One state two state red state blue state

Would any year on this blog be complete without the obligatory Survivor post?

So-called "reality" television is very much maligned, as much of it should be, with its constant undertone of throwing the proverbial Christians to the proverbial lions. We all now know about Fox' plans to take the Survivor "survival of the fittest" concept and create a show in which employees in real business facing layoffs get to choose who is laid off. It would be easy to think that this is no worse than the original Survivor, except that the people on the latter show CHOOSE to be on the show, they certainly know after 18 seasons know what the deal is, and most of them either go back to their old lives or in some cases, find new careers both in and out of show business.

Survivor is a triumph of editing, as the casting directors and film editors compile characters and narratives to produce heroes and villains; sluts and earth mothers, and other narrative archetypes. Somehow, no matter what the mix of contestants is, these archetypes always seem to emerge. Perhaps this is why they are archetypes; because they are so characteristic of human nature.

The season just completed, which took place in the Brazilian highlands state of Tocantins, had the potential to be about as compelling as the Guatemala season, which featured some of the most loathsome people ever to appear on the show, sweating and scratching bug bites and driving each other crazy over the course of 39 days. But while the faux-warrior Benjamin "Coach" Wade was the darling of the show's producers and host, with his tales of being abducted by tribal natives in the Amazon and singlehandedly managing to get himself untied from the stake to which he was tied, get back to his kayak, and win a world's record, for me the most compelling narrative, given the political focus of this blog, was the strong and immediate bond between the angsty New York Jewish Guy Stephen Fischbach and the aw-shucks cattle rancher from Alabama and eventual shutout winner James "J.T." Thomas, which turned into a bromance not even Judd Apatow could write better. Here the two talk with Entertainment Weekly's Dalton Ross and Josh Wolk after the finale:

We have reached a point in this country in which it often seems as if we are no longer one country. We are the Holy Nation of Jesustan and the Godless Heathen Feminazi Nation of Jewish Homosexual Communists. After last fall's presidential campaign, which saw John McCain, Sarah Palin, and their court fool Joe the Plumber whip their red state minions into frenzies in which crowds were screaming "Kill him!" and "He's a terrorist!" in conjunction with Barack Obama, and what we've seen since from the politicians from the south and elsewhere, which has blue staters like me saying "Go. Secede already," there was something profoundly hopeful about seeing these two unlikely allies create from very early on not just a show alliance but a true friendship. If these two can find common ground, why can't the rest of us?