Point/Counterpoint with Susan and Brian: Neleh, Sweet Neleh

Point: Neleh is as sweet and innocent as we have been led to believe.

Counterpoint: Neleh is just as conniving and manipulating as the rest of them.

Susan: Brian, I am having some problems with this topic.

Brian: Well I have problems with lots of things, but I can pull this one off with no problems whatsoever.

Susan: Yes, I agree, but on the other hand, I have watched enough reality TV to know that as a viewer, I am viewing only what Mark Burnett wants us to see. So any comments I make are based solely on what we as viewers have been shown. I have no clue if she is really like this. But I think she is as sweet as she appears to be, or is edited to be.

Brian: Susan, you are just like the lemmings that are racing over the edge of the cliff. At least you recognize the fact that Burnett is manipulating us, the viewers, into believing that Kathy is as annoying as she is and that Sean is as much of a hothead as he is and yes, even that Neleh is America’s newest sweetheart. Please, Elisabeth Filarski stole that crown from Colleen in Survivor 2 and has had it on her head ever since. Neleh has NOTHING on Elisabeth.

Susan: I have known several Neleh’s in my life.

Brian: Did they have a grandmother named Helen, too, with parents whacked out enough to name them after her grandmother but only with her name spelled backwards? I mean really. If my parents named me after either of my grandfathers I would either be named Etep or Derfla. At least her name sounds decent.

Susan: Of course, they don’t have her name, but they have her character.

Brian: Oh, not the name. Okay, just forget those Etep and Derfla comments. So what kind of character does Neleh and the Neleh-esque have?

Susan: Sweet. Kind, the Ivory Girl next door.

Brian: Porn star Marilyn Chambers was the first Ivory girl, I think. I mean that might not be so much of a compliment.

Susan: This is not an act for them. In reality, they are that sweet, kind and innocent, pixie-like and guileless.

Brian: Pixie-like and guileless? Aren’t pixies a creeping evergreen shrub with those long narrow overlapping leaves and white shaped flowers? I mean you must see many of those in Jersey. Somehow I doubt that unless you are calling her a mischievous elf and I don’t think you would be saying that because it doesn’t support your argument. So she must be a shrub, right?

Susan: I think if you think this is an act, it is because you are just jealous that you are not as sweet as she is.

Brian: Please, I know I can’t put my finger in a cup of coffee, twirl it around, and make it taste good. I don’t claim to be sweet. I’m Southern. We’ll smile at you while we call you every name in the book. We can look at you, smile, and say, “You are so fat. I have never seen anyone as fat as you. You are just a heifer.” With our smile and genteel twang, you are left thinking that being a heifer is the world’s greatest compliment. You would be PROUD to be a heifer. I mean tell me why you think she’s so sweet.

Susan: I don’t know the reasons why Neleh is so sweet. Maybe it is because she does not drink coffee, coca-cola or drink alcohol. Maybe she needs a vice, and that vice is sugar.

Brian: Okay I am confused. She’s sweet because she hasn’t paid $20 for a cup of coffee at Starbuck?

Susan: Let’s face it, everyone needs a food vice. Mine is chocolate.

Brian: Mine is cheesecake.

Susan: It could be the way she was brought up – I don’t want to make any generalizations, but I know several families that practice Mormonism, and none of them have divorced.

Brian: But that doesn’t mean they are in happy marriages. Just that they would probably be shunned or excommunicated or something like that.

Susan: But she also grew up in the Midwest, I believe Utah.

Brian: Well considering that the Mormon faith is quite strong there then that would be a good guess. Also considering that she lives there now, even better guess.

Susan: People in the Midwest are different than we New Yorkers. Life moves slower.

Brian: But Susan, you ignorant writer, you live in New Jersey. Are you claiming New Yorker status by proxy? Just because she lives in the Midwest doesn’t make her nice and sweet. Kathryn from The Mole and Amanda from The Bachelor are Midwesterners and I don’t think that they are completely sweet. I mean Kathryn had to have some evil streak in her to be the Mole and Amanda… well… I’ll leave that one alone for right now.

Susan: I was fortunate enough to work in London and Los Angeles, and I can tell you, New Yorkers move fast. Maybe we are pursuing the wrong things, career, and money, then getting married, and starting families later in life than our counterparts in the Midwest and west.

Brian: So wait. Since I am turning 28 this year and I haven’t had a majorly serious relationship in quite some time because I would like to accomplish a few things in life prior to actually settling down into a long term relationship – does this mean that I am not sweet? Or nice? Please. I think that has nothing to do with it. I mean I think the recent statistics show that people, in general, are getting married later in life. I don’t think it’s strictly a New York thing or a major metropolis thing. I think that has nothing to do as to whether or not she is sweet or not. I need another reason and it had better be good.

Susan: The other reason Neleh may be so sweet is because she is the youngest person to participate in Survivor. Everyone is that sweet when they are 20, 21. You haven’t been brought down by life, seen the bad side of people. You are still pretty much sheltered from life.

Brian: What planet are you from, Susan? When I was 19, I was one semester away from getting my Bachelor’s degree and I was working for Merrill Lynch in their back office operations. Yes, she might be sheltered in her life because of her religious upbringing or perhaps her parents demand it so (and yes, I am making broad generalizations here which may or may not be true on a person-by-person basis) but by the time I was 20 and 21, I had seen and done plenty already. So yeah, in her case, that might be the point, but I don’t think so. I think she’s seen enough to know that there is a dark underbelly of our society.

Susan: But I don’t believe it is an act.

Brian: Neither do I. But I think she has more up her sleeve than we’ve been allowed to see.

Susan: If it is, this gal should get an Oscar. She is that good.

Brian: Or the editors should get the Oscar for making her look that good. She has that evil laugh she let fly when she gloated (yes, GLOATED!) in John’s ousting. I mean who on the island besides Pappy has called her sweet?

Susan: Kathy – although she screwed up with her judgment of the Robfather, and believed him over Gina – said that Neleh is just so darn sweet.

Brian: Oh, like Kathy is someone whose word you can rely on. Now granted, she didn’t vote against Rob at the first merged tribal council, but please. Even I hold Kathy at an arms length and then some.

Susan: I will give Brian this – she did go way over the top with her shower, and her meal. She should have left it after a few minutes, taken a clue from Paschal who remained cautiously quiet.

Brian: Oh yeah she did. Look at my clean hair, my clean skin. Smell my clean body. I look better on camera now than you do. I would have told her to shut up because it was not an appropriate thing. She was just shoving it in their face that they got to go on a boat and clean up and feel better about themselves. I would have told them how SMALL that room they had on the boat was. I mean, please, they should have gotten something BIGGER for them. That room was pathetic. It was annoying.

Susan: She did annoy everyone. But see it as a lesson, there is a time to talk, and a time to remain quiet.

Brian: And she didn’t learn hers.

Susan: So do I think Neleh is sweet? Absolutely. She is sweet.

Brian: Of course you would.

Susan: She is naïve…

Brian: And not in a good way…

Susan: …she is trusting…

Brian: Again, not in a good way…

Susan: …she is young.

Brian: Experience does come with age.

Susan: She is genuine.

Brian: Three words for you. What. Eh. Vah. I think Neleh is playing the cuteness to the hilt and Sean and Vee are gonna romp all over her butt. She is not making the finals.

You can reach Susan at sschechter@earthlink.net and Brian at TheRealityFactor@aol.com.

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