Wanna bet?

Irrational bigotry? Nah.

Our responsible mainstream media. The grownups.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/24/business/media/24survivor.html

For the first time since it went on the air in 2000, the hit CBS reality television program “Survivor” will divide its teams — or tribes, as they are known on the show — along racial lines.

For the first half of the series this fall, four teams of five members will be made up of blacks, Asian-Americans, Hispanics and whites. They will compete in weekly challenges against each other, and the losing group will have to vote out a member of its own team.

Mark Burnett, the series producer, said in a telephone interview yesterday that the decision to organize the teams by race was made in group discussions with CBS executives and was in no way intended to promote racial divisiveness.

“In America today,” Mr. Burnett said, “I really don’t believe there are many people who hate each other because of their race. But even though people may work together, they do tend in their private lives to divide along social and ethnic lines.”

..................................

Both CBS and Mr. Burnett acknowledged that the new format could be criticized. “I know it’s going to be controversial,” he said. “I’m not an idiot.”

In a statement, CBS said it “fully recognizes the controversial nature” of the format change. But it expressed confidence in the program’s ability to handle the situation sensitively.

If they finish airing all the episodes I'll be surprised.

If Burnett was Irish, forget Asian or black, he'd know better. Seeing the squaddies with their hard looks at the men in the pub, he might have a clue people that people can need very little reason to hate.

This could be very ugly in the end.