Survivor, "Game Changers"

Survivor, "Game Changers" ended last Wednesday evening. We were on the road but I recorded the episode and we watched Saturday night after returning from Florida. Sarah Lacina won. She was the most effective liar, back-stabber and "strategic player." She'd been on the show before and conducted herself with honor while playing. She lost.

Background here:

http://glidersruminations.blogspot.co.id/2014/05/the-lessons-of-survivor-cagayan-and-why.html

Going home after that show, Sarah, having lost to the morality-free fellow police officer, Tony, decided to throw her integrity out the window for 39 days. She said she used her professional contact with thieves, prostitutes and addicts to better understand how to "go under cover" and become somebody she despised (i.e.: Tony, from Survivor, Cagayan) to "win." Once she swore never to talk to Tony again. She'd bonded with him and then got back-stabbed. Morally unacceptable, right? Then apparently she had an epiphany. But not from Saul to Paul. Just the opposite, from Paul to Saul. Bad is the new Good. But only for money on TV, right? Only a game. Say it again, ONLY A GAME. Worth a million dollars, cash, of course. Fame and Fortune. Certainly worth selling your integrity for, right? At least that's what she learned from playing Survivor. Let's hope it's only something people learn from playing Survivor, not watching it.

The good thing for Sarah was she still had something to sell. One thing this season of former players knew was who was genuine and who was creepy dishonest. They knew not to trust Tony. He established that he would lie on his mother's grave for money. That's good, of course, and should be rewarded, as Survivor has taught us, but only when it's done al fresco. We wants our lies told fresh from the garden. So he was voted out early, this season. Boring. His soul selling act was rotten stale. His ability to lie with a straight face, laudable but a re-run. It won him the respect of his fellow players, once. Now it's funny. Juries on Survivor, apparently love budding soul sellers. Somebody who comes on board with integrity but then throws down, sells out and convinces others they can be trusted and then, pow, screw you buddy. The Sole Survivor, is not a Soul Survivor, it seems. It's the opposite. Somebody with established integrity, like a police officer who is willing to be morally compromised for money and fame. This is a good thing. A Survivor jury previously rewarded his two-faced, lying persona with a million dollars. It seems Tony already sold his soul and well, you can't do it twice. At least not on Survivor. But they also knew Sara was genuine. Until she wasn't. Now they know she isn't. For that they rewarded her 50 pieces of Survivor-Silver (million bananas). Now, she's a winner! Huzzah...

I get it. The folks who compete on Survivor can't all be ex-professional athletes like Brad Culpepper. He won more actual Survivor competitions and kept his integrity intact. Easy (relatively) for him, they reason. They were trying to cut his throat every vote but he kept winning challenges. He was obviously a better survivor, but he wasn't a Survivor survivor. You can't keep your soul intact. No way. The only way to counteract such physical prowess is with guile and politics (being a sneaky liar). And oh yeah, Brad's a bully. Hard to know who to pull for. The liar or the bully? I guess selling your integrity wins out. It seems more about whose willing to give up the most to win. Brad ground it out physically but who cares? The bulk of the jury clearly identified with the sneak over the bully. After watching, I took a shower. And like a damaged moth, I can't wait for the flame, that is Survivor, to be re-lit in a few months.

The lessons of Survivor Cagayan and why my knuckle's bleed

I admit one of my guilty pleasures is watching Survivor. Watching TV in general is considered knuckle-dragger behavior. I should be volunteering or practicing my viola or reading the classics. Simian or not I like the show. But like I said, it is a very guilty pleasure. Last night Season 28 finished with a three hour special. I felt three times as guilty. Not just because it was three times as long, although there's that but because Tony Vlachos, the guy who lied, cheated, swore oaths on his dead father, his badge [Tony's a Jersey police officer], his wife and child and generally acted like he had no moral code, no honor, no integrity and well, no shame, won in a landslide. He got all but one of the "jury's" votes. Those same people who were lied to and who openly castigated him for his lack of moral compass, rewarded him with a million dollar payday. Therefore he is a "winner." The host, Jeff Probst, quizzed the runner-up, Woo Hwang, who kept his integrity in tact, if he didn't feel regret after watching winner Tony walk off with the prize. Woo silently cogitated, then said his code wouldn't allow him to dishonor himself that way. Even though the situation may have called for it to be rewarded with money, he didn't live that way. Jeff said, okay, we can go with that but the implication from him and the rest of his survivor buddies was "what a loser to have a moral code that prevents him from 'winning.'"
 
I do get that performing on the show means you subscribe to the show's mottoes [wow spell checker fooled me with that spelling], "Outwit, outlast and outplay." Outplay apparently means leave your honor at home. I have seen stealing of supplies from other tribes as "fair game." Rupert, the pirate, on previous episodes, plundered when and where he could. He was widely loved for it. Being a sneak is good. Eavesdropping (Tony built a palm frond hut to listen in on other's conversations), denying food (outlast) and of course, lying, cheating (telling others an idol you found which has special powers that it didn't) are all part of the "game." It seems to say being isolated should bring out the worst in mankind, or what's a hell for?

I have a friend, an ex-cop, who believes that man is basically corrupt. This is informed by his nearly 30 year career as a state trooper. Survivor seems to inveigh on his behalf. The show is a real life, adult version of "Lord of the Flies" where participating contestants try to break each other down to be supreme ruler. This then is rewarded by 50 pieces of gold, uh, a million dollars. Last man or woman, who lies, cheats, steals and dishonors themselves and their family is left standing to take it all. The others, banished from the island, are asked to reconsider having honor as maybe a questionable trait. You didn't "win." You must be an idiot.

Even though Tony "won" he seems to be getting a lot of negative feedback. Some of it is obviously internalized. Swearing on your child's life and your dead father's grave seems to be having an effect on him. The jury seemed to outwardly despise him but gave him the money, like paying the devil his due. He kept saying, "It was just a 'game.' I outplayed everybody.  But in normal life, I'm not like that, Jeff." He said it in a very nervous way. One of his watch commanders flew to the west coast to be on the show just to say that in Jersey, they all loved the way he played "the game." Winning was "job one." The implication was, representing his family, his heritage, his badge, his office and himself as an honorable man was "job two." After all, it was just a game, right? There was another police officer on the island, a woman from Indiana, Sara Lacina who thought she bonded with Tony, not knowing that Tony was being possessed by the devil, only for 39 days, of course. Sara's not speaking to Tony any more. Sara said on the finale that she thinks the real Tony came out on the island. Because if the situation calls for it, you can lie, cheat and dishonor yourself and your family, that basically means that's really who you are. If money can justify venal behavior, the most venal will win in a landslide.

Survivor Cagayan personifies 21st century situational ethics, right? God is dead. Man is supreme in his "live in the moment," "the end justifies the means" existentialism. I did feel disgusted when it was over, mostly at myself for watching. But then I listened to Tony continue to try to justify himself. Listened to him say he was too sick to work for three months. That he can no longer "bulk up" his muscles. His voice was strained and he spoke rapidly with dizzy eyes. His wife didn't visit him on the island and wasn't there at the end (various excuses were made). It reminded me of TVs other "winner," Charlie Sheen. The nervous eyes and sweaty demeanor. "Winning." Right.

Then I reflected a bit. If Tony seemed crushed by his victory what about the hilarious loser who had a million dollars in the palm of his hand and decided to follow his heart and not his head. I remembered Yung "Woo" Hwang, the "loser." The guy who lives his life based on honor and integrity. The guy who wanted to compete with the best rather than phone in a victory. The guy who entertained school children on the island by shining his inner light and playfully making fun of himself. Yung Hwang, who represented himself, his family and his heritage with honor. Jeff and the rest shook their heads at his naivete. He just didn't know how to win on Survivor. But then they are the ones who openly despised Tony then turned around and declared him the "winner." It's their opinion that Tony did the "right" thing to win the game. Jeff says you never know what to expect from Survivor. I'm going to keep on watching. I don't expect it but one day I hope to watch my fellow human beings reward honor and integrity over lying and cheating. That our nation's children have something morally positive to take away from the show. But hey, it's TV, right? The longer I watch, the more my knuckle's bleed.