To all who have commented so far. If the show went to America's deep south, to a replica of a small plantation, and contestants had to grab their next clue from a bunch of African-American slaves picking cotton, would you all point to that as a brief taste of American culture? Would you say that, though not truly representative of the country as a whole, it was more entertaining than watching contestants walk up to a well-dressed black man or woman and to take their next clue from them? Or a less extreme example, if the show tried to use some modern day back woods town like Bakersfield, CA as a microcosm of America, would you be alright with that town representing America on the series? Because the parts of Almaty they chose to show did not represent the city I know Almaty to be, much less the country Kazakhstan is.
Almaty has a rich history and a vibrant present. Hell, the airport alone has improved leaps and bounds from when I was there five years ago. What did they focus on? The Mongols. The Kazakhstani people were raped, slaughtered, and conquered by the Mongols (among about a dozen other peoples). What appear to be foothills on the outskirts of Almaty, at the foot of the Tien-Shan mountains, are actually countless graves... sacred ground. That was the aspect of Kazakhstan's culture they chose to spotlight. I agree that the show should be entertaining, but, at a higher level, Americans should strive to be better than the ones on that show, and American viewers should strive to be better represented. I agree with Darren that trying to change my mind about this show would be next to impossible. I find most reality TV to be deplorable wastes of prime time real estate, and this show seems to be as bad as the worst I've seen. As I said at the outset, I don't know if this installment of "The Amazing Race" is indicative of the series as a whole, but people's replies would seem to indicate that it is. If so, there is a lot of shame that should be felt by a lot of people. -- Kevin M. (RPCV) --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Like TV only smarter. You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
