Don't squander them by being close-minded. They don't want you, they want you to become one of them. More often than not, pledges are also made to endlessly degrade themselves. They are usually forced by brothers and sisters to complete such tasks as going days without changing clothes, walking backwards around campus, or carrying bricks or boards of wood wherever they go. And these are the mild initiations.
Some fraternities even perform acts of hazing that are both dangerous and illegal.
Though any Greek would argue that pledging is a harmless way to have the newbies bond, the facts indicate otherwise. Most of these tragedies involved alcohol. In many cases, pledges literally drank themselves to death in attempt to impress their brothers and sisters. The way today's Greeks approach alcohol is the second reason I've concluded they're bad for the college experience. Binge drinking is widely recognized as an epidemic, especially among college undergrads.