Peacock Television is running a series called “The Traitors.” They have about three different platforms of this series, two in Scotland and one in Australia.
If one is into reality games like “Survivor,” “Big Brother,” and the like, one might like this “reality” twist. However, if you watch it, note how it relates to the present politics in the United States. Think of Washington D.C., the U.S. citizenry, and the national media.
In the game 20 to 24 people, depending on location, are invited to spend about a week at a castle-like resort to compete for up to $250,000 in silver or gold.
The object of the game is to eliminate your “teammates” and collect all the loot for yourself. This is done by either murdering or banishing them. However, only traitors can murder but everyone can banish.
Team play, which fosters relationships, comes when all remaining players join forces to increase the prize money. This is done through a series of daily events that may involve swimming, running, shooting a crossbow, climbing, hunting, or fending off (harmless but disgusting) bugs.
Traitors are selected by the show’s moderator. To begin the show, all the players are seated around a circular table and told to put on blindfolds. The moderator then circles the group, silently touching at least three of the contestants on the shoulder. The ones touched secretly become traitors.
The traitors learn who their “partners” are after everyone is ordered to go to their separate rooms at midnight. The traitors then meet in a separate room and unmask. Their first task is to select one of the remaining “faithful” to murder.
Throughout the game, the faithful attempt to banish the traitors during a daily roundtable discussion and confidential vote. If a traitor remains at the end of the game they get all the loot. The faithful can share the money if all the traitors are eliminated.
With 85 percent of the group remaining “faithful,” they end up banishing their own most of the time. Accusations lead to narratives that create rifts among the faithful. This opens the door for traitors to use guile and deceit to deflect attention and plant suspicion in the minds of the faithful – much like today’s media.
This mind game is well explained by Institute of Creation Research President Randy Guliuzza, P.E., MD. “People (U.S. citizenry?) will be guided by the (narrative) as they interpret what they see, ….” Guliuzza goes on to say those “newly molded thoughts” then blend with the individual’s thoughts to fit the narrative.
And the moderator (Washington, D.C.?) does not always remain neutral. He or she can alter the game by allowing the traitors to replace a banished partner or offer “shields” to the faithful. Shields, generally earned during team events, offer the holder temporary protection from murder or even banishment.
What trips up most is conscience. Although it is a game, lying and deceiving those you have learned to trust and admire becomes emotionally difficult.
“The Traitors” is a great opportunity to see how we become trapped and divided through greed, treachery, and misplaced trust.