Kid Nation: R.E.S.P.E.C.T.
When we last left Bonanza City, the Council had received a vote of "no confidence". The kids decided to hold elections, again, and try to do better. Oh if only our system worked that way--just change-out the people in charge when we've had enough!So the hands were raised by those who wished to run against the current Council and they each had thirty seconds to convince their district why they'd be better. When the votes were tallied, the entire Council had been replaced, even Laurel, our favorite and most effective leader. The new Council was all the older kids; the bullies. Greg, the oldest "pioneer" in Bonanza City and the one with serious anger issues; Blaine, his side-kick; D.K., who vacillates between being nice and being bossy; and Michael, the mop-top blond who early on won a gold star for his kindness. All boys. All older.
In the words of Sophia: "I was scared for the future of Bonanza City." We were, too. Laurel added: "Bonanza City is going to crash and burn."
As the first act of exerting their new found power, the Council decided to play a "communications game", believing that there was not nearly enough respect among the pioneers, evidenced by people interrupting each other while they were talking. Blaine had once been through an exercise he described to his fellow Council members and they agreed it was an excellent exercise to foist upon the group.
They gathered the townsfolk in the saloon and explained the rules: each kid would get up, state their name, age, where they were from, and say one thing about themselves. No one could utter a sound during these mini monologues. Not a single sound. Not a cough, a giggle, a mumble, nothing. And if there was a sound, the entire exercise would begin again, and repeat until all the kids had had their turn. This, they explained, was the way to learn respect.
Nathan was not happy about this, and summed up what many of the kids were thinking: "They should work on themselves before they teach us about respect."It goes without saying that it took a very long time to get through this nightmare and created a deep and powerful resentment in all the kids and taught them nothing other than the fact that the Council can make them do anything they want, no matter how inane.
The effect of this exercise was that the kids felt upset, angry, more homesick than ever and very unhappy with the council.
Eric said, "Greg is so rude and disrespectful."
Jared simply concluded, "The respect game sucked."
The green district, now lead by Michael but once strong and united under Laurel, held a meeting in their bunkhouse and discussed the problems with the current Council, the fear and anger they felt for Greg and Blaine in particular, and encouraged Michael to stand up to them and be more independent in his thinking. Not to mention a better representative of the green district. There was a good deal of open and honest exchange, as these kids tried to deal with the changes, their feelings, and their concerns. There was one problem however: Greg and Blaine were listening under their window. Greg and Blaine. The Council members working to instill respect. Yeah, right. In that instant, they showed themselves, again, as nothing more than bullies, trying to control everyone and everything. And entirely disrespectful. The most consistent complaint about Greg has been his lack of respect for others, and this was further proof. Greg and Blaine were incensed by what they overheard.
The next morning brought a full-blown confrontation between the green district and Greg, Blaine and D.K. No one could manage it. The anger built. The feelings got stronger. The younger kids more scared. The older kids more obstinate and controlling. It should also be noted that the three Council members who acted out their anger on the group, did so by making snide, sexist comments to the girls as they walked by...commenting on their shorts, the fact that they were "looking good" and even cat-calling. All of which set a particularly disturbing tone to the episode.
Laurel decided to go home, seeing no value in staying one more minute in a situation like this.
But Sophia had the winning insightful comment, one that perhaps sums up the entire disastrous episode and gave us an Art Linkletter "kids say the darnedest things" moment:
"It's like someone won the presidential election with no background check." Out of the mouths of babes.
This episode had all the usual, manipulative side stories, almost too mind-numbing at this stage to report. Suffice it to say that no one knows how to handle Taylor, but this Council thought she should be punished; they ultimately relented, but cautioned her that she had to step up her game. Where have they been? This is her game. She's the pageant queen unable and unwilling to adapt.The "Showdown" was the usual combination of idiotic, sprinkled with disgusting, and always laced with unhealthy competitive drive. This one, in addition to reminding us that adults can get kids to do anything with the promise of a surprise reward, also demonstrated the need for these kids to get back to school asap. Nary a handful of them knew that the television was invented after the telegraph. Some did not recognize a phonograph. Perhaps in reaction to their own ignorance, next week's preview revealed that the pioneers will try to create their own school. We can hardly wait.
The kids actually completed their Showdown competition in time to win the grand prize. A choice between ponies, who could clearly help with chores vs. letters from home. We breathed a great sigh of relief when the Council chose the letters; we were very concerned for the ponies. The letters gave some of the kids a boost, made some a little more homesick, but ultimately made them all feel that they could make it through the last ten days. We're hoping we can, too.
The episode ended with a fairly clear split over who thinks the Council is doing a good job and who does not. But there was an overwhelmingly united cry for Greg to change; he was on notice that the kids did not want him to leave, but they wanted him to stop being a bully and start demonstrating respect. He tried to defend himself, but ultimately agreed to try harder.
The gold star was awarded, without great ceremony, to Laurel, our choice for a gold star every week. She accepted the surprise honor with characteristic honesty and grace. And it stopped her from going home, of course. She and her mother had a little chat about hitting the mall when she got home.
So what was this all about? What is going on in Bonanza City? And how do we, at Safety4Kids, make sense of these episodes while keeping a watchful eye on the well-being of these pioneers?
We were left with more questions than answers after this episode, but questions that are worthy of discussion.
- Why do kids (and maybe not just kids) vote for the very people they fear?
- Why do the bullies end up in positions of power?
- Does the desire for change, above everything else, ensure bad choices?
- Do kids still believe that people can change?
- How do so many governing bodies end up in autocracy, rather than democracy?
- Why don't people rise up in revolt and cry out for change, when the feelings are so strong and the need so great?
(c) Matt Trommer. Image from BigStockPhoto.com
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Technorati Tags: Kid Nation, CBS, respect, bullying
2 Comments:
I would never have imagined that this show could lead me to thoughts about the current political landscape in this country, the whims of the voting public, or the effect of fear, but, thanks entirely to this very impressive blog, it has.
I've been thinking throughout this show's season that one of the major mistakes of the producers is that they try to turn children into miniature versions of adults, which struck me as bizarre and ill-conceived and of course untrue.
However, while reading this blog, I had something of a revelation: perhaps this show is actually, in an impressively subversive way, telling us that all adults are just taller, bigger children. We are all still those bullied children in school, or those homesick children at camp, or even perhaps that bully, who acts out of wracking insecurity; and we still believe that those who frighten us deserve to have power over us; perhaps because we're too lazy and too scared to reject them, or on some odd level we respect them for it, or perhaps because we want everyone else to be as frightened as we are. I don't know. But it's a fascinating question, and a particularly pertinent one to be asking ourselves, as the elections of 2008 draw near.
even though greg is munipulative and rude, he's still pretty cute
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