I am conflicted. On the one hand, it’s a patriotic duty to call these deplorables out at every turn. Yet on the other hand, I cringe to think that mocking this also serves to normalize it. SNL didn’t think Trump had a chance when they invited him to host the show, turns out they ended up helping him win.
It’s hard to know what will help me get out of this paralyzing panic I feel these days.
I know satire can be easy to misinterpret, but that’s a severe misreading of that movie.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, the comedian revealed he was a devout Jew, observing Sabbath and eating kosher foods, and he referred to the singing scene to defend his inflammatory comedy.
"Borat essentially works as a tool. By himself being anti-Semitic, he lets people lower their guard and expose their own prejudices, whether it’s anti-Semitism or an acceptance of anti-Semitism. ‘Throw the Jew Down the Well’ was a very controversial sketch, and some members of the Jewish community thought it was actually going to encourage anti-Semitism.
“But to me it revealed something about that bar in Tuscon. And the question is: did it reveal that they were anti-Semitic? Perhaps. But maybe it just revealed that they were indifferent to anti-Semitism,” he said.
Baron Cohen said the concept of “indifference towards anti-Semitism” had been informed by his study of the Holocaust while at Cambridge University, where he read history. "I remember, when I was in university, and there was this one major historian of the Third Reich, Ian Kershaw. And his quote was, ‘The path to Auschwitz was paved with indifference.’
“I know it’s not very funny being a comedian talking about the Holocaust, but I think it’s an interesting idea that not everyone in Germany had to be a raving anti-Semite. They just had to be apathetic,” he said.
Probably, yeah. I did find this at the Buzzfeed link
And this one was done by a mom with a Ph.D., who should probably give her Ph.D. back.
… so #notallteens right? It is not clear to me that middle-aged native-born [North] Americans (who I have seen struggle with basic U.S. geography) are going to get things any more correct than their younger counterparts.
On the other side of the talent spectrum is this lovable freak o’ nature, Al Franken:
I often have to remind myself that even though Bush may not have been the smartest person in the room, he had enough sense to surround himself with intelligent (albeit evil) people.
Thanks for the link, but I didn’t see the 10-minute teaser here, which nicely skewers some ammosexuals, as nihilistic or empty.
Grim, yes, but seeing a bunch of prominent gun nuts agree that arming toddlers is a great idea does what all good satire does (at least for me) – it exaggerates something vile to show just how vile it really is.
The article you linked says,
And there are instances when Cohen exposes moments of genuine American racism or Republican gun love that feel like they’re coalescing toward a point.
Well yes, but not just “coalescing toward a point.” As I said, it makes a point, one that I think is a good one – THIS is how fucking ridiculous and ultimately murderous America’s gun-nuts can be.
But a lot of the humor is cruel and cynical, for the sake of being cruel and cynical, and even more of it points and laughs at the rubes, provoking them simply to provoke them.
Okay, I’ll wait and see then. For now, I’ll withhold judgement and hope that this latest round of satire from someone as smart and talented as Sacha Baron Cohen has consistently worthy targets.
I’m…okay with this, if the show ends up being just that. Transient nihilism can shed a dark light on life, illuminating what was previously hidden. A terrible place to live but not necessarily unproductive to visit.