Jen gives thumbs down to new round of Survivor
CVK
Well, unfortunately, the rumors have been confirmed. Indeed, the new season of “Survivor” is going to pit people of different races against one another to compete. There will be four tribes of course — black, Hispanic, Asian, and white. Sounds like a great idea, right? 
Well Jen sounded off on behalf of New Demographic in today’s USA Today.
CBS announced Wednesday that Survivor: Cook Islands (Sept. 14, 8 ET/PT) will start off with a controversial bang: 20 contestants will be divided into teams by race, pitting whites, blacks, Hispanics and Asians against each other…
Mark Burnett said Wednesday that the idea was in response to criticism Survivor has not been ethnically diverse enough. “No one knows anything (about the show), so this is all simply an assumption.” He says: “Maybe it’s showing it’s OK to have social time in your ethnic group — it doesn’t mean you have to hate everyone else. There’s good, bad, mean and conniving in every race. It’s a valid experiment.”
But to what end, asks Jen Chau, co-founder of New Demographic, an anti-racism training company.
“If the producers are splitting the contestants up by race, it’s clear they want to show racial tensions, and they want the usual competitive trash-talking to devolve into racial slurs,” she says. “I don’t buy that they are merely trying to do the right thing by presenting a more diverse cast. Would any thinking person with truly good intentions think that pitting racial groups against one another is a good way to bring diversity?”
jspot » Blog Archive » Race Baiting on Survivor on 27 Aug 2006 at 10:16 pm
[…] And, a group called New Demographic, which “mobilizes people through a variety of media and in-person workshops to work towards an anti-racist future,” has been at the center of responding to this horrible idea by CBS producers to “diversify” the show by using such divisive tactics. […]