Is CBS' "Survivor" really racist?

Question

If you haven't heard, for the upcoming season of "Survivor" CBS has split the initial 16 contestants into 4 groups - caucasian, african american, asian, and hispanic. Many are up in arms about this. A NYC politician was quoted as saying ""This show has the potential to set back our nation's race relations by 50 years." Is this just over-reacting? I mean come on, it's just a TV show. Is separating people into groups like this considered racist? When they split people up last season by sex and age, was that discrimination as well, and if so, why did nobody raise a fuss about that? Don't you think that everyone who complains about it is just giving the show free publicity?

I consider myself to be a well educated person with healthy opinions on race relations. This just seems like much ado about nothing to me. What do you think?


http://news.yahoo.com/s/eo/20060825/en_tv_eo/19855

I understand this is a very sensitive issue, and as a white male I may never have the grasp on it that others do. I just feel that personally I could never be offended or that upset by a tv show.

Answer 1

I personally think that everyone is just too damned sensitive. I personally think that this show has a great idea, forcing us to deal with the "untouchable" issue of race. I am fascinated as to how this is going to go and how hellishly things will go when a winner is chosen.

Answer 2

Heres my take on the whole issue- Survivor's viewership has been lower in the last couple of seasons- and Burnett being the producer that he is as well as having a mind for marketing/publicity he has come up with one more way for the media to promote his show without spending any of his own $$$. It's sort of comical to think that everyone is having so many comments about it being racist for the fact that most races have some sort of superior feeling and opinions about the other races maybe Survivor will be the answer to what race really is the strongest and most intelligent...I'm sure it will be an intersting season!

Answer 3

I think a lot of people like to make big noise about nothing. The NYC politician really needs to calm down, cuz like their last season, they divided it up by older men, older women, younger men, younger women. Why didn't people get all pissed about that. And the thing is, it always almost ends up turning into a male female thing, usually initiated by the girls side.
I can kinda see how much more in your face racial lines would be, and how some people might take that the wrong way, but the bottom line is, the contestants signed up for the show, they know the risks, which means that they have to be ok with it, so to those that freak out over this: you don't have to watch the show.

Answer 4

Since there is no longer any concept as "race" per se, I think a popular program could do everyone in this country a great favor by conveying the important message that we all came out of Africa, some going North (and turning lighter), others going East (and devloping interesting facial features), some staying in sub-Saharan Africa. It is time that everyone realized that we humans are just one species. All characteristics formerly associataed with "race" mean nothing; we're just different in appearance, depending upon the migration routes of our forebears. The sooner Americans realize this truth, the sooner we can stop stereotyping people.

Answer 5

Many reality gameshows are racist, especially if the contestants can vote people off. I watch with interest to see not if an African-American will win on a show such as "Survivor", but to see how long the person will last. Granted, if a person deserves to be ousted, then vote them off, but I have seen many idiots kept on while African-Americans were voted off or out voted simply because (it seemed) of their color or outlook on life. Explain to me how the2nd runner-up, Clay Aiken, has a better career, more exposure (even the day after he "lost") than Reuben Studdard (the African American "winner" who only got exposure due to his weight- and that man can SING!!!! Clay just fits better into the image of white America. And, I'm not racist, I just observe things with an objective eye and tell the truth about what I see. I am bi-racial (White/Black), my parents have been together all of my life, and I have seen the good and bad in each race. Once people start looking at people as people, we will all live in a much better world.

Answer 6

No, I really don't think so. If anything, CBS is just trying to get people talking about the show again to make up for the poor ratings. In media and Hollywood, the more controversial, the better (so they think). Some people just tend to overreact on certain issues. To underplay a sensitive issue like racism is just plain wrong. But to overplay it is even more pathetic.

Answer 7

I think the tv industry has gotten to a point where they will try and do just about anything that they can. In doing that, they get the "shock value" that they are looking for to boost ratings.
When I saw this story, I was disgusted... they knew that it would never air on tv, but yet still attempted it just to grab some headlines and attention.

Sorry Survivor, I have better things to do... Let's see how the survive this one.

Answer 8

I wouldn't say the way they're splitting the 16 ppl is racist. It's just one of many ways of splitting people. People are just overly sensitive to dividing people by race.

I wonder though, why there were no brown/middle-eastern (yellow & brown asians are quite different), or red/native-indian contestants (not to be confused with hispanics)?

Answer 9

Really the potential for race problems by doing this are valid....if one group wins, or says anything about another group, which has been done in the past, now people can scream it is racism, instead of the game it was meant to be!

Answer 10

It will depend on how the final cuts will be edited. If the editing makes certain groups look like idiots and other like winners then perhaps viewers will be offeneded.

There no reason for people to be offended because teams are competing by race.