Ever Watch "Survivor"? (originally posted November 19, 2010)

 
 
     The CBS show "Survivor" is the original and still most popular of its entertainment genre.  The show features a group of ordinary folks of all ages and backgrounds trying to survive in some exotic environment.  One by one, the survivors vote each other off the tribe until only two or three are left to be voted on by everyone to see who earns the title of "Sole Survivor."  On the show, things that make for good television are the things that make for lousy relationships in real life:  men versus women, city people versus country people, race versus race, and my favorite:  old versus young.  Invariably, the young are pictured as physically strong yet also as vain, overly-sexy, and ditzy.  The old are shown to be smart yet condescending to the young, weak physically, and set in their ways.  As I said, it all makes for good television, especially since the producers are able to edit footage to bring out the cast-members' worst attributes.  Unfortunately, some people operate in the job market and in life like that.  They project their stereotypes of groups on people when they hire and even inside the workplace among their coworkers.  And while they may not do so openly, they do it all the same.  My guess is that the majority of us are over this kind of thinking.  But in 2010, I think it is wise to remind ourselves that in a global, diverse, multicultural world, our best strategy is realizing we all can learn from each other.  We all have value.  We all have talents to contribute.  And we are better together than we are by ourselves.

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