i grew up with sb-c (he was in the year below me at school and moved in similar youth movement circles) and we still have some friends in common, at least at second-hand. he's not the most religious chap, but is certainly jewishly literate and community-affiliated. the thing you have to remember about borat is that he is there (like ali g) to expose the way people really think, to hang people up by their own prejudices and stupidity, to puncture pomposity and pious humbug and if that reveals latent anti-semitism (or islamophobia, or jingoism, or racism, or sexism, or just plain ignorance, or a mound of different things) along the way that's no bad thing. his approach to anti-semitism is something that i particularly enjoy, because it shows up just how stupid, irrational and downright lunatic it is. i laughed myself sick at the film, particularly at "the running of the jews" and the bit where he freaks out when he discovers his hosts for the night are jewish and he thinks they've turned into cockroaches and throws money at them to try and appease them. the fact is there are people who think like this and only by laughing at them and showing how ridiculous it really is can it be defeated. call it the power of embarrassment if you will. the fact is that the depth of hatred for jews, both active and passive, goes very deep in some areas. it also amuses me quite considerably that when he says stuff in "kazakhstani" or whatever the language is supposed to be, it is normally hebrew!
in a way what sb-c does is no different from an investigative reporter using a hidden camera - he is just undercover and finding out how people talk to foreigners, or people they think are stupid. i frankly admire his sheer chutzpah - the man has the biggest cojones i have ever encountered, the brass neck of talos, more front than brighton. i have to take my hat off to someone that takes as big risks as he does. i admit some of his stuff is very uncomfortable - i wonder what he would reveal if he went undercover in the jewish community, or in the muslim community, or wherever....? satire and lampoon is always better received from within - the kazakhs have had a number of sense-of-humour failures in this respect, for a start! but as things stand, as a satirist, he's a source of pride for anglo-jewry and those are few and far between.
i say good on him and may there be more satire as good as this out there. it certainly knocks smug gits like rory bremner into a cocked hat.
b'shalom
bananabrain
ex C18.. I lure Jews through the street with money as bait 
