Now, on to my response to the blog.

I agree. Period. LOL! When I first heard about the twist of “Survivor 13,” I IMMEDIATELY began to question what the heck Executive Producer, Mark Burnett was doing. I didn’t think him a racist at all – the thought never crossed my mind. I do know he thrives on controversy; while in Los Angeles, I would often listen to the Ryan Seacrest (host of American Idol) radio show and on occasions, there would be interviews with show runners from various reality shows. Mark Burnett gave such an interview during the first season (and my last season watching) of Donald Trump’s “The Apprentice,” and he applauded the “villainess” Omarosa Stallworth on the making of good TV.

Burnett is a Hollywood executive producer, so good TV is his business. Sadly, though, good REALITY TV often demonizes African Americans by polarizing our vocal strength, and headstrong mentality. To be a strong minded, opinionated black person in this country is threatening to the dominate culture, and any threat breeds fear, and when something or someone is feared, so then will it/they be hated; i.e. Omarosa (granted, she did an awful lot to bring the demonizing on herself, but there were others that season who were just as nasty, however, they weren’t portrayed as loud talking, in your face, queen b’s). Threats + fears + hatred = CONFLICT! What is the first thing writers learn about telling a good story? You must have constant conflict, conflict, conflict! Mark Burnett knows good conflict. He has the Emmy nominations and awards to prove it. He saw good, racial conflict with Omarosa – he said so himself. So why not do what he does best and bring that conflict to a bigger arena – out of Trump’s boardroom, and onto an isolated island? Don’t be fooled – Reality TV is written just like any other television show, so conflict has to be built in, and with this new twist for Survivor 13, Burnett has assured us some major conflict – RACIAL DIVIDE – which equals good TV. Why does it equal good TV? Because it’s real. As Martin says in his blog, its “true America.”

Most people are probably perturbed by the idea of dividing the tribes into racial groups. As I stated in my opening, I immediately began to question what the heck Burnett was doing. I also, almost immediately decided not to jump to conclusions because I don’t think Burnett is a racist trying to cause [more of] a divide in this country, and I don’t know where his head was when he developed this concept. I figured I’d wait until the show began to see “what’s really going on.” I couldn’t wait, however! Even before the September 14th season premiere, I have to give my thoughts on what Burnett is doing besides making good television and possibly earning himself a new Emmy:

He’s separating people in the beginning only to bring them together in the end. Period.

That’s how modern alliance building methods work. We did it in my college social change classes, Self in Society. I do it in my work as a diversity facilitator (when I’m working as a diversity facilitator). When we work on racism, we divide into groups of black, white, Hispanic, Asian, etc. When we work on ageism, we divide into young and older groups. When we work on sexism, we divide into male and female groups. When we work on heterosexism (homophobia) we divide into heterosexual and gay/lesbian groups (we’ve had issues there too because of the diversity in the gay and lesbian communities – gay men are men, lesbians are women, transsexual, transgendered — everybody wants their own group!). When we work on classism, we divide into those who were raised “with,” and those who were raised “without.” In our model, we had to separate first, have a dialogue, and come together within our own communities, and then rejoin everyone else, have a bigger dialogue, and come together as one whole community.

It’s okay for like groups to be together – to separate (as long as that separation isn’t meant to cause physical, emotional and/or financial harm to other people). It’s okay for like groups to strive for and support each other. It’s easier to work with people when commonalities exist. That’s what different cultures bring to the melting pot; who we are…what we know. We mix it all together to learn and to accept, not so we may become more like the “other,” rather so we can acknowledge and celebrate our differences, helping us to have better relationships, multiculturally. That is what I believe Burnett is doing. Think about it. If you know the premise of Survivor, then you know people are separated in the beginning and brought together in the end, FORCED to work with those who were once the enemy.