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October 15, 2006

Comments

Tim

That is hilarious, but I have to say I do feel bad for the Kazakhs' no-win situation. Cohen's humor is of a bullying sort; the cool kids (U.S., Britain) making fun of the nerds and "losers". I know he's also making fun of the U.S. and everbody else, but it's not the same. I keep thinking about my Chilean mother-in-law's frustration about the simultaneous power of the U.S. to impact their country and their lives but almost complete ignorance of them.

At the same time, I'm a fan of the Ali G show and looking forward to the movie! I'm so bad.

russell

Thanks very much, Tim, for the comment. Although I've been making light of it on the blog, the issue you raised about making fun at others' expense is worth talking about, and believe me, it is something that I have to wrestle with when I consider the important Buddhist topic of Right Livelihood. In the case of Ali G and Borat, I will say in their defense that the butt of their jokes is usually the characters themselves, with the interviewees playing the traditional role of straight man. As for Kazakhstan, tthis country is really taking a PR beating, but mostly self-inflicted. If the Prime MInister of Kazakhstan would have at least pretended to have a sense of humor, for example, coming out of the Embassy and shaking hands with Borat in front of the cameras, he would have defused much of the recent publicity. But I guess that is difficult for a man, or I should say a government, which assassinated the last two leaders who challenged them in elections. (The government said both committed suicide. Imagine if the Bush crowd had announced, during the last two elections, that Gore and Kerry both had committed suicide!) Also, the anti-Kazak jokes, while perhaps harsh and over the top, are mostly centered on anti-semitism, sexism, and homophobia, which are rampant in Kazakhstan, and ripe for ridicule. To people (not you) who complain about Borat for being so politically incorrect, I would like to refer them to Charlie Chaplin's "The Great Dictator ," in which he played Hitler as a buffoon, much like Sacha plays a stereotypical Kazak bigot. I wonder if anyone got upset with Charlie Chaplin for playing a nazi! I hope you post again (or email me) after you see the movie. I think and hope that you'll like it. if laughter is therapeutic, then this movie is the best therapy Hollywood has to offer!

Dissertation Writing

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