S34: Tai Trang

[fivestone]

Oops, wrong thread

Edited April 22, 2017 by fivestone
wrong thread

[peachmangosteen]

On 4/22/2017 at 9:20 AM, fishcakes said:

To his credit, though, he knows it. It was sort of touching when he gave that confessional where he sadly said, "I'm really bad at Tribal Council."

This is probably why I don't stay mad at Tai after he does something crazy and I'm like, "TAI what are you doing?!" At least he doesn't think he's a good player like a lot of bad players seem to! Also I can never stay mad at him because he's obviously such a good guy and I care more about that than whether he's good at Survivor. 

15 hours ago, molshoop said:

Tai is a Buddhist and a lot of his actions come from closely following Buddhist teachings. 

Can you expand on that a bit more, please? 

[molshoop]

3 hours ago, peachmangosteen said:

Can you expand on that a bit more, please? 

I'm pulling some basics from a variety of teachings :

 We should not lie. Honesty and playing Survivor don't go well together

 We should show compassion for all living things. Plants are problematic.
 Compassion includes qualities of sharing, readiness to give comfort, sympathy, concern, caring
 
 We should not do or say anything in anger. Tai got angry once and quickly comforted Varner.

 The mind should be focused and uncluttered. Tai is good at certain Challenges when he is
 in this state. When he isn't, his desire to trust everyone and his paranoia (from negative life experiences)
 clash and he confuses himself and the people around him.

 Tai spends a of of time looking for idols, so he finds them.  If people don't want to follow him around,
 that is their choice.  He struggles with wanting to share them with others at Tribal. 

 A different problem is his English.  Asian languages have far fewer consonant and vowel sounds than English,
so their English can sound very broken and basic. Some people will associate Tai's speech with low intelligence.

Tai wants the million for the LGBT and Animal Rights causes he believes in, but he will never believe that he deserves
the money more than someone else.  Giving away an idol and giving out hugs feels right to him. Plotting
and scheming doesn't.

He's not a good fit for the game but I strongly disagree with those who say he is the worst player ever.
And those that express disgust at his displays of affection may be the most in need of a hug them selves.


 

 

Edited April 23, 2017 by molshoop

[Nashville]

@molshoop - I'd agree with the vast majority of your post.  The only qualification I'd throw in - and I do mean qualification, not disagreement - is on this one point:

2 hours ago, molshoop said:

And those that express disgust at his displays of affection may be the most in need of a hug them selves.

In terms of individual perceptions of personal boundaries - and respect for same - I would respectfully submit that while uninvited hugs may be acceptable displays of affection, unsolicited kisses may not.  YMMV.

[Wings]

19 minutes ago, Nashville said:

@molshoop - I'd agree with the vast majority of your post.  The only qualification I'd throw in - and I do mean qualification, not disagreement - is on this one point:

In terms of individual perceptions of personal boundaries - and respect for same - I would respectfully submit that while uninvited hugs may be acceptable displays of affection, unsolicited kisses may not.  YMMV.

I agree.  Tai over does the physical attention he gives the men.  

[ratgirlagogo]

On 4/22/2017 at 9:20 AM, fishcakes said:

As a player, Tai has his good points and bad. He's an active player and tries to control his own destiny, which is good, but he also has no poker face and almost no ability to not just spill everything he knows as soon as someone asks him a question, which in this game equals doom.

BTW one of the classic racial insults directed against Asians is "inscrutable."  Tai is pretty much the most scrutable player this season.:)

[Wings]

Ha ha ha ^^^^^  Good one! 

[Hera]

Thanks for the insight, @molshoop. Tai isn't the first player who has struggled to reconcile his religious beliefs with the aspects of Survivor that involve subterfuge and he won't be the last. I also agree with this:

3 hours ago, molshoop said:

 A different problem is his English.  Asian languages have far fewer consonant and vowel sounds than English,
so their English can sound very broken and basic. Some people will associate Tai's speech with low intelligence.

It's clear that Tai has no problem understanding what people say to him or around him or responding. I agree that his accent makes people mistakenly believe that he's dumb or hasn't mastered English. To be honest, even if he spoke with a perfect American accent, there would be people insisting they couldn't understand him.

[Vyk]

1 hour ago, KimberStormer said:

I feel like he has improved a good deal, because I feel like he now grasps the concept of keeping your alliance strong, as evidenced by saving Sierra with his idol, which the Tai of Kaoh Rong wouldn't have done.

He has made it more than clear that he was going to do it for Anna in Kaoh Rong, but Scot (who was trying to use him and his idol for the super idol possibility at the time) talked him out of it.  And, of course, he let him do so.

[KimberStormer]

I don't think he ever planned to do it.  But this is an old debate from last season.

[Special K]

Yes @molshoop I was going to say that Tai's sense of compassion and kindness and love of nature/life seems like it comes from his Buddhism.  He has been shown chanting during the hard endurance challenges, and this week actually said he was "chanting through it."  I have a hell of a lot of respect for that.  I also respect and admire his strength and sense of joy given his background.

I think some of this also makes him want to agree/side with whoever happens to be speaking to him, which is obviously a problem in Survivor.

Edited April 24, 2017 by Special K

[Whimsy]

There are many reasons why posts are deleted. Sometimes for being off-topic, sometimes for not being civil to fellow posters, sometimes for more grievous reasons. Inside the threads is not the place to discuss mod decisions. If you have a problem with a decision, please PM me or report something so we can see it in the report center. Several posts were deleted for discussing this here. 

[MisterBluxom]

On 2017-04-23 at 4:27 PM, ratgirlagogo said:

BTW one of the classic racial insults directed against Asians is "inscrutable."  Tai is pretty much the most scrutable player this season.:)

I must agree. Tai is really not very inscrutable at all. The truth is that he is very highly scrutable (if there is such a word).

Edited May 13, 2017 by MissBluxom

[Nashville]

55 minutes ago, MissBluxom said:

I must agree. Tai is really not very inscrutable at all. The truth is that he is very highly scrutable (if there is such a word).

Agreed; Tai is the scrutiest.  :)

[KimberStormer]

Really like how Tai was approaching the low members of the alliance, first Michaela and now Aubry.  It might not have worked, but good idea.

[Nalan]

13 minutes ago, KimberStormer said:

Really like how Tai was approaching the low members of the alliance, first Michaela and now Aubry.  It might not have worked, but good idea.

He's trusted even less than he was before, so not really.

[KimberStormer]

You Survivor fans.  You're always

I'm sure he'd be so happy to be the most trusted dude at Ponderosa.  You have to try.

Edited May 18, 2017 by KimberStormer

[peachmangosteen]

I have tried so hard for 2 seasons now to like him and sometimes I do, but fuck he is annoying as hell. And his game play is SO bad. I don't really care too much about game play tbh, but with Tai it's just so frustrating to watch him play the way he does. And he has a weird kind of arrogance with how he's always so confused that someone could possibly be thinking about voting him out. I don't think he has any idea what the fuck this game even is really.

I really want to see him voted out with 2 idols. I would laugh for days!

If the preview is to be believed, I do not look forward to him cowtowing to fucking Brad in the finale. Although, if he uses his idol to get Brad voted out I'll be a fan for a minute like I was when he didn't share his idol with Scott. He does provide some amazing moments at times!

Edited May 18, 2017 by peachmangosteen

[LadyChatts]

I like Tai, but he is just so bad at this game.  I thought maybe he was finally growing a backbone, but after last night's vote, he's going to go right back to letting Brad tell him what to do.  He's just way too emotional and seems to take this very personally.  I agree @peachmangosteen that he seems almost surprised that he could be a target, and that the people he's trusting would turn on him.  

[Runningwild]

I don't like Tai. I think he plays victim all the time. He is horrible at the game. And if he were a big, straight man, we would think he's a creepy perv. I still think he's a creepy perv. 

[Nalan]

9 minutes ago, Runningwild said:

I don't like Tai. I think he plays victim all the time. He is horrible at the game.

I agree.  Other than finding hidden Immunity Idols, he can't play the game to save his life.  And he's a big wimp, on top of it all.