And the FBI was assigned to follow the film team on reports of a “vaguely middle-eastern man with a bear in an ice-crem truck”, which has to be the funniest report xD

  • TheIvoryTower@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    Sacha Baron Cohen is one classy son of a bitch.

    He played Ali G. He risked his life interviewing conservatives. He infuriated the Kazakhstan government.

    • MycelialMass@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      Pretty sure Kazakhstan loves Borat, he brought the name Kazakhstan into public consciousness where as before people where like ‘wtf is Kazakhstan?’

      • theangryseal@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        I actually met a man from Kazakhstan in my store the other day. He gestured to me that he’d like to sleep in the parking lot and pointed, “in truck. In truck. No English.” Imagine my surprise when I said, “what language?” and this very Asian looking fellow said, “Russian. But not me Russian. Me Kazakhstan”.

        I got to use the translate app on my phone for the first time and when I said, “Ah, I’ve heard of Kazakhstan. I seen Borat.” He said, “No no no, uh, he is from London. He is not really from Kazakhstan. We hate him. We’re so tired of him. That is not what we are really like.” I said, “Oh I know that Kazakhstan is a former Soviet country and you guys are nothing like that. Borat is a man from England. He’s a comedian. I know it’s a joke.” “Oh it makes me so happy you know about the real Kazakhstan.” He said.

        Then I ordered him a pizza to be delivered to his truck.

        It was a fun experience meeting him. He was a great guy.

        We talked for hours using the Google translate app.

        There were a couple of gaffs. I realized after he left when I said “nice to meet you.” It heard, “it was nice to me too.” But otherwise it worked pretty well. It amazes me that we can do that nowadays.

      • ____@infosec.pub
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        11 months ago

        When Borat was fresh, I was in a new hire class for a major telecom you’ve heard of if you’re in the US.

        Somehow, the chatter came around to Borat, and someone challenged me on the existence of Kazakhstan.

        I’m not always great with people , so I did a double take - they were serious. I shipped them a GMaps link via chat…

        …and they proceeded to argue with me that said country couldn’t possibly actually exist.

        Once in a while, I wonder where that person ended up - no Ill will towards the misinformed, but I’m certainly curious.

        • xantoxis@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          They’re really no dumber than anyone else.

          They were wrong because they hadn’t heard of it (not really their fault, it’s not like we’re all talking about Kazakhstan every day).

          They doubled down because that’s what people do to protect their egos. Look up the backlash effect if you want to know why they didn’t believe you even with a maps link. It’s traumatic to be wrong and have someone prove it to you.

          • cynar@lemmy.world
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            11 months ago

            The ability to self correct is one of the biggest differences between smart and stupid. A smart person might be wrong 1-2 times, before correcting on that point. A stupid person will value ego over truth and double down. This effect compounds over time, particularly when combined with an inquisitive mindset (another important marker).

          • naticus@lemmy.world
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            11 months ago

            An American not knowing the existence of Kazakhstan is pretty reasonable. But an American not knowing that New Mexico is a state is completely disappointing and happens way too gd often.

      • wieson@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        where as before people where like ‘wtf is Kazakhstan?’

        Maybe US Americans

        • FrenLivesMatter@lemmy.today
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          11 months ago

          “In my country there is problem and that problem is the Jew”

          https://youtu.be/Vb3IMTJjzfo

          Yeah, you could argue that he was only making a joke or a political statement about latent antisemitism that was already present in society, but if he were the police (and he kinda IS policing antisemitism now), this would be called entrapment.

          • ABCDE@lemmy.world
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            11 months ago

            you could argue that he was only making a joke

            What do you think Borat was, a bloody documentary?

            • FrenLivesMatter@lemmy.today
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              11 months ago

              You’re missing the point. He deliberately encouraged people to express antisemitism and now he’s complaining that people are expressing more antisemitism.

              • ABCDE@lemmy.world
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                11 months ago

                Do you think the people joking about things as he does, want more anti-semitism? Do you think he is responsible because they expressed their actual feelings, whereas he was doing it for comedy? Their feelings existed whether he drew it out or not.

                • FrenLivesMatter@lemmy.today
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                  11 months ago

                  Well, if an undercover cops manages to instigate you to do something illegal, the underlying desire to do it must have already been there, otherwise you’d just tell him to fuck off. But entrapment is still illegal because if he hadn’t provided you with a chance to do it, you may not have followed through after all.

                  What you seem to be saying is “entrapment is fine as long as it’s done to people I hate”.