Why? — asks the Washington Post interviewer.
Answer:
Because it’s like a social experiment. It’s human nature, what do people do when they’re starving and how do they react to one another? It’s like this Hobbesian state of nature: How are we going to deal with this situation? I love it.
It really isn't a Hobbesian state of nature, though. If it were a Hobbesian state of nature, the tribes wouldn't be taking votes and eliminating competitors one by one in a strategic way with notion that one person would win a pile of money to take back when the game ends after a known, set number of days. If it were a Hobbesian state of nature, one tribe could raid another and kill them all, and you'd want to keep the best competitors around to help you as the game of survival would go on until you reached the only exit possible: death. There would be no bags of rice to tide you over, no sudden infusion of Applebee's calories. There would be bloody violence and no medical personnel to swoop in. There would be rape. And babies.
But it's my favorite TV show too. It's a wonderful game that shows something about how people attempt to find order within a group as they pursue an utterly selfish goal. But I would think a judge would see how much law there is.
(I'm not really knocking the judge. I'm sure that she realizes all the things I've said here and that if I were talking to her in person about "Survivor," we'd have a great conversation. And then she'd plot to vote me off the island.)
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If it were a Hobbesian state of nature, one tribe could raid another and kill them all, and you'd want to keep the best competitors to around to help you as the game of survival would go on until you reached the only exit possible: death.
There would be bloody violence and no medical personnel to swoop in. There would be rape. And babies.
This Hobson's Choice show sounds Great! What channel is THAT on?
You want Hobbs? Wait until this summer.
I think I watched all those reality shows in the first season. But after one gets the basic concept does one really need to keep watching? Season 42?
If it were a Hobbesian state of nature, one tribe could raid another and kill them all, and you'd want to keep the best competitors to around to help you as the game of survival would go on until you reached the only exit possible: death.
That might get me watching again.
Your ultimate conclusion is probably right. It is a social experiment, it is an exploration of human nature. Her only mistake is describing it as Hobbesian. It's not a state of nature, it's an extremely contrived environment.
She's great at answering the most inconsequential questions. Not so much at questions that are interesting or challenging. Total lack of courage apparently.
Survivor has been a great show, but it's currently suffering from two significant flaws, IMO: First, in casting the show, Probst has all but eliminated sexually attractive players in favor of "ordinary"-looking folks, many of whom are gay. As I result of this decision, I think it's been years since the last showmance or serious (mutually consensual) flirtation. It also means that the recent casts just haven't been as nice to look at. (Fortunately, the second-unit, nature videography on Survivor is still amazing.)
The second problem is Probst's seemingly sincere belief that the show's appeal derives from the emotional/psychological/cultural baggage most of the players seem to bring with them to the island. There are way too many "I-need-to-prove-to-my-kids-that-I-can-do-this" and "I-want-to-be-the-first-daughter-of-a-dyslexic-farmer-from-Madagascar-to-win-Survivor" moments.
Survivor is, or was, a great show. I assume you still watch it. Are you not bothered by how it yielded itself to wokeness over the last four seasons or so? Really wrecked it for me, and raises the constant background question about how prearranged some of the developments may be.
Boy you packed a lot into that parenthetical at the end!
"I'm sure that she realizes all the things I've said here" is a pretty common misperception about judges, generally.
I am terrified of this person who doesn't know what a woman is, thinks sharing child porn on the internet is less dangerous than sending it in the mail, can't even agree that individuals have natural rights (the whole foundation of the United States), and won't condemn protests outside the homes of her new colleagues. She is on the Court as an enabler of Leftist tyranny. The only relief is that, for now, there is only one of her.
Not too much of a surprise. KBJ isa results orientated judge, trying to devise a way to get a decision she wants. An originalist or process centered judge would notice the legalisms.
It's TV. It's fake. I suppose she loves WWE too.
And - while I've never watched this show - I imagine it is full of tribalism which is the core organizing principle of the Dem party. PUKE.
A society run by feelings and planned stabs in the back for structure. Like the Supreme Court.
How long before we’re done with the “first” nonsense? First black female Supreme Court justice. First black lesbian press Secretary. First black/Indian/Jamaican female VP? It’s all such meaningless BS.
I don’t care one wit about Kamala’s gender or ethnic background. The woman can’t read a speech (or do much else for that matter). Time will tell about the latest Associate Justice, but I suspect she won’t get shit on by the press like Clarence Thomas. They’re writing about her love of a TV show for goodness sake…
Can they do the job? Do it well? Pick them for their merits and stop the window dressing please…
"I'm sure that she realizes all the things I've said here"
Why? You've just demonstrated she has no clue about Hobbes and misunderstands the comparison.
Yeah I used to watch survivor religiously as well. But in the last season Jeff probst when calling for the contestants to a challenge once said come on in guys. He under pressure from the woksters and fearing eminent cancellation no longer used the hateful term guys and now just says come on in. That actually makes my heart hurt when he doesn't say guys and so we have forever banished watching survivor in our happy home.
A couple years ago, my daughter got me interested in watching the reality show Married at First Sight, and I soon decided that it was "the best show ever". I watched one season with my daughter and then another season with my wife.
The show follows that progress of five couples where the man and wife met each other for the first time at their wedding ceremony. Marriage counsels helped the couples deal with problems that developed. After eight weeks, each couple decides to stay married or else get divorced.
In the two seasons that I watched about half the couples decided to stay married and about half decided to get divorced.
The show was very interesting, largely because the marriage counselor were so wise.
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Anyway, my wife and I intended to watch the next season, but we were late to get going. We could watch the show on-demand, so we did not have to watch it right away.
Meanwhile, my daughter did watch all the episodes promptly as they were broadcast. My wife and I saw just some moments of the show as our daughter watched it.
Anyway, that season turned out to be a disaster. All five couples decided to get divorced, even though some of the relationships had seemed to be very promising at the beginning.
That season sure would not be fun to watch, so my wife and I did not watch it. And we have not watched the show since then.
However, the two seasons that I did watch were "the best show ever".
I wonder what she thinks of ‘Naked and Afraid’?
I've never liked Survivor. I just never liked that fat white guy who was the first winner.
But I still do follow --although I don't watch -- the other great long-running show like that: American Idol. I hope Noah wins.
I'm with Althouse on this one. I've watched every episode of 'Survivor' since its inception.
I'm always amused by people who exclaim how stupid 'Survivor' is (usually people who laugh at 'Modern Family' or 'Big Bang Theory' canned laughter-cued "humor"). And by those who watched it once and go on and on about how fake it is. You know, because it's not Auschwitz, or SEAL training, or Bear Grylls eating toads and bark in the middle of the Amazon. Because "they are not really surviving," don't ya know.
On the contrary, it is precisely about surviving -- surviving the vicissitudes of human nature, goaded by the misery of the elements, the fauna, and near-starvation. The players are subjected to those things precisely to bring stress reactions in human beings. And it is very effective and 'Survivor' gets exactly what it wants. And fans watch it because human interaction is one of the most interesting things there is.
It is a sociological Petri dish on which are cultivated various groups of social human actors whose reactions to the combined contrived stressors are almost always surprising and fascinating. You want it to be about brushes with death in order to live up to your interpretation of its name? Fine, go watch Live Leak or something, because you've indeed come to the wrong place with 'Survivor.' The rest of us will hang around and continue to watch one of the most interesting shows on TV.
Do you not know that the show is scripted and the players are playing roles? The human nature you are seeing comes from script writers who take their cues from focus group polling of past episodes.
Boring show...don't watch it.
"It’s human nature, what do people do when they’re starving and how do they react to one another?"
How dire can it be when there is a medical crew on-call 24/7 and there is zero chance of anyone starving?
'This Hobson's Choice show sounds Great! What channel is THAT on?'
Ha!
Don't get me started on Hobson's choice...everybody gets it wrong.
the BEST thing, about a Hobbesian state of Nature, is:
Without a government, no one can complain if you confuse him with Hobson!
Speaking of Hobbesian have you seen Sri Lanka lately?
It’s definitely an American political show because the contestants have to appear to be cooperative and group oriented while being willing go knife anyone who stands in their way - all while dealing with all sorts of pain and torment.
Then Trump came along and called BS on the entire thing and the rats scrambled for cover.
"I think I watched all those reality shows in the first season. But after one gets the basic concept does one really need to keep watching? Season 42?"
Season 42 is great. Because you don't watch it, you don't understand why. You imagine it's just a basic concept and you get it, so there's nothing more. That's the brilliance of the show. Every episode is really interesting, with all sorts of detail and character development. It's fun to watch and fun to talk about.
"Survivor is, or was, a great show. I assume you still watch it. Are you not bothered by how it yielded itself to wokeness over the last four seasons or so? Really wrecked it for me, and raises the constant background question about how prearranged some of the developments may be."
Some of the wokeness stuff has bothered me, but some of it has led to some amusing situations, like in Season 41 when the black players formed an alliance (to say something to the world that had to do with Black Lives Matter)... and then they betrayed each other. And in Season 42, when Drea got so indignant (based on a misinterpretation). So it's an element of social interaction, not something the show is requiring of them.
Is she aware that Survivor is not completely real, and not just in contestants being given rice and therefor not being at risk for starvation? According to thecoldwire.com, the show has used body doubles for contestants and has manipulated which contestants get voted off, against the contestants' wishes.
Additionally, it takes every two and a half to three days of activity by multiple different people and groups and edits it down to the one-hour show, of which about 14 minutes are commercials, 5-10 minutes are the voting off sequence, and some relatively large chunk is the challenge - the game-show part of the broadcast.
This appreciation of a TV show seems fine, as long as she understands that the show is entertainment, to a great extent scripted and planned, absolutely not real, and designed to provide viewers with anticipation, surprises, and story arcs rather than demonstrations of how the world, or humans, actually work. Could be worse, she could be a Family Guy fan.
Who that watched can forget Boston Rob “losing” to his new fiance Amber? Did anyone ever play the game better than that?
If you like Survivor, try the Wilds on Amazon Prime. Two groups of kids, one girls, and one boys, deliberately dropped on small islands, but convinced they've been in a plane crash. All of the "boxes" checked. Occasionally suitcases wash ashore with items they need, but no help. It's supposed to be a drama, but I find it really funny. We're supposed to believe a kid who was a nurse's aid cauterized an arm when one of the "castaways" loses a hand to a shark, and the wound heals without complications. But it works as a soap opera. And unlike Survivor where people get voted off, since this show is not reality TV, some of the kids die.
Q: has anybody gotten preggers on Survivor ? what do tribe do about that?
It's not a state of nature, it's an extremely contrived environment.
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wondering if inspired by The Truman Show? or predates ?
Every episode is really interesting, with all sorts of detail and character development. It's fun to watch and fun to talk about.
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fun ====> releive this vast boredom dear producers
She also gave tacit approval to demonstrate at her home.
She is OK with the Roe opinion leak. No problem with protesting at justice's homes.
She will certainly add something. Not sure just what it is.
After every commercial break, they re-cap the action from before the break......kinda like a all the TV soap operas.
The new justice must have a very short attention span.
Always have been more of a fan of Amazing Race. Like the teamwork aspect of it, how different teams react and deal with different challenges, ability to handle and recover from unexpected events.
"And then she'd plot to vote me off the island."
You're really having fun with your new playmate, aren't you. Just don't ask if you can touch her hair.
Reality shows are cool up to the point you realize its all staged BS. All of it. Its "produced".
Have you read Sallie Tisdale's book about Survivor et al.? https://tinyurl.com/973pj9dk
I haven't read it, because I don't watch the show, but I loved her Advice for Future Corpses.
"If it were a Hobbesian state of nature, one tribe could raid another and kill them all...".
Not all. Don't forget Plan B; "There would be rape. And babies."
Mike Sylwester:
Re MAFS, you need to take a look at the Australian version. Much more spicy and scandalous!
https://shvideos.net/2020/07/21/married-at-first-sight-au/
mikee said...
This appreciation of a TV show seems fine, as long as she understands that the show is entertainment, to a great extent scripted and planned, absolutely not real..
The thing is; i doubt that she DOES understand that. I doubt that Ketanji Brown Jackson does Either
Survivor creator Mark Burnett is a Trump enabling friend and partner in Apprentice. It's a very libertarian show, no?
"And then she'd plot to vote me off the island."
I have never watched the show, but presumably you would do the same. Isn't that the essence of the game?
It’s like this Hobbesian state of nature: How are we going to deal with this situation? I love it.
Ketanji Brown Jackson refuses to condemn the protests at Alito's house.
She does not believe in Natural Rights.
This is indefensible.
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