Stuff White People Like: Chinese Parents' Edition

I was watching tv with my parents a few nights ago when we stumbled upon the Discovery Channel, which was broadcasting a marathon of Man Vs. Wild, starring Bear Grylls. Though I generally have no interest in the wilderness or how one would survive in it, I kinda love the show. I excitedly described to my parents some of Bear Grylls's nastiest antics: finding drinking water by squeezing it out of fresh elephant dung, hollowing out a camel carcass to use as shelter, and drinking turtle blood (pictured). Coincidentally, the episode we happened to catch was a countdown of Bear Grylls's 25 favorite moments, so my parents got a condensed helping of the show.

As they watched Bear Grylls (how awesome a name is that?) deliberately fall into a frozen lake, jump out of airplanes and eat giant exploding worms, they offered their commentary:

Mom: What is wrong with this crazy man? Why would he do these things? Does he want to die?

Dad: It's all fake! If he was actually risking death, they wouldn't show it on tv.

Me: Well, that Crocodile Hunter guy died, and I think they eventually showed it on tv.

Mom: That guy was stupid, too.

Dad: Why is it always stupid white men who like to do these stunts?

END.

My parents may have a point. Bear Grylls, Steve Irwin, the two guys on Dual Survival, just about every contestant on shows like Survivor-- It does seem like white people, and white dudes in particular, take delight in throwing themselves into environments in which humans aren't meant to exist, getting themselves injured, and eating lots of really gross things. Not to say that Asian folks don't have tendencies to do some crazy shit. Martial arts are pretty crazy, especially when taken to the level that THIS Chinese dude has. The Japanese have perfected the art of producing television shows featuring people who like to hurt themselves. And let's face it-- Half the "gross" stuff that white people eat on these stunt challenge shows like Fear Factor is probably standard cuisine in many Asian countries. (For the record, of that list, I've only had durian, stinky tofu, and fugu.)

But while all cultures may celebrate their own brands of crazy, I wonder if the type represented by Man Vs. Wild is a particularly white Anglo-American thing. Does the scenario of a lone dude combatting the hostile wilderness and defying death appeal to the standard frontier myth that has basically driven white men to "discover" new lands and conquer them? Does Bear Grylls satisfy some fantasy that white men have to maintain in order to feel powerful in this supposed post-feminist, post-racial, post-modern world?

I dunno. What I do know is that I love watching a white dude piss into a tube of snake skin and drink from it as a means to hydrate himself.