Episode 2: Confessionals

[tom]

[tom]

My reaction to last night in general:

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[tom]

In retrospect I feel really bad for Jordan. I think he is extremely well intentioned and that a lot of his actions would be admirable in regular every day social interactions. He is clearly someone willing to stand up against a person he perceives to be a bully and that is an admirable quality in a human being in general. We need more of those people in life. 

Unfortunately, in Survivor there are different rules as far as social interactions go. This is a game where people are eliminated systematically based on social hierarchy, and for someone to bring up your name is a bad thing even if they are trying to defend you. The reason people were so upset with him is mostly because he doesn't realize that in this game people will get mad if you bring up their name unless you have their consent. In Survivor, perception is reality so people want to have the most possible control of their own image and reputation within a game. So even when you think you are doing someone a favour by defending them from someone who they have expressed their distaste for, you are infringing on their ability to present themselves as they choose and it ends up being the same as if you had intentionally dragged their name through the mud.

I am sure if sometime in the game, someone had sat down and explained this to Jordan then he would have understood it. But what makes it even harder is that everyone HAS to be self interested in Survivor (it's the nature of the game), so no one can like pull him aside and explain 'This is why people are upset with you'. They don't know what kind of reaction that would create because he has already been identified as a loose cannon by that point. The nature of the whole situation really sucks.

It sucks that there is no way to express to him what happened that resulted in his elimination. I don't know if there is such a thing as a Survivor Goodbye message. But I have recently felt really burned in a game and it's not a good feeling. Going out in a unanimous vote hurts. Going out in a unanimous vote that is THIRTEEN people to one hurts even more. And I hope that this experience doesn't sour him on ORGs in general because he brings a LOT to the table. Jordan, I hope you read these words at some point.