I wonder if I should start worrying...

First, I don't find myself up in arms against the Black Eyed Peas' video of Bebot, and now, I don't find myself all that upset about the upcoming new season of "Survivor: Cook Islands" which will divide contestants into four tribes based on race.

In her TV Column article entitled "Sagging 'Survivor' Plays the Race Card" in The Washington Post , author Lisa deMoraes makes clear that she expects audience reaction to be one of shock (to put it mildly). The sarcastic tone she uses to describe "The Early Shows" coverage of the show via interview with host, Jeff Probst, demonstrates her own attitude of dismay.

By no means is deMoraes the only one who isn't looking forward to the new season of "Survivor." Last Friday, several NYC officials rallied at City Hall as part of "a campaign urging CBS to pull the show because it could encourage racial division and promote negative typecasts" (Kugler "NYC officials want new 'Survivor' pulled").

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not so far gone as to buy into executive producer Mark Burnett's assertions that "maybe that taboo [of race] could disappear through" this new season of "Survivor," or that its "not racial at all."

I do, however, think there's something to look forward to in this new season. I mean, the show hasn't even started, and already there's been a lot of discussion about TV and race. (Despite the strength of her conviction against dividing tribes by race, a quick glance at other articles in The Washington Post by deMoraes doesn't readily reveal any prior focus on TV and race whatsoever.)

What's more, although problematic because of limitations of the labels for each tribe (white people, African-Americans, Asian-Americans, and Hispanic people), it is SO refreshing to hear discussions of race that go beyond a black/white binary.

I doubt that the show will be everything I'd want it to be, but it is a beginning of sorts. Maybe we'll eventually get to the point where we're discussion the other, long-standing, problematic racial elements of "Survivor"...umm...like the use of the terminology "tribe/tribes," or the countless times as "rewards" past survivor contestants have been treated to native rituals (remember such things as: survivors drinking fresh cow's blood, having the locals dance for survivors, etc.). Aside from issues of exploitative capitalism (as if this isn't an oxymoron), imperialist tourism, and exoticization of island cultures, there are so many other problematic racial issues related to "Survivor" beyond splitting the tribes by race--let's get to those discussions!

For more information, here's one website I found with a variety of links to various articles about "Survivor: Cook Islands"