"Survivor" Plays The Race Card

And, predictably enough, people looking to score cheap political points (like our friend in New York in this news story) can't get to a microphone fast enough to express his outrage.

Where to start on this one? How about with CBS's apparent definition of "race", which would seem to be the American concept that only 4 races exist. Sorry, Native Americans, even though you were in this country first, I guess enough of your "race" doesn't watch TV to count in the ratings. Same thing with you, Eskimos. As for native groups located outside American (that's you, Aboriginies), don't even bother leaving an 8 X 11 photo.

Let's move onto another American concept, which is that all people of one "race" somehow automatically most strongly identify with people within their "race". This idea totally discounts that any type of cultural difference would exist between people of the same "race". I'm a Caucasian of mostly Celtic descent. I am somehow supposed to automatically identify myself with people of Eastern Europe solely because our skin color is white? Or, to put it another way, am I supposed to root for the "white" team for the sole reason I am white?

So even though I think CBS is doing the really lazy thing in assembling these teams and playing into American concepts of race, I don't really understand why our friend in New York and all the other pundits think this is the worst idea since the Bette Midler show.

To turn back to the news story, our friend in New York certain knows how to express his outrage, but he never really explains why they he is outraged.

"The idea of having a battle of the races is preposterous" says City Councilman John Liu. First of all Johnny, it's not a battle, it's a TV show. A battle is life or death, and is what is going on in Iraq. CBS is running a game show in which people win money, not lose their lives.

But Johnny never goes on and explains why it's preposterous. I guess we are just supposed to accept his didactic statement without question.

Later on, in a non-quote, Liu puts forth the idea that the show could encourage racial division and promote negative typecasts. (? I am not sure I understand that choice of words, but I think I know what he's getting at.)

But why would Johnny automatically assume this? Because we haven't seen one bit of footage that supports this idea. We haven't seen any footage at all.

For all Johnny knows, this could be a show about overcoming stereotypes. The contestants don't have to subscribe to Johnny's negative pre-programmed beliefs. They can reject their assignment to a team by race, and work together as human beings.

I know that "race" is the third rail in America, but if we are ever going to move forward and treat people as human beings, rather than racial categories, we can't have a knee jerk reaction negative reaction just because "race" is involved. People need to confront and work through the issues of "race" in America, not retreat to their safe positions everytime "race" is mentioned.