More Sacha Baron Cohen funnies: getting wingnuts to endorse "kinder-guardians" program to arm 3-year-olds

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/07/16/ammosexuals-outed.html

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Congresswoman Dana Rohrabacher [R-CA]

Correction: Congressman Dana Rohrabacher [R-Moscow].

I love this clip. Baron Cohen finds one supremely easy mark, leverages his support for a slightly less easy mark (but one who gives us the bonus of endorsing truly depraved sexist and racist views), and uses those bona fide ammosexuals to gain entry to get experienced politicians to read whatever they put in front of them as long as they think it’s the firearms industry telling them to hop-to.

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The clip sheds a lot of light on how these kinds of endorsements come about and how little thought or study precede them. In a just world, everyone featured on this video would now have negative credibility.

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“Pray in secret! heh heh heh.

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Wow … Not only do they appear as total tools and dimwits (pheromones blink 182) but this also displays the total wasteland of their morality. And that krav maga instructor pose is so spot on too they just swallowed it whole… Good God America, get rid of them already !

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So, I watched the teaser video…

What person, on meeting the character of Col. Erran Morad in person, could not recognize they are speaking to someone who is wearing facial prosthetics?

I understand that it is disrespectful to remark that someone’s appearance seems “off”; that it’s socially difficult (for good reason!) to ask someone point blank “Are you wearing some kind of disguise.”

But dear god, this particular “character” is so exaggerated as to be a caricature.

This guy would make small children wail in terror and cling to their mothers.

How can anyone be taken in by him?

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Maybe with certain lighting Cohen can get away with it, but you’d think that in daylight and/or up-close as these interviews are, one would be able to immediately discern the forehead, cheek, chin, and jaw applications. Plus, he had to have fooled them all, because if he were once outed, his failed attempt would have presumably made news (like O’Keefe’s ridiculous failures). [EDIT: after watching the first episode, only his Mossad character is at all obvious-- all the others are virtually undetectable.]

Anyway, after seeing just this preview, I’m out.

Last resident of America, please turn off the lights when you leave.

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Haven’t watched the video, but I’m very strongly in favor of weapons education for 3 to 12 year olds, personally.

Yet somehow I doubt I’d agree with SBC or Walsh on a curriculum.

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Gun nuts and Republican politicians, apparently. Probably ones with “interesting” conceptions of Israelis and Jews. I can’t say I’m as puzzled as you are.

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I’m not a fan of Cohen’s kind of humor in general… but if he’s successfully punking authoritarian fascists and zealous bigots, then more power to him.

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Oh Canada, our home and native land… Canada anyone?

Sounds like weasel words, since the clip (as the post’s title indicates) is about defensively arming toddlers. Are you in favor of that too?

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Where does one begin with this clusterfuck? It’s amazing that not any of these baffoons can tell that was a mask. It was wasn’t it? And Pratt talking BS thinking its science when it was a pop band and rapper’s names. This only proves their complete stupidity and ignorance. And Joe Walsh with his ‘Happy shooting kids?’ This is what we are up against. Complete and unadulterated unethical behavior and immorality.

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This is funny now, but will be less so next year when they defund school lunch programs to pay for enacting it. Mandatory!

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One wonders. But then again, there’s evidence that people when given something else to focus on won’t notice something obvious in front of their face:

Or you can watch any given episode of Penn & Teller’s Fool Us!

By recent accounts of the furor over Cohen’s new show, he and his production team are experts at this.

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I could get grumpy over how much of a rip off of Brass Eye this is (especially the episode where Brass Eye got politicians and celebrities to denounce their made-up drug ‘cake’), but really the world needs more Brass Eye at the moment, and Cohen is the one to do it.

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“I’m talking Nonce Sense!”

Indeed.

I’m not a huge fan of Sacha Baron Cohen’s work, but I do respect the craft he puts into it. He really builds a character and throws himself into it, to try to convince others.

And it’s terrifying how, once people have invested a little into his efforts, they go along blindly. No critical thinking about what each next step means, no matter how ludicrous. No comparison to long-treasured standards of moral or ethical behaviour.

If you look at his early work - Ali G - you see him set up as a sort of Youth Representative, and lots of people just said stupid or ridiculous things because they were hoping to reach out to the youth. But a number of his marks quite clearly found their limits, and simply started disagreeing.

To be fair, Ali G was supposed to be a send up in and of itself, and wasn’t terribly subtle.

But to be fair to these marks - at any point they could have simply said “No, that’s not my view and I disagree.” Or “No, that’s neither practical nor desirable.”

As a result, we’re seeing just how supine and unethical some of these people are. Sacha has moved from entertainment to public service for this particular episode.

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