'Survivor' Goes To The Races

With millions of sites floating through the blogosphere, who really has time to peek at even a fraction of them? Blogophile reads them for you and presents a weekly roundup of the buzz on must-read blogs. Blogophile appears new each Wednesday, and is written by CBSNews.com's Melissa P. McNamara.

Surviving Controversy

In just a couple of weeks, the new season of "Survivor" takes 20 castaways to the Cook Islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. But the controversy begins once they are divided into tribes ... by race. There will be a white team, a black team, an Asian team and a Hispanic team.

Host Jeff Probst told CBS News' The Early Show that it's a novel idea.

"I know, from where I sit, I found it to be one of the freshest ideas we've had going back to the beginning of this show in season one," he said.

But "fresh" isn't the word many bloggers use. As expected, the new take on the teams has generated lots of blogosphere banter. "Survivor" was a top search term among bloggers even days after the announcement was made, and the CBSNews.com story about the contest continues to generate numerous comments.

Many bloggers didn't initially believe the announcement was true. And those who did were not pleased by what they say is a publicity stunt.

"What is this going to teach kids? To stick with your own race, segregation, it's unbelievable," Curt writes at Curt's World. "Furthermore, people who watch, I'm sure will be cheering for their own race to win."

Is it merely a ratings ploy, some bloggers asked. "There is absolutely no point to this move in terms of the actual playing of the stupid game," Buzz Me blogs. "If this is how far you've got to go to make people care about Season 173, or whatever you're on, it's really time to hang up the bush hat and cargo shorts. For real."

Michael Sendrow agrees. "Can a show like the popular CBS series 'Survivor' jump the shark, when it is conceivable that shark jumping could be an actual challenge?"

But some bloggers are more undecided. "I question this decision ... but then again, perhaps it just makes for good TV. As a future educator, I am learning to celebrate the differences in cultures — does dividing races up in a competition celebrate them or just try to prove which one is better?" Piper writes at Glass of Whine.

And where does Survivor go from here? "... If the season's a success, what tasteless tactic will they resort to next time? Cops vs. convicts? Catholics vs. Protestants? Bald men vs. Wookies? Hey, whatever it takes to top 'Idol,' " a blogger at Arcade Games Blog writes.

And About Those Career Men?

Forbes.com has surely realized that it can attract more readers with attention-grabbing headlines and content than with typical business reporting. An article by its executive news editor, "Don't Marry Career Women," was all the talk of the blogosphere last week.

The article provoked such a heated response from bloggers that Forbes.com pulled it down and reposted the story with a "rebuttal" from a female reporter in its Silicon Valley bureau. The point-counterpoint has had bloggers buzzing for weeks.

The article by Michael Noer contains reasons for men not to marry "career women." He says they may cheat on you, divorce you and leave you with an unclean home. Noer relies primarily on dry sociological studies — not controversial in themselves and unlikely to spark online furor — but Noer's take on it is undoubtedly provocative. For example, his article begins:

"Guys: A word of advice. Marry pretty women or ugly ones. Short ones or tall ones. Blondes or brunettes. Just, whatever you do, don't marry a woman with a career.

"A recent study in Social Forces, a research journal, found that women — even those with a 'feminist' outlook — are happier when their husband is the primary breadwinner. Not a happy conclusion, especially given that many men, particularly successful men, are attracted to women with similar goals and aspirations. And why not? After all, your typical career girl is well-educated, ambitious, informed and engaged. All seemingly good things, right? Sure ... at least until you get married. Then, to put it bluntly, the more successful she is the more likely she is to grow dissatisfied with you. Sound familiar?"

And if that sentiment weren't enough fodder for the blogosphere, the article originally appeared with a handy sidebar of "Nine Reasons To Steer Clear Of Career Women," illustrated with pictures of some sad-looking men. The sidebar no longer appears on the site but the blog Pandagon includes it here.

In her counterpoint, "Don't Marry A Lazy Man," Elizabeth Corcoran calls Noer's article "downright frightening."

"Studies aside, modern marriage is a two-way street," writes Corcoran, married almost 18 years. "Men should own up to their responsibilities, too."

Her points resonate with many female bloggers.

"It's sometimes hard to believe that such ridiculous sexism still exists, much less with men in their 30's, but there are still plenty of creeps out there," Meredith writes at Information Wants To Be Free.

"I'm still trapped in the house and perhaps going a little stir crazy, but I'm pretty damn sure it's still 2006," bitsandgiggles adds.

Undoubtedly, publicity was partly the intent of writing a potentially inflammatory piece. After all, Noer isn't one to shirk attention when writing about marriage. He wrote an earlier piece about the economics of marriage compared to prostitution.

"The latest rumor about the Forbes article by conveniently unreachable Michael Noer is that the piece was deliberately provocative. Not to inspire intelligent debate, mind you — but to drive traffic from the hip, highly-female blogger demographic to a publication to which they (I'm projecting here) would not ordinarily purchase a subscription," Jennifer writes at The New Charm School.

But could this attention backfire? The New York Times raised questions about whether the eye-catching lifestyle stories it has published recently have actually translated into more visitors.

Remembering Katrina

A year ago Tuesday, Hurricane Katrina rolled ashore. But as the one-year anniversary of the storm arrived, it's difficult to summarize how lives have changed so drastically for so many on the Gulf Coast. It's difficult to measure how much work is left to be done, and whether New Orleans will ever be the city it was a year ago.

New Orleans has under half the population it had one year ago. Housing projects remain closed and many poorer neighborhoods are still devastated from the storm, the New York Times reports.

But behind the statistics, bloggers recall their lives right before the storm hit, and the impact it has had on them in the past year.

"NOTHING has returned to its previous status pre-Katrina. Friends I never saw again, co-workers whose homes were lost in a matter of hours. Saddest thing to ever happen to the US in my opinion," Jessica writes at MySpace. She had been living in an apartment at Louisiana State University.

"Hmm, as The Anniversary approaches, I find myself looking back over the posts from a year ago. Today is actually the anniversary of my very first Katrina post, an innocent little thing declaring, 'I'm sick of hurricanes ...,' " Simbolala of New Orleans writes. "It's funny how things work. Sometimes you know when big changes are coming, and sometimes you don't. One day, suddenly, everything is just different."

Many say they miss New Orleans, a city many loved even if they did not call it home.

"It's been a year since Katrina. We had no electricity for 7 days. We were trapped in our neighborhood that is covered with 200 year old oak trees that were thrown around and placed on houses and in the middle of streets," Cindy Lou writes at Ageless Mind. "My husband and I made a trip to New Orleans about once every 4 - 6 weeks, to shop to get away and to eat the wonderful food. We haven't been back yet. We can't forget."

And in a "requiem to New Orleans," Harold Ralphson recalls, "It's almost been one year since Katrina devastated the gulf coast. The flooding of New Orleans was a sad, terrible tragedy. It did not have to happen."

As if looking back at old diary entries, many bloggers linked to their entries from last year when Katrina struck, at a time when some didn't recognize the extent of the damage that was headed their way.

"Immediately, thoughts are rushing through your mind of everyone you have ever met from the city, the musicians that you know - their families - the buildings, the culture, everything- and what would happen," Jack Brass Band recalls thinking when Katrina first came ashore.

Others are angry that they say change hasn't come quickly enough. "The tragedy surrounding Katrina had morally called, required, and empowered all of us to change America. American citizens heard the call, and what did the Bush administration and GOP-controlled Congress do about poverty? They ignored it after enough time had passed and once they felt that the cry of the poor had left the consciousness of the American public. They went on to pass one of the most immoral budgets ever seen ...," Iddybud writes at the liberal blog, Daily Kos.

Many are left worrying about what will happen when the next hurricane strikes.

"One year after Hurricane Katrina devastated the US Gulf coast, America holds its collective breath, bracing for the next catastrophe," a blogger at Last Chocolate City writes. "The US is ill-prepared for the first Hurricane of the new season or the impending political whirlwind that will accompany it."

Blogophile RSS Feed
By Melissa McNamara