Post: Survivor Race Hype: Kids are listening
Survivor Race Hype: Kids are listening
A few weeks ago when Limbaugh was flapping racial "what ifs" and media hype swirled around the lowlife tactics of CBS’ Survivor dividing teams by race, I kept hoping kids would just cover their ears.
Kids don’t need to watch a show to be damaged by it.
Children hear media chatter from parents, peers and pop culture buzz without ever pressing the "on" button.
It’s "viral marketing" at its worst this season in a show that jumped the shark a long time ago. The only thing new this season are the stereotypes creeping into kids’ lexicon that were never even remotely on the radar before. Ugh, gee, thanks, CBS.
Imagine little kids innocently asking their friends questions like, “Is it true you really can’t swim?” or using misguided terminology that even adults can’t get straight. (C’mon CBS, do your homework, “Hispanic” is not a “race”)
We’re not out of the toxic wastewater yet, but so far the fall debut has not trickled down to playground parlance. Mind you, tonight is only the second episode of the season.
If we all hush, maybe we can keep the slurs from sticking to kids like filthy chewing gum on a brand new sneaker…
Kids haven’t started slinging taunts yet, but I can tell you that last season, my research on weekly playground duty for Shaping Youth revealed some kids who never watched the show in their life could recite the winners and losers of every single episode, along with who was "lame" and why. Wild.
This year the stakes are ridiculously high since executives are potentially branding the brains of wee ones with racial slurs and epithets in sound bite form.
It’s only a matter of time before networks ratchet up the discontent in the tribes to try to snag some bigger numbers. Or mix up the teams to show how we’re "really all the same"…it’s all bogus mind play for media mavens to scrutinize. Meanwhile…
For the rest of this entry, visit Shaping Youth, where this entry originally appeared.