Separating ‘Survivor' teams by race builds walls, not tolerance Don't jump to conclusions... Separating ‘Survivor’ teams by rac | Asian sex
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Separating ‘Survivor' teams by race builds walls, not tolerance Don't jump to conclusions... Separating ‘Survivor’ teams by rac

OK, I'm a fair-minded girl. So while others raved and ranted, I withheld judgment about the new “Survivor” season, which pits ethnic groups against one another.

Racism isn't like sex. It doesn't sell, and it isn't particularly glamorous, no matter how well you dazzle it up with lights and television cameras.

Last week's “Survivor” debut showed four five-member teams, each representing one of these categories: white, black, Latino and Asian. The players didn't interact with those from other teams. They never even learned one another's names.

The purpose? A social experiment, the “Survivor” folks say. Precisely what they're trying to test — our tolerance for bigotry, perhaps — remains unknown.

The racial division got off to a quick start in the first episode, as the black team made repeated jokes at their own expense. They were building a “ghetto” hut, they said.

A stereotype is a stereotype, no matter who says it. And believe me, those types of comments weren't washing my spaghetti dinner down too well.

The ethnic comments weren't all bad, of course. It was fascinating to watch an Asian competitor use ancient healing techniques to make his teammate's headache disappear. Certainly, he didn't need to be on an Asian team to do that. He just needed to be on the show.

Bottom line: Racial diversity is welcome (read: required) on reality television shows such as “Survivor.” It opens us up to other cultures and helps us better understand one another's beliefs.

But segregating competitors and teaming them up only with others of the same race doesn't breed understanding. It builds walls between us and strengthens stupid cliches.

It's lovely that the folks at “Survivor” think our society is so far removed from racial hatred that we can tolerate a game like this. The world would be a far better place if we were.

Unfortunately, the civil rights movement was a mere 50 years ago. A generation and a half is barely enough time to recover from more than 200 years of racism.

Maybe one day, our children's grandchildren will be able to watch a show like this, and it will be nothing more than a game. Maybe to them, it will be like pitting men against women, or 20-year-olds against 40-year-olds.

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admin – Thu, 2006 – 09 – 21 11:00