I apologize for the delay in this post.

With the Olympics, and our string of posts under “Chattar”, it is hard to keep up with Survivor the night it airs.  DVR comes in handy!

So, I just finished the episode and, true to form, Survivor does not disappoint in it mission to be the great social mirror.

The drama in the beginning with Boston Rob was quite interesting.  He wandered off.  He passed out.  He came back and played.  But the interest was not so much about the drama itself, but for the comment Russell made about the fact that even though he is a villain, he still cares about other people…I guess even a villain’s façade cracks every now and then.

Then, after Rob’s physical illness, the psychological illness began in the Heroes tribe.  Fissures began to show.  Cracks along the surface.  Indeed, the lines have been drawn in the sand, and to see James throw his tirades indicates that every calm hero has some bubbling heat underneath.

But that is why we watch.  Like we said in the last post, we watch because it is us.  In this world, religion and spirituality sometimes tell us that this is a world of good and bad…of light and dark.

But is that true?  Is that what the human condition boils down to?  This or that?  Take it or leave it?  I’m sick or I’m well?

The Survivor experiment is important, because millions of people tune in and see this drama unfold, and it is a drama played out in legislatures, parliaments, schools, houses of worship, and battlefields around the world.

It is about the judging of others on some level, and the choosing of sides.  Sometimes for ego, sometimes for self-preservation, and sometimes…well…just because it feels good to be accepted at someone else’s expense.

People have almost died out there over the seasons.  It’s at those points when the game stops, the tears form, and people take stock of what they’re really doing out there.  But after a while, it’s game on again.

Are we so different?

-josh