Miss America

When Kira Kazanstev addressed the bullying, there were a few issues with the way she responded. While she did admit to her attribution to hazing, she referenced the fact that it was under the broad definition of hazing (David K. Li, 2014). By stating her response this way, she is taking away the severity of what she did. Any hazing is bad hazing, not just the extremely violent or the outwardly emotionally damaging acts. By making this statement, she is in a sense being dismissive of the accusation brought against her and sets a precedent that while hazing is bad, as long as you do not engage in these extremes, you are not the same as others who haze.

In order to prepare Kira for her next public response, I would remind her that it is important to ensure the public that you understand any part of your action that was involved in the hazing is just as serious, even if it was not to the extremes. Those receiving the message will appreciate the transparency and will be more likely to believe her and to continue to support her. Kira sites the fact that when she was hazed as a recruit for her sorority and that she was brought up through the sorority to believe that this is the way that it should be (Citation). Glass and Seiter (2014) assert that “once we value a group we are likely to conform to it” (p. 126). Because Kira Kazanstev wanted to be accepted by her peers, she conformed to whatever standards they had set, regardless of her personal beliefs because her will to fit in overtook her.

By acknowledging the severity of her actions, Kira is able to reconnect with the audience because she is not placing herself in an untouchable realm. She is making herself more personable. Once this happens, the audience is more receptive to messages she shares. With a new relationship forming, Kira could then go on to talk about the root of the problem, i.e. the way the organization sucked her in from the beginning. Glass and Seiter (2014) found that the stages that groups or cults may use to entrap someone are the softening stage, the compliance stage, the internalization stage and finally the consolidation stage (p.127). Within the first stage, often the vulnerable are targeted. For Kira, she could talk about how many young college girls may find joining a sorority to be the key to fitting in or finding their place in college so they are more willing to go along. With the second stage of compliance, as the recruits begin to feel loved or important may begin to try out some of the changes the cult request. During this portion, Kira could speak about the changes that come when pledging first began and how it went from feelings of love, care and acceptance, to gradually branching out. It is during the third stage of internalization that recruits began to accept the rules. This could be discussed as the portion where people are deciding that the wrong things they may be involved with or just subjected to are okay as long as it leads them to be a member of the sorority. When consolidation happens, those who are recruited pledge their loyalty to the group. Kira can discuss how her conditioning to these behaviors coupled with her loyalty to the sorority did not allow for her to fully process and make appropriate decisions in regard to her behaviors.

By sharing her story and breaking it down in such a way, Kira will give several people the ability to connect with her and her humility. By discussing the topic in this way, it gets people to look at things from a different perspective, but it also shows that this is very real and can affect anyone.

Li, D. K., (2014, September, 23) Miss America claims she was guilty of a bad joke, not hazing. Retrieved from http://pagesix.com/2014/09/23/miss-america-claims-she-was-guilty-of-bad-joke-not-hazing/

Glass, R. H,. & Seiter, J. S., (2014). Persuasion: Social Influence and Compliance Gaining. New York: Pearson Education.