‘Prejudice’ a sign of the times
GSN presents “Without Prejudice?” (9 p.m., GSN), a psychology experiment masquerading as a reality show offering a weekly variation on “Twelve Angry Men.” There’s a cash prize. Does that make it a game show?
On “Prejudice,” a panel of five people is asked to judge another group of five in the next room. In each episode, the panelists will vote off players one by one and reward the last person $25,000. And they are encouraged to vote for and against players based on their gut instincts.
In the first round, a middle-aged guy gets voted off when the women panelists find him “creepy” at first sight. A burly panelist with a slight resemblance to the Rock says he can’t stand one player because “I don’t like black people.”
This elicits a strong response from another panelist, a black man. He’s not so much shocked by the man’s overt bigotry but by his exhibitionist need to reveal this “truth.”
“Prejudice” is not without sociological import. We live in an age when writers like Malcolm Gladwell, in his book “Blink,” tell us that all of our major decisions are snap judgments. And, at any given moment, a zillion young people are pouring over “Facebook” and “MySpace,” trolling a vast ocean of to make a personal connection.
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