I wasn't quite sure what category to put this in. But I just had to write it.
To: Mr. Rakhat Aliyev Deputy Foreign Minister of Kazhakstan Dear Mr Aliyev, I am writing to express my dismay at your harsh criticism of Borat Sagdiyev, the wacky, wonderful Kazakh journalist who has earned a well-deserved name for himself as a national icon of your country. So what if he has turned your country into an international laughingstock? So what if his zany antics have tainted your countrymen with associations of blatant racism, anti-Semitism, sexism, and the inability to make wine? And why get so steamed up by the fact that he makes you look like stone-age, ignorant, illiterate, mean, war-mongering idiots who can't even express themselves clearly? Borat Sagdiyev is merely a journalist – not the leader of your country, nor the leader of ‘the Free World.’ And everybody knows he’s fictitious. Sincerely,
An American Citizen |
Written by Talisker (1331 comments posted) 24th October 2006 | Yes dear Witzl,
One has to hand it to Sacha Baron Cohen, he does venture nearer to the edge than most.
Far from wishing to moderate this bit of the site, but I've read three or four submissions this morning, and not one in the form of spoof news, NOT ONE. Possibly comedy would have been a better home?
Best regards dear Witzl  | I almost envy the Kazakhs. . .
Written by Witzl (1585 comments posted) 24th October 2006 | You are probably right -- Comedy might have been a better category for this. Maybe. My rationale for putting this in 'Not News' is that this isn't really a letter to the Kazakh foreign minister, so I wondered if this site might not be the most appropriate.
I think I needed to make this a little more explicit. The point I wanted to make, of course, was that everybody knows that Cohen's character is fictitious. Sure he makes Kazakhstan a laughingstock, sure he puts on a good horse's ass act, but who can take it seriously? Everyone knows that he is just pretending to be 1) Kazakh, and 2) a horse's ass.
Whereas in America, the horse's ass is really the horse's ass, and the whole world knows and gets to see it every single day.
Now is that REALLY Comedy? |
Written by Bottleblondesurfer (3566 comments posted) 25th October 2006 | Hi witzl, I think this is fine where it is. My son has just explained to me about the Borat/Baron Cohen joke so now I understand it. A clever little piece and your "American Citizen" certainly dispels the rumour that Amercians don't do irony
Now I know who the joke is on
Nice work
BBS | Thank God someone got it!!
Written by Witzl (1585 comments posted) 25th October 2006 | Bless your heart, BBS!! You got it!
I was beginning to feel awfully lonely.
Just the other day there was a very silly story in the Scotsman about Tiger Woods and his wife -- something about his wife's having allegedly posed nude for a magazine. Tiger Woods angrily denied that his wife had done this, and it later was suggested that the magazine that had printed the photos of Mrs Woods had done it 'as a joke.' One of the readers responded that Tiger Woods probably didn't realize that it was a joke because it was a well-known fact that Americans didn't understand irony. I almost dropped my cup of coffee on the keyboard, reading that.
Americans have a lot to answer for, God knows. But not having a sense of irony? If ever a country needed a sense of irony, ours surely does. Believe me, we do irony, and lately, we do it a lot. I don't think we could survive without it.
So call us fat, call us mean, call us pompous and selfish and insular and arrogant and overpaid, oversexed, over here -- but PLEASE, cousins, don't tell us we don't understand irony.
We're already suffering enough.
| I liked it
Written by patterjack (1433 comments posted) 25th October 2006 | I like the comic himself -- and I would never comment that
Americans can't appreciate or produce irony -- I have seen and heard enough in American lit. etc, to be able to deny that furphy
I do not include Texans with Americans 
patterjack |
Written by coosh (923 comments posted) 26th October 2006 | But maybe that reader was just being ironic..... (no, I'm not going there).
I haven't seen Borat since they tagged him on to the Ali G Show in the early days. But a friend was telling me that apparently the Kazakhs do like some of his jokes, .... to the extent that they've actually compiled a list of what they undertstand and what they don't understand, or think is funny. I'm not quite sure what purpose ths serves, other than providing Sacha with more material... Still, I doubt they'll being showing the film much there.
Leave the piece where it is, it's fine. A nice touch with the "American Citizen" at the end.
| Pitifully grateful to you. . .
Written by Witzl (1585 comments posted) 26th October 2006 | . . . and I am somewhat reassured.
My husband tells me that no one laughs at my jokes half the time because I mess up the delivery. This is actually very true: I am not glib, and generally an awful teller of jokes. Still, I figured it might work this time since I was writing it out.
Because I think that things are funnier when they are kept fairly short, I let the point hinge on two elements: the italics around 'he's' and the use of 'American Citizen' at the end. But having reread the piece again, I think I needed to make it a little explicit. It is easy not to see a salutation line (or whatever the 'Sincerely yours' bit is called), and italics are also easily missed. I erred on the side of brevity and thus lost the point.
| Hi Mary
Written by ellipinnock (1786 comments posted) 26th October 2006 | Well, I think it's great. I prefer humour which is a tad more subtle and thought this was funny (or it would have been funny if the 'leader of the free world' isn't such a complete prat anyway! I think it's fine here, too, spoof news after all is a fairly broad concept.
Elli
ps. I also am rubbish at telling jokes and tend to get told off by my partner for interrupting him when he's halfway through one to tell the audience the punchline... |
Written by Bottleblondesurfer (3566 comments posted) 26th October 2006 | "I think I needed to make it a little explicit. "
I think that would be very wise, sweetie, especially for us Brits, we might to irony but we don't do subtlety .You really have to spell it out for us. Just check out any sitcom currently on TV.
Well, of course, Amercians do irony they do it all the time they just don't know they are doing it ( OK put the mace down I'm going now)
cheers
BBS | Borat
Written by Fledermaus (3487 comments posted) 31st October 2006 | I liked your little piece here, but I consider mr. Cohen a very mediocre comedian. Many other comedians have already made this joke of pretending to be a foreign journalist, and they did a much beter job than mr. Cohen.
Luckily Kazakhstan itself has better comedians. I heard that one of them is going to fly to London to offer Borat a bottle of horse urine, since 'that is his favorite'. |
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