'Inspector Borat' looking for Jew hatred in all the wrong places
"Borat" is many things: a sidesplitting triumph of slapstick and scatology, a runaway moneymaker and budding franchise, the worst thing to happen to Kazakhstan since the Mongol hordes, and, as columnist David Brooks astutely points out, a supreme display of elite snobbery reveling in the humiliation of the hoaxed hillbilly.
But it is one thing more, something Brooks alluded to in passing but that requires at least one elaboration: an unintentionally revealing demonstration of the unfortunate attitude many have toward working-class American Christians, especially evangelicals.
You know the shtick. Borat goes around America making anti-Semitic remarks in order to elicit a nodding anti-Semitic response. And with enough liquor and cajoling, he succeeds. In the most notorious such scene (on "Da Ali G Show," where the character was born), Borat sings "Throw the Jew Down the Well" in an Arizona bar as the local rubes join in.
Charles Krauthammer
Charles wonders:
Well, no it probably isn't, Charles, but don't completely count America out when it comes to anti-Semitism.
Jew-hatred and societal self-loathing are ever partners. The American Left imposed a framework of self-loathing and guilt on us beginning in the 1960s and it has become an integral part of our national and societal dialog ever since. Nothing appears to be more fun when deep in the throes of a liberal guilt-fest than a little Jew-baiting.
Krauthammer is right when he says Cohen is looking in the wrong place for anti-Semitism, but he's wrong when he excuses the United States altogether. Leftists in America are some of the most vocal anti-Semites in the world. What makes them dangerous is that there is a ruling political faction that panders to their every utterance. Charles seems to forget the fickle nature of American politics. He would do well to remember that his President has mouthed soothing platitudes with regard to Jews and Israel, but has all but completely abandoned them to extinction by diplomacy.
Bush, as part of the political establishment pandering to the American Left, might furrow his brow at a bar full of hicks singing, "Throw the Jew Down the Well," but he has gladly joined in holding them by their ankles over the geo-political abyss.
But it is one thing more, something Brooks alluded to in passing but that requires at least one elaboration: an unintentionally revealing demonstration of the unfortunate attitude many have toward working-class American Christians, especially evangelicals.
You know the shtick. Borat goes around America making anti-Semitic remarks in order to elicit a nodding anti-Semitic response. And with enough liquor and cajoling, he succeeds. In the most notorious such scene (on "Da Ali G Show," where the character was born), Borat sings "Throw the Jew Down the Well" in an Arizona bar as the local rubes join in.
Charles Krauthammer
Charles wonders:
...is the American heartland really the locus of anti-Semitism? Is this the one place to go to find it?
Well, no it probably isn't, Charles, but don't completely count America out when it comes to anti-Semitism.
Jew-hatred and societal self-loathing are ever partners. The American Left imposed a framework of self-loathing and guilt on us beginning in the 1960s and it has become an integral part of our national and societal dialog ever since. Nothing appears to be more fun when deep in the throes of a liberal guilt-fest than a little Jew-baiting.
Krauthammer is right when he says Cohen is looking in the wrong place for anti-Semitism, but he's wrong when he excuses the United States altogether. Leftists in America are some of the most vocal anti-Semites in the world. What makes them dangerous is that there is a ruling political faction that panders to their every utterance. Charles seems to forget the fickle nature of American politics. He would do well to remember that his President has mouthed soothing platitudes with regard to Jews and Israel, but has all but completely abandoned them to extinction by diplomacy.
Bush, as part of the political establishment pandering to the American Left, might furrow his brow at a bar full of hicks singing, "Throw the Jew Down the Well," but he has gladly joined in holding them by their ankles over the geo-political abyss.
posted by Anonymous | 8:50 AM
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