I'm not sure I understand what's so "neat" about this. Although the Asian tribe is of the same "race", they picked contestants from all different parts of Asia/America. They're not all going to act the same or think the same thing! There are ALWAYS going to be differences in age, manner, etc. when you mix up a group of old and young, and from different parts of the world. Doesn't matter what they look like.
That's part of the point for me. Each tribe has shown diversity within itself. It's just further proof that you can't sterotype people based upon their ethnicity.
Whenever they do merge, the 4 teams will be divided equally into 2 teams. Unless one tribe loses multiple challenges before the merge, the tribes will be racially equal.
There was a recent interview on the radio with Mark Burnett. He said it was ludicrous for people to judge the show without watching it. He's interested in hearing what all the naysayers have to say as the show progresses. I gotta agree with him - you can't judge anything until you've interacted with it.
Let's face facts. People tend to gravitate to people based upon commonalities. Initially, it might just be about physical appearances or hobby or work based. I don't know how many times I've been approached by someone Asian and asked 'where are you from?' My response "I'm American born, but my parents are from China." I've felt just as alienated from non-American born Asians as any other group. Very few non-Asians ask this question until they've gotten to know me.
When I was in college, I got 'volunteered' by friends to participate in a show for Chinese New Year. After that I was pretty much went a long and just enjoyed it - I was even treasurer for 2 years. There were definitely 2 factions. One was the westernized students & American born students who wanted to learn more about our culture and teach it to others. Essentially, wanting to break the stereotypes of the study all the time Chinese person. The other faction was the students who had emigrated to study and who just wanted to meet other Chinese people who they could speak Chinese with - not wanting to assimilate to life in America, but find a comfortable niche. Within this latter faction, there were separate groups from Hong Kong vs Shanghai vs from Guaong Jou, etc - because each dialect is different.
Without seeing the group dynamic or knowing someone who was Chinese, many people just want to think of the goofy stereotypes like Long Duck Dong or some other obscene fictional character.
Even in previous Survivor's gender and race lines were there. Initially, Ghandia and Ted were in a sorta-alliance until she started bad mouthing him. People bond when they come from the same area of the country - Tina and Colby bonded over being from Texas. Stephanie was worried about the Alabama alliance.
What if they divided the tribes by North & South. Should we assume that everyone from the south is a redneck or a cowboy? Based upon past Survivor's, one can categorically say 'of course not'.
, I will try to frame a response to your thoughtful post. (OT -- Are you the web master of Meno-Sand.net?
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