"Welcome to the Neighbourhood"

Reality T.V. might have some function, after all. Recently ABC's plan to air a show with the aforementioned title has been cancelled because of the controversy it stirred up. The concept: a contest to win a house in a white neighbourhood near Austin, Texas. The contestants: hispanics, blacks, gays and lesbians, pagans. The result: complaints from conservative whites with the end result of the show concept never actually coming to fruition.

True, the prize of such a house may be a mixed blessing. Would a gay couple want to be living in a white homophobic neighbourhood where they may be ostracized at each turn? Obviously not. But the concept of the show remains interesting in itself and the fact that it was pulled even more so. We are indeed living in an unspoken apartheid. Beliefs, customs, etc., need not be coded into law. In the end it is the unwritten rule that is much more binding.

http://today.reuters.com/news/NewsArticle.aspx?type=entertainmentNews&storyID=2005-06-30T121056Z_01_N29506825_RTRIDST_0_ENTERTAINMENT-ABC-DC.XML