Race on Survivor

Naturally, no fewer than three people sent me links to articles about Survivor's latest attempt to keep people interested in what was a lame idea from the beginning.  Yes, I said it: Survivor has always been pretty banal simply because there are millions of people around the world who live it every day.  Want to watch the real Survivor?  Go rent some documentaries, or watch more National Geographic.  There's a reason that many Third-World immigrants don't go camping, much less have any desire to take part in things like this.  Of course most of the applicants are white!  Whites are disproportionately the most well-off group in the country -- and I'm reasonably sure the show doesn't see many poor white people from humble backgrounds flocking to participate either.  Then again, the million-dollar jackpot has a certain class-crossing appeal to it.

Anyway, I can't really put into words what a bad idea it is to divide groups by race.  Does anyone remember the train wreck that was black. white.?  Talk about the most uncomfortable hour-long-episode reality series in television history...and I'm pretty openminded abotu discussing race!  This is going to be just awful, and no group is going to be happy with the portrayal or result (with the possible exception of the whites).  Raise your hand if you don't think that this season of Survivor, like black/white, won't become another reality show where the writers put together a story catering to every single negative stereotype of every group involved. 

I'm all about any *honest* attempt to get people to confront the issue of race in this country.  Let's face it: it's one of the few subjects that people not only shy away from, but get downright hostile about in a variety of contexts.  However, I don't care what the producers and host say: rather than an 'interesting social experiment', this seems like a blatant attempt to yank the TV ratings up after years of decline.  Given the host's cock-and-bull story about how important 'ethnic pride' seemed to be for these applicants, I hardly find it ridiculous to accept that greed is the ultimate motivator in this case as well.

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