same thing happened when we entered high school and also in football. "Worms", the oil field term for "greenhorns" were also hazed during their first days on the job with practical jokes and the ritual of "doping" (a pipe lubricant) their privates.
I've already written more than I should have on the subject, but I don't understand how tormenting or bullying someone makes them a part of a team. After my jr. hi. initiation (being held down and punched in the chest with their knuckles, leaving a bruise that lasted for months) I swore I would never let it happen again....and it didn't.
People who like to haze or bully others all for the sake of supposed camaraderie or because of some asinine superstition are nothing short of psychopaths.
The show has slowly been losing my interest; where I couldn't wait to watch it, I simply don't care now. I won't go into all the drama that's happened over the last few shows but it was the last episode that's making me think I will probably start watching something else. I'll try to explain why in as few words as I can.
Most of the captains are superstitious and have rituals they do. That's fine, although when they pray to the "crab gods" I have to cringe a little bit. (I'm not an expert on Greek or Roman mythology, but I don't recall any crab gods) One boat, the Northwestern, has a crew member bite the head off a fish that they use for bait. I've never seen anyone really "forced" to do it and one of the part-owners, the head deck hand, will often do it.
Keith, the captain/owner of the Wizard, is more superstitious than most and that's saying something. One of his deckhands (Freddy), while on another boat, once shaved his head in a Mohawk cut to change their luck when the pots were coming up empty or nearly so and afterwards they started catching more crab. On the last episode, Freddy insisted a new hire (a "greenhorn") shave his head and the young man refused. Freddy went ballistic, threatening the kid and it's easy to see the greenhorn's days are numbered on that boat. (see excerpt from the show)
It's been disturbing to me to see the majority of the comments on the show's Facebook page about the incident; most people are saying they would have done it, that you should "do what the captain says you should do". What great little Nazis those people would have made! Several idiots said the young man's refusal to get his head shaved was an indication of how far our society has fallen while others said he should have done it "for the good of the team". I could rebut that on the post or in this one, but won't. It's really too asinine to try to explain why and how wrong they are.
I've been around hazing a lot; it started in junior high, when the eighth graders decided we younger ones had to be initiated into that level of school. The same thing happened when we entered high school and also in football. "Worms", the oil field term for "greenhorns" were also hazed during their first days on the job with practical jokes and the ritual of "doping" (a pipe lubricant) their privates.
I've already written more than I should have on the subject, but I don't understand how tormenting or bullying someone makes them a part of a team. After my jr. hi. initiation (being held down and punched in the chest with their knuckles, leaving a bruise that lasted for months) I swore I would never let it happen again....and it didn't.
People who like to haze or bully others all for the sake of supposed camaraderie or because of some asinine superstition are nothing short of psychopaths.
