Archive for year: 2014

In episode 8 of Survivor, we saw the many different approaches tribe members used to make decisions.  Many of them had different motifs for the underlying reasons of there decisions for example in similarity to episode 7, Josh tries to get Baylor to side with him instead of Jeremy’s alliance with her own mother. He tries to persuade her into voting for Jeremy, he did save her once before, but the language and the way he treats her is unbelievable he treats her absolutely with no respect. Josh tries to find new members for his alliance because he sees Jeremy as the biggest threat to him in the competition and believes that with enough power, back up and control over his fellow tribe members, he could achieve his goal which is ultimately forcing Jeremy off the island.

I feel that in this episode we could make ties  back into our chapter because it is solely based on communication in general.  It reeked of horrible usage of pronouns, not in the sense that only I was used, but Josh for example used we a lot, not being real about it, since in his mid there is no we only an I; but that horrible usage stemmed form an underlying self absorbent usage.  He tried to trick people into believing him by using trigger words.  however it didn’t necessarily work.

I related this episode to the decision making model. I feel like most of the played are rational decision makers when it comes to this game. They carefully look at the issues and apply them to the situation  appropriately. Although in the alliances there was some dependent decision making. For example, when Jaquelyn decided to vote for Josh , John ultimately decided to vote for him too because his girlfriend was doing it. Jacquelyn priced to be a bit of a dependent decision maker as well. Baylor convinced her to boy for josh and because everyone else was doing it she did. Ultimately leading to josh getting voted off.

I wanted to specifically talk about what Jaime covered in class on Monday. Leadership is huge when considering thee success of a group, in my opinion. The two most prominent leaders that stand out most are Josh and Jeremy. In these last couple of episodes, since the merger, these two led the alliances that advocated for one another’s dismissal. Even though it would seem they both wanted the same thing, to get further in the game,  they led their alliances and have traits that might not be so similar.

Jeremy probably designated himself as a leader in the very beginning. Everyone went along with it however I think Jeremy took a few extra steps to make sure he was in a leadership position. He spoke early and often, like our text mentions is a good strategy. Some would think that not giving others a chance to speak could be a major flaw in people like Jeremy. He would also offer his opinion every chance he could, even if it was on a personal issue like in this episode where the boys, Alec, Keith and Wes  were treating the girls in a very rude manner; Jeremy thought that, even though they were on Survivor, a show meant to test your physical and mental capabilities, the men should show the woman respect by not farting or burping in front of them. They women start the fires and the men do the hard work, which Jeremy seemed to agree with. He tried to speak up for the girls, but in my opinion they need to speak up for themselves, maybe about the way the boys were talking to them but also realize that they were doing something that, by “society’s rules” was a masculine activity that took strength and agility, If they wanted people to treat them differently they have to treat themselves differently, meaning if you want a man to treat you the same don’t expect him to hold a door open for you just because your’e a woman. Anyway, I feel that Jeremy specifically help legitimate power, concerning Survivor, he seemed to be one of the few members that majority of others followed and were loyal to. He also has Coercive power to me because he brought values and beliefs over from being a father, husband and firefighter which allowed him to connect to more people in the game.

 

Josh was, to me, another story than Jeremy. He was an emergent type of leader. It wasn’t necessarily until later in the game did he come out as positively having traits of a leader.  I always thought he showed those qualities in challenges when needed most; but then when there was a power vacuum Josh snagged it. Josh was more of a reward power leader because he was constantly being very nice to others hoping that by accumulating favors he could gain votes in return. To me he had very good communication skills and understood how to listen emphatically to other team members which made them emotionally attached to him, making it easier to follow someone who hasn’t always been a leader.

The time of the week came again when I put on a smooth jazz record, concoct an extra stiff manhattan, slip on a slightly revealing bedtime robe, and write about survivor.

But that is neither here nor there, what is important  is the newest episode and the changes that have occurred with the newest merge.

We are now presented with a new tribe entirely, and it is interesting to see the new alliances that have been made.  Thus we are revealed to Huyopa, Which brought with it tension, conflict, and gave me some personal questions as to what would occur.

Mostly i was curious how new alliances would be formed, and even more importantly if old alliances would be betrayed. I am beginning to think that everyone in the show is a conniving degenerate who is only out for their own benefit, which with a million dollar prize is partly true.

To relate this all to text i think the most important thing to consider is the exchange and management of power that will occur within the new groups. I feel that Baylor is becoming a nuisance to missy, and slightly taking the power that she has away. I feel that the group, especially old boy Dale, is becoming quite annoyed with Missy and Baylor.  I also see a change of power occurring between Josh and Jeremy, who seem to be some of the most capable players in the game thus far. I believe that they understand the threat that they pose to each other, and while it seems to go unspoken between the two of them, we expect that they want each other off the island.

The last part that this episode struck me with is time, or the lack thereof. While the show is not yet coming to an end, it is beginning to dwindle down and we see that the competition is becoming more heated. I am looking forward to see will happen next.

Goodnight

On survivor this week many decisions were made, and re-thought.  At the end of the previous episode it seemed like Josh might be able to pull off his plan to get Jeremy voted off, but like I assumed there was just enough time to sway some important opinions.  This episode emphasizes the importance of decision making. I definitely noticed a difference in the decisions between the men and women. As the men seemed to think more logically and long term, the women were weighing their options based on emotions. When Josh makes his final attempt in hopes to persuade Baylor to vote on his side, Baylor is offended at Josh’s attempt to “blackmail” her and finalizes her decision to stand by her mom on Jermeys alliance. Then when Jon is sent to exile island Jaclyn learns that maybe her alliance doesn’t respect her like she thought they did. While Jon is away, the guys that were supposed to be winning over Jon and Jaclyn’s vote, were rude and ignored Jaclyn. Very frustrated by how her supposed to be alliance is treating her, Jaclyn tells Jon they may need to rethink their decision and that she is leaning more toward the “comfort” of Missy, Jeremy and Baylor’s alliance. Although Jon listened and heard Jaclyn out he assured her that they cant be choosing just based on who they like or dislike, which I agree isn’t the best strategy. As each alliance forms their consensus it isn’t completely clear who is going to be voted out, when a top target-Jeremy wins an immunity, it changes things once again.  Safe for this round Jeremy, is able to relax while the target is then switched to Baylor. Keith and others come to the decision that Baylor is lazy, and useless, and therefore not a necessary player on anyones team. Many questions are thought, and asked as everyone makes up their minds for the final vote. With one vote more than Baylor, majority rules Josh out of the competition, and leaves all those who remain a step closer to winning.