I didn't see anyone actually run over/trampled in the videos themselves. They were definitely being herd by the horses and dragged by the police but I didn't see hooves hit a person.

If I missed the act point me to the spot.

(Not that I think it was good for the police, blech.)

I agree that Sasha Baron Cohen is exposing what people really think.  I was one of his victims a few years ago on HBO.  Please feel free to read about it at http://BeatingBorat.blogspot.com and give me your opinion.  

When the frat boys openly wish slavery still existed in America and bemoan the fact that in their minds, minorities actually "have more power", we all know: those drunk jerks speak for far too many. We don't really have the "upper hand" just yet, dipwads, but we're working on it.

I agree that those guys were troglodytes.  I hope that their lawsuit goes down in flames.  That said, I'm not all that pleased about comments like yours about minorities working to get the upper hand.  Exchange one unfair situation with another?  How is that progress?  What the hell is wrong with plain old equality?    

Thanks for sharing your experiences. I agree that racism overall is declining and have written about this in the past on this blog. It's way out of style. Even over my brief lifetime, I have seen improvements in how I personally am treated. I have been given opportunities that my grandmother could never have even dreamed of. Many of those opportunities would not have been possible without the positive encouragement of white people. And that includes writing weekly on MyDD.

Yet, surely you must agree that while overt racism is on the decline, there are negative feelings that many people still harbor beneath the pleasant daily surface interactions. Those viewpoints factor into racial profiling, police brutality,  anti-immigrant legislation and um, Katrina.

So to you, my naive friend, I would say not grow up (as you sound plenty grown), but look around and take off the blinders.

"When the frat boys ... bemoan the fact that in their minds, minorities actually "have more power"

-----------

That struck me as such a Fox News line of attack, I swear they must have got it from there.

When I used to watch Fox, I'd always hear about "political correctness" repressing the white majority for the benefit of minorities.

   David Brooks of the NY Times jumped the shark this week by creating another one of his fake backlash narratives.  That's right, he said that people who liked the Borat movie are "snobs."  Brooks called other people snobs.  David Brooks is the king of out-of-touch elitism.  We need more movies that make fun of people who think that homosexuals should be hung in public squares.  That guy didn't get much play, and his performance was among the most disgusting.  We don't need to apologize for bigots who happen to be southern.  The more controversial this film becomes the more I like it.  Fuck Brooks.  I am not a snob if I support making fun of violent bigots for being violent bigots.  Tnaks for the post

I've been made a bit uncertain by the way some of my friends laugh at the commercials, kind of in a 'look at the funny foreign man' sort of way. It's interesting to see exactly what it is that Americans are laughing at about Borat. Cohen said that the joke was on people who believe that such a character could actually exist.

it ain't difficult to see good, especially as there are enough of you people to judge that see only the bad.

Who is "you people?"

As long as very real racial differences are mired in prejudice and ethnicity, there will be racism however benign it might appear.  Medical practice and science is greatly retarded by the kind of nonsensical black and white prejudice dominant in society.

The children of South Asians are underdiagnosed with the "Caucasian Disease," cystic fibrosis, because doctors see the skin of "macacas" like George Allen and do not realize they are looking at Caucasians.

One company sells a forensic tool that has helped track down at least one serial killer by identifying his mix of racial heritage from his DNA. The software is little utilized because of fear of stigmatizing an imaginary race.  Even scientists who should know better deny what is evident like the inquisitors punishing Galileo for pointing out what any could see.  Better to sacrifice innocents to serial killers than disturb society's prejudices.

We are all mongrels.

Isn't that news simply dreadful?

Now who is "you people?"

Best,  Terry

The character and the movie....

there is absolutely no two ways about it, you get to see the nature of a persons true character by their interaction with this "idiot".

it's the same way with all of Cohen's characters.

Boutros Boutros Boutros Boutros Ghali?
Good sport.

Newt Gingrinch? Asshole.

The backlash is hilarious as it comes from the same people who complain about people being "too uptight" about ring wing humor like South Park has become.

Hyp - o - crites.

it's deep satire, and it's hilarious.

-C.

I think that the racist underbelly of America thing has been pretty overplayed.  I'm sure that those frat guys are basically the worst America has to offer (and really, does it get much worse?).  A lot of why people go along with Borat's terrible hijinks is because their multiculturalized moral compass doesn't work as well as they thought, and it takes only a small amount of social pressure to keep people from speaking out when someone's displaying anti-semitism or whathaveyouism.  Borat puts you into an uncomfortable situation, and there's a lot for you to process.  "Did he really just say that?  "  "Is it maybe a Kazakh word I don't know?"  "Maybe his culture is just unfamiliar to me."  "He's so friendly, though."  "I don't really want to make a scene."  "If I have a fit, Kazakhstan will think Americans are psychos."  Etc.  Cohen has a talent for keeping people just confused enough that they can't really react to the horrible things he's saying, even as they're pretty sure they ought to slap him in the face.    

I think seraanderson has a strong point.  A lot of the people (not all of them obviously) are just trying to politely put up with a strange guy from another country.  I wonder how many people on the left side of things would immediately argue with a visitor from Cuba or Venezuala who said some favorable things about Stalin versus just smiling, nodding, and putting up with him as best they could?  Does that mean they really harbor secret harbor fantasies of mass murder beneath their innocent looking exteriors?    

I think Sara's right as well.  When I watched the original "Throw The Jew Down The Well" bit, I actually felt sorry for the rednecks in the bar.

That's right, I said it.  :)

Perhaps one of the worst films I've seen all year - certainly the most over-rated.  Jackass meets a tediously-long SNL skit.  Who doesn't know what is supposed to be learned from these fart jokes?

Caseybabes, I am afraid I won't be as gracious as Jill. Let me put it to you like this: Anytime a bunch of white people would rather have a bag of sh&% at their dinner table than a person of color, there is racism in America!

I am glad there is no longer racism in YOUR America, but in the America I see every day, it's alive and well. And yes, it cuts many ways. I know black people who can't stand white folks, and Puerto Ricans who can't stand Dominicans.

BTW, I still live in Philly, and it's still a segregated city. So with all due respect to you and Jill, we haven't come that far after all.

Now the question we must ask ourselves is, how do we go about changing things? I think the first thing we must do is stop being hypocrites about our feelings towards one another, and stop making excuses for each other when we are exposed.        

Borat is a brilliant scewering of American attitudes toward race, gender and sexual orientation-in fact, sex, period.  It is Colbert on steroids. Andrew Dice Clay turned on his head and inside out. Those who are offended by it, other than those who simply don't have the belly for such "tastelessness", don't like this movie because of its open confrontation with aspects of the country and perhaps even themselves that they don't wish to deal with at all. Encapsulating the entire movie is the scene where Cohen comes downtairs from the bathroom with what is supposed to be a bag of turds. Just peel back the layers and gape.  The frat boys are suing because he made them look stupid? What's the old saw? Stupid is as stupid does.  My God, how would an encounter between Forest Gump or Chance the Gardener and Borat have turned out.  Chance and Forest would, I suspect, turn out to be far more human.