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NYC, Civil Rights Groups Blast TV's Survivor

Rina wrote a few days ago about how the next round of Survivor will feature teams divided by race. There has been a firestorm of response to the announcement, from bloggers predictably, but also from civil rights groups and government officials. Yesterday, New York's city council held a press conference to denounce the show. City councilmember John Liu:

"This idea is so ill conceived that it would be funny--but for the fact that racism does still sometimes rear its ugly head. This show has the potential to set back our nation's race relations by 50 years. Nowhere else do we tolerate racial segregation, and we certainly won't stand for it in this battle-of-the-races scheme to prop up sagging television ratings."

Another councilmember said that the producers didn't realize the damaging impact of their decision. In fact, the coverage of this twist all seems to say as much, that Mark Burnett, the king of reality television and a slave to controversy, "didn't really think it would have such an uproar."

Yeah, right. This is precisely the outcome he was hoping for. I mean come on, he got Rush Limbaugh to wax on about it on his show this week. And he really couldn't have been more offensive, stirring the controversy pot for the show and Mr. Burnett:

Hispanics, he said, "have shown a remarkable ability to cross borders" and "will do things other people won't do." Asians are "the best at espionage, keeping secrets." Blacks "lack buoyancy" and are "more likely to drown," while the white man's burden will weigh down the last team with "guilt over the fact that they run things."

CBS is defending the show, saying it will answer the critics "on the screen." The thing that people may not want to admit is that reality is a lot closer to this situation than we're comfortable admitting. Neighborhoods and schools are becoming more, not less, segregated and some seem to be fine with that. And if we're not then the fight is better fought in our communities, rather than aimed at Hollywood. This Survivor scenario seems to tug at the unease that manifests when true survival is at stake: Watts, Rodney King, O.J., Katrina, all times when we have had to look critically at how we deal with race in this country. We may not want to see people of different races competing for food, shelter, luxuries and their very existence on television. We don't have to, we can just take a hard look at our country to see the same. Most people won't, but you'd better believe they'll tune in September 14th.

Posted by Elizabeth Gettelman on 08/26/06 at 9:22 AM | E-mail | Print

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Comments

I'm glad there are enough people with sense and courage left in this world to stand up to this BS from the producers of Survivor. I don't have television reception by choice, but choice and freedom of speech aside, whether or not the show idea is abandoned, the protest alone should remind certain people that positive ethnic relations and a better society are still values that many hold above hatred and partisenship.

Posted by: paul miller on 08/26/06 at 10:50 AM

Thanks for calling it like it is. It would be so easy to get righteous about this and forget that we're all part of segregation every day.

Posted by: secret admirer on 08/26/06 at 11:00 AM

I believe that the powers that be like to keep us feeling segregated on ethnic lines so we won't realize how much of the inequality in this world is centered on economic disparities. If they could get disempowered Blacks, Asians, Native Americans, Hispanics,Latinos and Whites to put aside their ethnic differences and agree to fight for economic betterment, the small, power-holding minority would have to cede all power.

Posted by: paul miller on 08/26/06 at 11:20 AM

"Paul Miller" is right. The guys on top don't want anyone to compete with them for a piece of the pie (especially minorities). That's why they hate affirmative action because it makes them actually have to compete for the first time with minorities. And, they do use race to distract people so real questions aren't asked. That's why the right is ramping up the immigration debate. Too many people are seeing that the right-wing economic policies are bad for America - and the world - so they tell people "Hey, don't blame us, blame the Mexicans." This has been going on for years. "Hey, don't blame us, the economy is bad because of [fill in the blank]."

Posted by: Regis on 08/27/06 at 1:06 AM

WOW! Intelligent comments; must be the right wingers are taking the day off. I wont pretend to tell you I can explain things as good as GERRY SPENCE, SO CHECK OUT HIS SHARED THOUGHTS ON "INSLAVING AMERICA" AT: WWW.GERRYSPENCE.COM .

Posted by: Ranselar VanDerpoel on 08/27/06 at 7:23 AM

The Republican party and the nazi-fascist neocons are imbued with the mindset of 'I got mine and to hell with the rest of you'. So they use 'divide and conquer' politics and have even before Karl Rove came along with his particular brand of poison 'slash and burn' politics so they, among many things, do all that they can to keep 'we the people' fighting with each other.

Hitler did the exact same thing when he vilified the jews and made them a focal point of hate to further his political power.

Bush, Cheney, the republican party and the neocons are nothing more than NAZIS'.

Posted by: bob t on 08/27/06 at 12:00 PM

This is so simple a thing I find almost hard to believe. Throughout history race has always been a factor and will remain so. Why can't people understand this?

Posted by: lylepink on 08/27/06 at 1:00 PM

I'm not sure I understand your observation, Lylepink. Are you saying that racism is built in and self-feeding or is it excellerated by political manipulation? Without that detail, its hard to know how you're weighing in on this.

Posted by: paul miller on 08/29/06 at 4:05 PM