Amazing Race Baiters

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Okay, I'm mixing up my reality show titles, but there's a method to my mad pun.

In my super-mega-uber-popular post highlighting the attributes of Christina Cha of Survivor: One World, I offered up the possibility that the unwarranted animosity and vitriol being thrust on Christina was rooted in racism somehow:

... there are a bunch of people there who have a horrible hate-on for her and I cannot figure out why. We the audience have seen absolutely no reason whatsoever for them to despise her with the passion they do, but they have been vicious.

What gives? She has has been friendly, she pulls her own weight around the camp, she hasn't backstabbed anyone, and she seems likable. So what gives with all that animosity?

Since it seemed to stem from that one Republican fellow who thinks he's a woman, I started to develop a theory. Colton is a gay person in Alabama and in the GOP who spews bigotry and intolerance toward others (e.g., "ghetto trash"). I mean, really? Irony much?

And since he seems to be the fountainhead of the river of vitriol reserved for Christina, I have to wonder if that, too, does not stem from, to put it bluntly, animosity toward Asians, or Koreans in particular. (Maybe he didn't get a job at the Kia factory.)

Well, we're starting to see how right that speculation was. When fellow Asian-American Jonas Otsuji was ousted, it was revealed in a tweet by none other than Jeff Probst himself that the castaway engineering the removal of Jonas had actually said this (it was bleeped):

#survivor big words from tarzan and there's the quote of the day - 'cant look at that asian face anymore."

Seriously, what effin' century are you living in, man? And lest you think otherwise, this guy Tarzan is not some uneducated type: he's a plastic surgeon for criminy sake!

Jonas was apparently unaware of the remarks that Tarzan had made:

I was not aware of that. (Laughs) I think that's a little -- to say "Asian face," that's a little unnecessary. Yeah. And then the fact that he completely called out Christina like, "I don't like you." That's a little shocking, yeah. Wow. (Laughs)

Prior to that, he had defended Colton against the charge I'd made:

No, he's obviously not a racist, because if you're a racist, you single out a certain group of people. Colton hated every single person out there and he wasn't afraid to say it, so you can't say that he hates blacks or Asians. He hates everybody. (Laughs) At least that's the show that he puts on. I don't think that he really does.

But would he have seen things differently if he'd known about his other tribemate's little slur? Or, if he saw something like this:

Seems Colton is doing a Miley Cyrus imitation, with psycho special ed teacher from hell Alicia cracking up over it. Geez, do these people not realize they're on national television?

Seriously, doing "chink eye" in 2012? How emotionally stunted in fourth grade can you be?

The clip can be found with commentary at Angry Asian Man. [UPDATE on May 17, 2012, after Christina Cha came in fourth this season: I've decided to include the actual video clip of the above scene just below here; it includes Alicia following suit and also doing the "chink eye" bit. Apparently, Christina Cha is afraid of ghostly spirits, something that is engrained in Korean culture.]



Really, the thing that bothers me about this is that I fear it reflects a current that flows just below the surface, where average, everyday Americans have a hate-on for those around them stemming solely from that other person's race or ethnicity, not just targeted toward Asians but whatever group (including non-Whites against Whites).

Sure, that would be nothing new, and outwardly at least our society frowns upon it, but is this any way to live?

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[UPDATED] No-pants Wednesday

I don't know any kyopo parents — especially if they're immigrants — who wouldn't be oh-so-proud if their daughter were parading around in her undies on national television.

But only if she gets the million-dollar prize.

Good luck, Christina Cha, on Survivor: One World.

UPDATE:
Following GI Korea's lead, I probably should let her have a chance to get in a few words herself. Here's her Survivor interview:



She's a free-lance everything, as well as "not your quintessential Asian girl." Not sure if it's good that she's not following stereotypes or bad that she thinks loads of people are subscribing to them in general.

At any rate, I'll be tuning in to Survivor: One World (I always do) to see if I've been a bit harsh or not.

UPDATE 2:
I'm a terrible person. I shouldn't do this, but I just can't resist. See, I do much of my TV and movie viewing with "M," who is not a native English speaker, so we usually watch with the captions on. And every now and then you get a funny juxtaposition of picture and text, as below.

I'm prurient evil. Plus a tad juvenile. But I just can't help myself because the salacious side of me just finds this funny, and then it got added as "found porn of the day" at List of the Day, and I figured I might as well post it here.

The truth is, I think I've been giving Christina Cha too hard a time, and not just by posting this screen cap of her in a compromising position. She actually has become the one player I'm rooting for this season (I don't usually watch until a day or so after the original broadcast so please, no spoiler alerts in the comments section).

This is in part because she has become an underdog. More specifically, there are a bunch of people there who have a horrible hate-on for her and I cannot figure out why. We the audience have seen absolutely no reason whatsoever for them to despise her with the passion they do, but they have been vicious.

What gives? She has has been friendly, she pulls her own weight around the camp, she hasn't backstabbed anyone, and she seems likable. So what gives with all that animosity?

Since it seemed to stem from that one Republican fellow who thinks he's a woman, I started to develop a theory. Colton is a gay person in Alabama and in the GOP who spews bigotry and intolerance toward others (e.g., "ghetto trash"). I mean, really? Irony much?

And since he seems to be the fountainhead of the river of vitriol reserved for Christina, I have to wonder if that, too, does not stem from, to put it bluntly, animosity toward Asians, or Koreans in particular. (Maybe he didn't get a job at the Kia factory.)

In the first few episodes, I really kinda felt sorry for Colton, whose early teammates seemed as homophobic as they were misogynistic. But then he just became this self-absorbed fireball of narcissism and evil, and I was kinda sorta standing up and applauding in front of MacBook when he was sent packing.

Yeah, yeah, I can attest that appendicitis is no fun at all and I wouldn't wish it on anyone, but it was very clear that karma bitch-slapped you, Bruddah.

And if I'm right that the Christina Cha hate-fest was racially motivated, what's up with Jonas Otsuji being part of that bevy of bigots? Seriously, dude. Maybe I should put up compromising pictures of you.

Nah, I won't. First off, it's the pics of Christina Cha that bring the thousands upon thousands of hits to Monster Island. And second, since Jonas and I both live in Hawaii, there's no small chance I might run into the guy (it's not hard to see celebrities here in Honolulu — "M" even had a class with Purple Kelly a couple semesters ago) and if so, I'd like to tell him I thought he did a great job on the show and shake his hand, without him lopping it off with one of the tools of his trade.

어쨌든, 크리스티나 차씨, 파이팅! (벌써 이긴지 안 이긴지 당신이 알지만, 제가 아직 몰라요.)

UPDATE 3:
It pays to watch Survivor's extra stuff. My hunch was apparently right about the hate-fest toward Christina having a racial component to it. Indeed, it seems appendicitis isn't the only thing with which Colton was afflicted: he also had a case of "chink eye."

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