June 29, 2000

9:27 AM

Giving God His Props.The latest Survivor reject thanks the Lord 37 times in his 750-word departing statement -- which is exactly the kind of spiritual Tourette's that got him kicked off the island in the first place. Did I miss the introduction of an 11th Commandment requiring God to be overthanked?
posted by rcade (19 comments total)

Check Matthew 6.
posted by EngineBeak at 9:55 AM on June 29, 2000

Oh wait, never mind-- he just a exited hick. Nothing wrong with him, no spiritual error here. Get along little dogies. Ash-nens-fwa. Poh.
posted by EngineBeak at 10:05 AM on June 29, 2000

Hey Survivor Fans -- you spoiled my enjoyment of watching my taped episode tonight (I have class Wed. nights). PLEASE don't post things that are the equivalent of spoilers here -- I mean, duh, who is the only person on the island that is overtly religious? Thanks.
posted by jfwlucy at 10:49 AM on June 29, 2000

Survivor fans?
posted by sudama at 10:51 AM on June 29, 2000

hahaha. seriously, fans?

after reading that departing statement, i kept asking myself "is this real?".
posted by sikk at 11:48 AM on June 29, 2000

Do you honestly expect the MetaFilter community to sully our Journalistic Integrity by delaying coverage of this critical news story?
posted by harmful at 11:55 AM on June 29, 2000

Do you honestly expect the MetaFilter community to sully our Journalistic Integrity by delaying coverage of this critical news story?
posted by harmful at 11:55 AM on June 29, 2000

Hey! Survivor Fans. *cough* *cough*
It's all just a big rip-off from 1900 house. Which I LUV btw.
posted by tiaka at 12:33 PM on June 29, 2000

it's all a ripoff of voyuerdorm.com. Which I LUV .
posted by Mick at 12:57 PM on June 29, 2000

In his statement he states "I'll whip the word"?? What exactly does that mean? sounds kinky... and painful!


posted by chiXy at 1:13 PM on June 29, 2000

seriously though, it's amazing how directly they've (both survivor and making the band ripped off the real world -- not just conceptually but in terms of camera angles, pacing, music .. there's a whole feel there. it's almost a genre as strict as film noir or pulp fiction or something. or a disney movie. or a high-profile weblog. but i digress..
posted by sudama at 1:16 PM on June 29, 2000

If you're looking for primary sources, wasn't there an old show called An American Family which pretty much recorded this family's entire life, for several months, and broadcast it on TV?
posted by harmful at 1:31 PM on June 29, 2000

Hmm.. how about a Lord Of The Flyies made for tv show. Following the same roots as Survivor, except, when they get rid of a "contestant", they get rid of a contestant.
posted by tiaka at 1:57 PM on June 29, 2000

Tiaka obviously has been watching The Daily Show. Or it's a very obvious joke...

Harmful, yes; An American Family had a camera crew recording the life of one family and sending it for all of public television to see. It was the birth of "reality television", so we can all blame its creators for Survivor, The Real World, and Bob Saget's career.

That last one's a killing offense in most civilized countries.
posted by mrmorgan at 3:11 PM on June 29, 2000

Reminds me of Evander Holyfield after he wins a fight, getting interviewed. Praise God this, Hallelujiah that. Once I even saw the interviewer tell him to STOP THANKING GOD for a minute so he could answer a question. I never understood this line of thought, but people can do as they please as far as I'm concerned.
posted by Succa at 6:28 PM on June 29, 2000

Amen, Succa, people can do as they please as far as I'm concerned. It kind of pisses me off that people care if others thank someone/something. No, it really pisses me off.

To those of you who it bothers:
Are you frustrated with your own life that you have to mock other's?
Is it that you are embarrased for these people? why?
Do you just hate the fact that someone else might have enough backbone to full-out believe in something enough to have the conviction to share that with people they don't know?

They can do what they want to do, but you can too for that matter...so chuckle away.

Regardless of who anyone thanks, I find it compelling that these people can do it w/o feeling squeemish (even if they thanked their mother and father).

Survivor is lame....but I watch it.

posted by jamescblack at 7:56 AM on June 30, 2000

It bothers me for several reasons: Overthanking God sounds incredibly phony, cheapens genuine spiritual conviction and gets in the way of communication. Dirk Hayseed's 750-word comment is a perfect example -- does he really need to thank the Lord our God Jesus H. Christ 37 times for anyone to get the point? As a general rule, people who are most determined to demonstrate their piety to others are hypocrites -- evangelists being a case in point. Dirk may be as painfully sincere in his love of Yahweh as his comments indicate, but it's still laughable that he can't get a sentence in without making sure the world knows it. Ugh. Thank Him once or twice and move on -- we get the point that you're on a fast-track to heaven.
posted by rcade at 9:54 AM on June 30, 2000

Overthanking God sounds incredibly phony, cheapens genuine spiritual conviction and gets in the way of communication

But, of course, calling someone a "hayseed" isn't:
A. incredibly pretentious
B. cheapening the discussion, and
C. getting in the way of communication.

For what little I have seen of Survivor, and I try to avoid it as much as possible, Dirk does seem to be absolutely sincere. His conviction apparently has completely influenced his entire world view - maybe a good thing, maybe a bad thing. But If he really belives what he says, as I think he does, then wearing it on his sleeve serves as a constant reminder to himself and others what he's all about, and it communicates precisely what he wants to convey - that God is his life, period. Yes, it may turn off some, or many, people such as yourself, but I read his comments and thought that it might be nice if the rest of us could find something that was as powerful a positive motivator as he has found.
posted by mikewas at 4:28 AM on July 1, 2000

my thought is that when you're giving a one minute long goodbye speach off the top of your head which you know will be edited to a 4-6 second blurb, if you want some part of it to come through [like, 'i want to thank the lord...'] then repeating it so that it can't be cut seems like the sensable thing to do.
posted by palegirl at 4:33 PM on July 1, 2000