Ok, so here is a topic that is in the news a lot right now, and it is definitely relevant, so I thought I would tackle it on here.

What do you all think about the new season of Survivor? You know the one. The one when the “castaways” are divided up into four tribes...and they are divided up by race?

This season of Survivor will start with four tribes…one Caucasian tribe, one Hispanic tribe, one African-American tribe and one Asian-American tribe. I had read quite a bit about it and last night I watched a “preview special” about the show, so it has been on my mind.

I do not like to be wishy-washy, but I am kind of torn on this one. On one hand, I can’t see a whole lot of “good” coming out of it. I think that many people in our country have worked hard to NOT separate people by race, and that this is an insult to those efforts.

I think that dividing the tribes by race is setting things up for racial stereotypes. I think it “could” get ugly. I don’t like the message it sends. I hate the idea of "white vs. Asian" or any other combination...I hate the idea of a "race" coming in first place, second place, etc. Ick.

One of my first thoughts was that I hated the idea that my family would be split up on this show and would be competitors, since we are not the same race. But then my friend pointed out that we would have been split up last season, when the tribes were divided by age and gender, and that didn’t bother me.

I also couldn’t help but think of all the people I know who don’t fit neatly into one “race” or another…what tribe would they be on?

It’s true that race is an emotional issue and one that is sure to bring up a lot of controversy, which is no doubt why Survivor chose to do things this way.

On the “preview” show I watched last night the producer stated that the show has taken a lot of criticism for having so little ethnic diversity in the contestants, but that in the past, over 80% of the applicants have been Caucasian. This was a “gimmick” they chose to “diversify” the show. Now I don’t see why they couldn’t have diversified things without dividing people up by race and come up with a different gimmick, but that is what they chose to do.

I do think that it is a good thing that this show will undoubtedly get people talking about race. I do think that it is possible that “good” could come from it too. For example, I know that in true Survivor fashion, all of the tribes will be “mixed up” within the first few weeks. And then time will tell if the castaways are loyal to their own races, or if they make new alliances. Personally, I believe that race will not matter much in how the alliances are formed… I believe that personality, strategy, etc. will have more to do with who is voted off and who makes friends. I think that “the jerks”, the lazy ones, etc. will get voted off no matter what race they are.

I think that there is a possibility that racial stereotypes could be combated with this show, too. For example, stereotypes tend to show Asians as smart, but physically weak. The contestants chosen for the Asian American team on Survivor are all physically strong people who don’t necessarily fit into the Asian stereotype. So maybe that will work out to be a good thing.

Survivor is a show that my family has watched together in seasons past (please don’t flame me…I know it is awful, but reality TV shows are one of my few guilty pleasures that I have…at the end of a long day, sometimes it’s nice to turn off your brain). We plan on talking to our kids about this season of Survivor and how they feel about it…I am sure they will have some interesting points of view. I haven't yet decided if we'll watch it as a family.

I guess overall I feel that we’ll have to wait and see how this plays out. I certainly would not have supported the idea when it was being decided on, but now that it is “done” we’ll have to see how it was handled and if it does turn out to be a good thing or a bad thing.

So, what do you think? Bad idea? No way anything good could come from this? Harmless gimmick? Interesting concept? Trashy show and you don’t care?

Let me know! :)