Kid Nation 10/10/07

4672 Views 95 Replies 38 Participants Last post by justapixel, Oct 18, 2007

Gunnyman

Discussion Starter · Oct 11, 2007

I watched like 10-15 minutes and deleted the SP.
/dons flame retardant suit
The producers crossed a line tonight forcing religious discourse on these kids. Bad idea.
These kids are too young for such an "adult" subject.
"Christians rule" and 'Jew Crew"? These kids have their own notions about religion, but they aren't TRULY their own, since they are likely the same religion as their parents or perhaps even agnostic if their parents are. They lack the knowledge to debate the subject.
Thumbs WAY down on this show.

1 - 20 of 96 Posts

scottykempf

· #2 · Oct 11, 2007

Yeah, the kids don't understand religion if they think it's OK to say "Our religion is better." That's fine in a competition against another team, but tacky when it involves religion. And there's nothing wrong with a non-denominational service. But having one religious service can definitely be a bad thing. It waters down the idea if you don't mention specific beliefs, such as multiple gods, or the Holy Trinity that would offend the other religions. You must tread lightly when it involves someone's faith, and I think that a lot of the kids didn't get that.

Taylor showed horrible "leadership" this episode. It wouldn't have been surprised if the other teams had said "No, I'm not going to help. Why don't you get your team to do their jobs." At the very least, Michael and the other leaders should have gone to Taylor and put her in her place. Though I would have liked to see what would have happened if lunchtime rolled around and nobody had anything to eat.

Old Timey Mini-Golf

Why do they think that they have to give the kids modern things like this? Yes, the kids need diversions and fun and not to work all the time. But they could do it in ways that are more historically accurate.

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Sadara

· #3 · Oct 11, 2007

I'm going to stick with it, the religion topic didn't "upset" me. I said to my husband, for me it's simple, I would participate in any religious ceremony. I'm not a religious person, but I also respect that others may be or may want to practice their religion. With that said, I also don't expect to have someone else's religion pushed on to me. I think some of these kids are old enough to make their own choices or decisions about religion, though I admit some are still too young for that.

I saw the previews for next week, I won't give it away, but let's just say.... I cannot wait to see it!!

DLL66

· #4 · Oct 11, 2007

Overall, I think the kids figured out how to deal with the religion thing pretty well. I was waiting for Taylor to cry again. I can't wait until next week as well!

scottykempf

· #5 · Oct 11, 2007

"Pageant Queens don't do dishes."

Langree

· #6 · Oct 11, 2007

Zach seems really mature, way to step up as a leader.

USAFSSO

· #7 · Oct 11, 2007

Some of these parents must be sooooo proud of their children.

They need to get some lip balm out there too.

uncdrew

· #8 · Oct 11, 2007

Still digging this show.

I do hope the subject of religion is done -- it went just as expected and was actually kinda dull.

... and for once I thought this was the week to go for the "fun" prize. While I'm not terribly religical myself, it seems that I could take 40 days (and 40 nights) off of church.

Several comments cracked me up:

Campbell: "Let's do something fun. Looking at cows is fun."

Cody: "I need to get over my gal. I'm going to go down a root beer."

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Jolt

· #9 · Oct 11, 2007

uncdrew said:
Still digging this show.

I do hope the subject of religion is done -- it went just as expected and was actually kinda dull.

... and for once I thought this was the week to go for the "fun" prize. While I'm not terribly religical myself, it seems that I could take 40 days (and 40 nights) off of church.

Several comments cracked me up:

Campbell: "Let's do something fun. Looking at cows is fun."

Cody: "I need to get over my gal. I'm going to go down a root beer."

Yeah i would have picked mini golf myself. They were able to bring things with them so they probably had a bible or any religous book they needed already.\
The root beer comment cracked me up also.

Neenahboy

· #10 · Oct 11, 2007

I'm only about 15 minutes in so far, but the council is really starting to get annoying.

Are they just tools that follow the every recommendation of some faceless town ancestor guy? What would happen if, for once, the entire episode WASN'T based on their following the recommendation? Are the producers strongly encouraging them to do so, or can they actually think for themselves on occasion? It just seems like they're presented with a recommendation, they present it to the town, then get really pissed off when it (inevitably) doesn't go as planned.

"I think Zach is a great leader for the yellow team...maybe even a better leader than Taylor." Um, maybe?

Thank GOD. Town council elections next week.

TiVoter123

· #11 · Oct 11, 2007

USAFSSO said:
They need to get some lip balm out there too.

Seriously!

I think it's absolutely hilarious how the kids are "taking shots" of soda. I wonder if the producers encouraged them to do that for comedy (without the kids knowing it is comedy), or if the kids are trying to be all 'adult' like .... either way it cracks me up every time.

marksman

· #12 · Oct 11, 2007

Considering the ridiculous things adults do in the name of religion, I would say the kids came off very well.

I think the children have a better handle on it then real world adults.

You scoff at Jew Crew and Christianity is better...and one upping each other, but if you boil down how adults treat each other and each other's religions, it is at least that or worse.

I think some of you give way too much credit to adults and how they "handle" religion. The fact that a lot of the responses are learned from adults is pretty enlightening actually, as the kids have captured the essence of what adults really feel about religion, and it points to what is fundamentally wrong with organized relgion in a lot of cases.

I don't think these kids were too young to discuss religion. And I don't think religion is an "adult" subject.

heySkippy

· #13 · Oct 11, 2007

I can't believe the kids took the books. In all the previous eps where they took practical over fun, I thought they did the right thing. This time, I think they were nuts.

And the whole Christians Rule/Jew Crew thing was hilarious. I wish they had a few Muslim kids.

MScottC

· #14 · Oct 11, 2007

More and more, what I'm seeing here is an honest microcosm of what society is. Kids learn from their parents, and what you saw here with the religious topic, is exactly how adult society behaves. But with the kids, they had the honesty, the innocence to say exactly what they thought. In some cases, it was a parroting of their parents viewpoints. In other cases, we saw children showing that they were beginning to develop their own ideologies, including dispensing of the core religious values their parents gave them. We also saw an honest mix of tolerance and intolerance, and those who refused to deal with difference versus those who desired to embrace (and learn about) differences.

I give kudos to the producers for broaching this issue, but more important, I give kudos to the very high percentage of kids who dealt with this issue in a very intelligent mature way. Most of them seemed to want to embrace tolerance and learning. It's too bad we don't have that in adult society in this country.

My wife (a very spiritual person) and I (an atheist) found this episode very interesting, and I'm looking forward to more of this show.

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newsposter

· #15 · Oct 11, 2007

ok maybe the kids were smart..golf in snow not equal to fun but books is a diversion

Martha

· #16 · Oct 11, 2007

We watch this show with our kids (11, 10, and 6).

I thought the religion thing was going to be a bad idea, however, my kids asked me to pause, because they had some questions about Judaism. My oldest son is actually studying it right now in school, but doesn't have any friends that are Jewish, so it was nice to be able to have the discussion with them.

My husband and I were both guessing the kids would have picked the putt-putt golf gear, but 2 out of my 3 kids said they thought they should pick the books! They thought it would be fun to learn about the other religions.

/proud mama mode off.

I loved the fact that NOBODY showed up for the religious service the leaders had planned.

ping

· #17 · Oct 11, 2007

The Big Brain award this week goes to the 9-year-old with separate columns on his survey for Sunni and Shiite (even though neither one apparently had any checkmarks). Wow.

TAsunder

· #18 · Oct 11, 2007

ping said:
The Big Brain award this week goes to the 9-year-old with separate columns on his survey for Sunni and Shiite (even though neither one apparently had any checkmarks). Wow.

That was less impressive to me than knowing in advance about progressive vs orthodox Judaism. Sunni and Shiite stuff is becoming common knowledge due to the war in iraq.

The religion thing bothered me at first, mostly because it seemed to be an intentional attempt to introduce controversy in the show, when it really did not need any forced controversy. But it wasn't bad once I accepted this injected controversy and went with it. Since they only have 28 or so days left, I think they should have chosen mini-golf since there's no way they'll make a real dent in the other holy books.

Why do they keep asking if people are satisfied with the council's job if they aren't going to do anything about it when they ask and if the people who are criticized will not improve? Wait, I just realized that's exactly what city council meetings are like

Next week spoiler

I hope the "elections" next week come because more than 50% of the kids raise their hands when asked if dissatisfied and not because the "Pioneers" recommend it.

marksman

· #19 · Oct 11, 2007

That is my problem too.. I think it was a mistake to have a single council anyways. At the very least they should have a mid-term election where the people could elect a council.

Ruth

· #20 · Oct 11, 2007

I typed this last week but didn't post it. I hate to speak ill of a child. But Taylor . . . man, what a little brat.

I hope she learns some kind of lesson from the feedback she is getting here -- but based on what we've seen so far, I doubt it. Sad.

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