Vincent Cheung

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Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Identity is a horrible, horrible show

Let's ignore the fact that Identity stretches out what should only take, at most, 5 min. of matching 12 pairs of things into an hour long show infused with artificial drama through commercial breaks. The whole concept of the show is exactly what is wrong with our society.

Identity is a game show where a contestant has to match 12 people with their occupation based entirely on appearance. The contestants cannot ask them questions and the people do not speak or do anything. They just stand there.

This is wrong on so many levels. First, it reinforces the concept of stereotypes of occupations, even worse is that it's based only on looks. Second, it defines individuals solely by their occupation.

It's very common to get those "oh, one of those" reactions when you tell someone what you do. Occupational stereotypes are very strong, but I don't think you should be defined by your job. If all you are is what you do for a living, then I think that's rather sad.

I read something once where the guy said that in introductions, most people start off with what their job is. He thought this was inherently wrong. He said that we should not be defined by our occupation, and rather, what is a better reflection of himself was that he was the son of Bob and Mary, husband of Sarah, and father of Paul and Wanda. I agree with this that "what we do" is not "who we are". Pragmatically speaking though, it's a decent introduction.

I don't like to be categorized into any type of stereotype - occupational, ethnic, cultural, gender, physical, age, or otherwise. I fight against them and like to have my own identity.

1 Comment:

Bob said...

is that the one Shatner is hosting?

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