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[karaoke_uk]

I was interested to read Professor Ian F. Hancock’s response to Sacha Baron Cohen’s character, Borat. ('Borat' Highlights Anti-Gypsy Prejudice, but a Scholar of the Roma Isn't Offended 15 Nov).   While I agree that Cohen's humour attempts highlight anti-Semitic and anti-Roma prejudice, he does it at the expense of Muslims.  His character Ali G, rude, sexist, homophobic, and asinine just happens to have moniker ‘Ali’ a name most people will associate with Muslims.  Borat hails from Kazakhstan, a country where, according to the CIA World Factbook, Islam is the largest religion.

Cohen’s comic creations belittle Muslims and create them as a bumbling ‘other’. They are tailor-made for a Culture that fears Islam and needs to be reminded of Western superiority.  Cohen’s comedy has as precedents in early 20th Century American racist humour such as blackface theatre and cartoons like Scrub Me Mama (Universal 1941).  Then African Americans were depicted as dim-witted, lazy, deceitful, and sexually rapacious.  These depictions would help reinforce the sense of superiority of white society and lessen the feeling of menace that a disenfranchised but contiguous community caused.

I am absolutely certain a generation from now society will view Cohen’s humour the same way we now view African-America stereotypes of the 1930s and 1940s.

[notaprof]

I am absolutely certain a generation from now society will view Cohen’s humour the same way we now view African-America stereotypes of the 1930s and 1940s.

Many people already view it that way.

[angelusnovus]

Some will view him that way, others won't.  But from what I have seen and heard of it, black-face humor and the like did not target its heavy artillery at "mainstream" American white society and show it to be stupid, hypocritical, and mendacious.
 
Moreover, I don't like the comparison to race.  Islam, like any other ideology, is something one can--at least in principle--change one's view about, discard, or criticize.  Being black, white, or other may, as many PM theorists have argued, be in part a "construct," but it is something about which the individual can do next to nothing.  You can't wake up one morning and understand that the color of your skin was a colossal error.

[dark_globe]

I am absolutely certain a generation from now society will view Cohen’s humour the same way we now view African-America stereotypes of the 1930s and 1940s.

Many people already view it that way.

I certainly do.

Thank you for the post, marklib. I thought I was alone.

[karaoke_uk]

It has been a while since I’ve seen an episode of ‘Da Ali G Show’ but I don’t recall it as heavy artillery targeting mainstream society to show it be stupid, hypocritical, and mendacious.  As for idea that ‘Ali G Indahouse’ was out to get big targets, no way.

Being black, white, or other may, as many PM theorists have argued, be in part a "construct," but it is something about which the individual can do next to nothing.  You can't wake up one morning and understand that the color of your skin was a colossal error.

Regarding the point about critiquing things people can’t change, as opposed to ideologies or beliefs.  This position sounds pretty close to the criticism Kazaks have of Borat.

[kaysixteen]

We are at war with militant Islam.  Do not forget that.  It is normative to ridicule the enemy in wartime, and few enemies historically deserved it more than Islamofascism does, anyhow.

[adhoc]

We are at war with militant Islam.  Do not forget that.

We are?  If so, then what, exactly is "militant Islam"? 

It is normative to ridicule the enemy in wartime, and few enemies historically deserved it more than Islamofascism does, anyhow.

So, you are saying that ridiculing an enemy rather than trying to understand why they are the enemy is "normal" behavior?  You may actually be right about that.  All that is saying, however, is that acting irrationally is normal, it does not justify the ridicule.

Vocabulary question:  What is "Islamofascism," anyway?  Does it actually mean something or is it a term that Bush made up in an, apparently successful, attempt to avert the attention of some from his crimes?

[rowan1]

Don't mind K16, he/she/it still believes that Saddam was behind 9/11 and that Santa Claus and the Easter bunny hang out with the tooth fairy in the off season.

Humor is a strange thing, at its heart it is always cruel, we laugh at the guy getting the pie in his face, the sad bum whose toes come out of his shoes, the klutzy guy who falls down the stairs, the clever and witty zinger.  It is all at the expense of someone.  (Why look at the comment I used to start this post)

However, justifying racist humor because we are at "war" with a certain group of people (and here I thought we were liberating them), is a sad statement indeed.  Understanding, reaching out, respecting; these are the things that will help lead to end the acts of terror.  Mocking an entire religious and or ethnic group will only make matters worse.

Finally, Borat's humor just falls completely flat for me, not funny.  But then, that is another one of those things about humor - it is NOT universal.

We are at war with militant Islam.  Do not forget that.

We are?  If so, then what, exactly is "militant Islam"? 

It is normative to ridicule the enemy in wartime, and few enemies historically deserved it more than Islamofascism does, anyhow.

So, you are saying that ridiculing an enemy rather than trying to understand why they are the enemy is "normal" behavior?  You may actually be right about that.  All that is saying, however, is that acting irrationally is normal, it does not justify the ridicule.

Vocabulary question:  What is "Islamofascism," anyway?  Does it actually mean something or is it a term that Bush made up in an, apparently successful, attempt to avert the attention of some from his crimes?

[scientiffikk]

I've never seen Da Ali G Show, but I have seen Borat.  In Borat, there was no reference to Kazaks being Muslim or any behaviour that suggested such, that I noticed.  So I really don't see how this movie makes fun of Muslims.  To me, it was mostly making fun of bigoted Americans, and the situational humor of kind-hearted Americans trying to deal with this strange fellow who didn't understand our culture.  Oh, and of course the fighting between Borat and his comapnion.

[phlebas2006]

I've never seen Da Ali G Show, but I have seen Borat.  In Borat, there was no reference to Kazaks being Muslim or any behaviour that suggested such, that I noticed.  So I really don't see how this movie makes fun of Muslims.  To me, it was mostly making fun of bigoted Americans, and the situational humor of kind-hearted Americans trying to deal with this strange fellow who didn't understand our culture.  Oh, and of course the fighting between Borat and his comapnion.

Scientiffikk makes good points.  Furthermore, the Borat character has never made reference to any specific religion, has never mentioned Islam, Allah, or any other indicator of Islam.

In fact, that the OP would associate the Borat character with Islam unpacks the OP's own cultural biases!  Why, for example would the OP assume that Borat's anti-Semitism and attitude towards women indicates that he practices Islam?

In other words, he got you.

(BTW, only very recently has Cohen "unleashed" Borat on the US.  The show originated in the UK and 90% of the Borat humor/interviews/etc is directed at our British friends.)

[randygeezer]

K16 is just pissed off at the bit of the film right at the end where Borat says they have given up harassing Jews and have become Christians (as if those were mutually exclusive...) - and then Christianity is represented by poking that crucified dude with a pitchfork. 

I thought the whole thing was pretty damn funny - including the ending.

[spork]

If you don't find something funny, then don't listen to or watch it.  But don't try to prevent anyone else from listening to or watching it.

[mehmet_shehu]

While I agree that Cohen's humour attempts highlight anti-Semitic and anti-Roma prejudice, he does it at the expense of Muslims.  His character Ali G, rude, sexist, homophobic, and asinine just happens to have moniker ‘Ali’ a name most people will associate with Muslims.

[Post edited by moderator for name-calling. ] Cohen's character's name is Alister Leslie Graham from Staines, a semi-affluent suburb in West London. The whole Ali G thing is a pisstake of all the English teenagers who try and talk and act like Black gangstas - whilst living in small English towns - hence the joke gang names like Wraysbury Massive (Wraysbury is a small village near Heathrow - quite rich in fact).

Do some basic research, mate.

[dark_globe]

I guess the Kazakhs have decided if you can't beat 'em, join 'em:

http://www.cacianalyst.org/view_article.php?articleid=4596

[jtsmr]

 
Being black, white, or other may, as many PM theorists have argued, be in part a "construct," but it is something about which the individual can do next to nothing.  You can't wake up one morning and understand that the color of your skin was a colossal error.

I've always found it difficult as a black person explaining how we immediately respond to "skin color" upon meeting someone. The response is almost always entirely subconscious. You can see this in examples of people's body language especially.

Finally, Borat's humor just falls completely flat for me, not funny. 

I don't get it either. It's like South Park, no funny bones are tickled.

[Post edited by moderator for name-calling. ] Cohen's character's name is Alister Leslie Graham from Staines, a semi-affluent suburb in West London. The whole Ali G thing is a pisstake of all the English teenagers who try and talk and act like Black gangstas - whilst living in small English towns - hence the joke gang names like Wraysbury Massive (Wraysbury is a small village near Heathrow - quite rich in fact).

I thought everybody got that.  British humor to me is largely wit, more verbal jousting than funny, like Monty Python.