I am so sorry you have been victimized by the Jews. Boo hoo! Now go back the PLO rally.

Cohen pretends to unmask anti-semitism while taking cheap shots people from Khazakstan. If there was many outspoken and influential Khazak-Americans as there are Jewish Americans he'd never get away with it. But the level of offensiveness is directly proportional to the power of the group one offends. The ADL is right to criticize him and his fans are wrong to think his humor has no downside.

Is ADL concerned that the Kazakhs might feel a bit under attack????????? Or is it OK for Cohen to depict the Kazakhs as overthetop bigots...

comes across as seriously deranged in his acts. those who do not see what is wrong with his insane "comedy" , are as flawed as him. israelis are used to belittle the whole world without caring much. i don't expect any understanding from our yiddishe robocops. diaspora jews however, especially those of us in north america, are often quick to exhibit extreme sensitivity towards anything perceived to be critical of us. don't you see that tolerance and mutual respect should be exactly that? mutual? cries for tolerance are meaningless if tolerance is not meant to be reciprocated. what is this trash? comedy it is not.

Sacha Baron Cohen is doing his thing for two reasons; money and publicity. His "jokes" are extremely low brow, intended for people with the least intelligence and education. It is sad that this approach usually is quite effective. The vast majority of those who think that SBC is funny do not understand that he is mocking jew-haters as some claim here.

I'm of two minds here. First instincts are that the ADL's concerns are as absurd as their fears of the "hidden agenda" of Philosemitic Christians. However, I'm not blessed with a short memory. How many understood Andrew Clay Silverstein's "Dice man" character even after he added the physical comedy to make it clear the character was a buffoon? At the time, it seemed that most did not get it.

This world needs to make more, not less, fun of unsophisticated peoples and nations -- particularly those that demand respect for themselves, their culture and religion. Cartoons, satire and outright ridicule should rule the day.

I didn't hear from the ADL when Cindy Sheehan blamed Israel for the Iraq war, nor when Air America repeatedly ! stated that Zionism Equals Jihadism, nor when Senator Durbin said that "shuting off the air conditioning at Guantanamo was the same as the suffering of WWII Concentration Camp prisoners; or when Hillary kissed Mrs Arafat after the latter stated that Israel kills Palestinian children with gas? Hmm? Where? was the ADL ?

I agree Ali G's humor is too sophisticated for non-Jewish audiences. If Mel Gibson did the same thing would the ADSL be as supportive?

To #65 -I disagree that most of those who appreciate SBC's humor do not understand that he is mocking bigots. I was introduced to SCB by Jewish friends who think he is hilarious. Some of Borat's humor is not just due to his ludicrous and obviously false depictions of life in Kazakhstan. The funniest bits, and most difficult to watch, seem to be when Borat's bizarre antics are politely accepted, indulged, and even participated in by his unwitting American "victims." (If you don't know what I'm talking about, imagine Borat singing a violently anti-Semitic song entitled "Throw the Jew Down the Well" in an American country bar, and inviting the whole crowd to join in... which many in the crowd do!) Borat exposes some Americans' ignorance about other countries, overtolerance of "diversity," and general complacency and exaggerated politeness. However, the American crowd is not always duped and sometimes they don't go along with Borat's antics, as in the hostile reaction of the crowd at a rodeo after Borat spoke lustily about hoping Americans kill every living thing in Iraq and mangling the national anthem. To #8 (Tarob) - I am sorry there are actual Americans are so ignorant about life outside the USA that they would take Borat's words as fact. However, I think most of his audience understand that SBC's depiction of Kazakhstan is absolutely absurd and obviously false. In my view, he pokes fun at some Americans' ignorance about other countries - but it is unfortunate that your country is the country that is used to make the jokes. I think it would have been better just to make up a country name - a lot of Americans could easily be persuaded to believe that a small country exists that they've never heard of before, but I guess if SBC had chosen one, he would have been vulnerable to being "busted" by somebody with geographical knowledge.

Tom of Finland, I respectfully disagree with your opinion that Borat appeals to those with little education. I'm a college professor (not that that means anything) and I love Borat. Sorry Kazaks--we don't mean it personally.

adl needs to shut the pie hole

I had never heard of Borat before now, and I knew almost nothing about Kazakhstan. Apparently, it is a fairly benevolent (as these things go) dictatorship. However, it is not imploding the way Russia and the "Trashcanistans" are. It has about equal numbers of Sunni Muslims and Russian Orthodox, although these numbers vary with the source. My guess is that anti-Semitism is a serious problem there because of the deep anti-Semitism of the USSR and the anti-Semitism of Islam. However, it's not like anti-Semitism is rare in Europe. Kazakhstan's citizens should avoid whining and offer more details about their country. I actually think Tarob's first comment here is helpful in that regard. http://www.stopborat.com/

I am concerned that you have an opinion at all that some people viewing his motion picture might not be sophisticated enough to understand his technique. I hope of all of the candidates for 'not sophisticated', the ADL and the editor of this piece have included themselves.

Call Foxman fatso.

What Foxman means, William, is that the dumb@ss white goyim in America, the same ones Borat ridicules (or tries to) are going to start telling the Borat jokes and singing the Borat songs and intellectual-type Jews are going to get nervous as sh!t trying to figure out whether the goyim are laughing and singing for "good" reasons or for "bad" reasons. If your typical dumb white goy watches the movie, he is an anti-semite (natch) and will sing along with "Throw the Jew down the Well" for bad reasons. If those rare sophisticated intelligent goys watch the movie, they will tastefully comment on it with a dry British wit to show their sophistication, and all will be well. But there are so few of the latter that you have to ask yourself, "will it be good for the Jews?" And what do you do when "Throw the Jews down the Well" appears on Youtube and those white American goyim start playing it over and over and over and ... . You can't trust the goyim as far as you can spit. "In every generation ... " and all that.

I thought i would have to expected the sons and daughters of abraham to show any compassion Now i understand whay everyone hates your food. In my country to hate is your food is a fate worse than death itself. If you were at someones table and you stood up and said "i hate your food" you must either kill him or be killed yourself. Our civil laws allows for defending of ones "Irimshik" what you would call honor. It is because of the jews the many great tragedies have happened. My Great Grandfather (whos soul is as heavenly as the Almatian Steppes) dies because of the Jews on the Titanic. We who are born from his line will never forget him. I will teach my sons what my father taught him and his father taught him... By Grabthar's hammer, by the sons of Worvan, you shall be avenged

this is the way liberals think - everything is a joke to them & will continue to be until they get hurt....bad! If your not a liberal when your 25 you don't have a heart. If you are still a liberal at 35, you don't have a brain. - W. Churchill

Not only are we sophisticated enough to understand satire. We are sophisticated enough to recognize the difference between good satire and sophormoric satire. Just because Cohen uses satire, doesn't mean it's funny.

Sacha Cohen is Jewish. How can a Jew be anti-Semitic?

It is possible to create a terrible steriotype of any country, every country has some back corner that everyone else would rather ignore. It is sad that the humor of the "in kazak" parts of his show will be missed by the majority of people who helped him create these scenes. I honestly think this has done more for kazak than years of slick marketing. As for anti jewish statements being imitated by some, that just reinforces his point. On the whole, I find Mr Cohen's work gives a humourous introduction to places and thoughts that will cause the average person to have more rather than less respect for the subject matter. PS keep him out of Canada plz.

If instead of saying "We are concerned, however, that one serious pitfall is that the audience may not always be sophisticated enough to get the joke, and that some may even find it reinforcing their bigotry," someone were to say "We think this book may be too sophisticated fo most readers who may miss it's political nuances and so we think it should be withdrawn" we would all leap to condemn it. As Frank Zappa once said "Hydrogen isn't the most common element in the universe, stupidity is." What should we do - prevent stupid people from seeing movies? Should we, more to the point, prevent the from voting? I think it's worth pointing out for North Americans that Britain hasn't been subsumed in the wave of political correctness that in the US means that some people daren't sneeze for offending someone else. Political Correctness can serve to stifle legitimate discussion as much as it can save the feelings of groups or individuals. But as often as not it simply masks deeper problems by not allowing people to talk about them. It's an avoidance mechanism. Sasha Baron Cohen is part of a long British tradition of dealing with the uncomfortable or unpalatable by making fun of it. It's our pressure valve. One veteran British politician, Tony Ben, said his interview with Baron Cohen as Ali G was the toughest of his political career. Why? Because as Ali G S.B-C has license to ask stupid questions - and stupid questions like 'why?' are what journalists are supposed to ask. The stupidest questions (ie the most basic rather than the most misguided - the emperors new clothes questions) and the one's journalists are most embarrassed to ask and which as at the same time the toughest to dodge. So as Ali G or Borat S. B-C has license to ask those. As for the people of Khazakshtan - the sad truth is whether you're the victims of good comedy or bad journalism - no one cares. Goats aren't a big part of your lives? Really? - ooops Frasiers' on TV, change channel. You don't drink fermented horse urine? Anyone fancy a pizza? Until Khazakstan does something amazingly interesting - basically more interesting that Borat is funny - you lose. It's a tough world

Maybe that so-called "American" would be more kindly disposed toward him if he knew that Foxman had been raised a Roman Catholic.

Anyone who has actually watched even a few moments of Borat realizes that this is nothing more than viciously funny satire. Anyone who would see Anti-Semitism in the satire of a Jewish comic, kind of reminds me of that ol' yarn about conspiracy theorists. Everywhere they look, there is a conspiracy. The ADL is beginning to sound like the little boy who cried "Wolf" one too many times.

I am sure the comment was posted by Borat. Watch for him: he he may have authored more than one post in this thread.

Borat is making a big joke but not funy and true. He says Ok for Kazak people to make sex with sister by Kazak law! It is not OK. I tell all of my friends NO! STop! It is against the law. The person for sex can only be the daughter of your mother or faather's sister or brother. No more than thet. It does not matter if you like I tell themm. It does not matter if she like. One they have sex with the sister in Kazakstan it is against the law. Tell this Borat once and for all an make hime stop on my country.

Remember how the ADL made such a big deal about Mel Gibson's movie??? They kept saying it was anti-semitic. There was absolutely no grounds for that. I watched the Passion of the Christ 4 times, and I didn't see anything anti-semitic. ADL is just using this as a fundraiser tool. Mark my words. They should have lunch with the humorless Council on American Islamic Relations.. both try to inhibit free speech with their bullying.

Can't people joke about anything anymore? What an uptight world.

First the Kazakhstan government and now the ADL. You can't buy publicity like this! With all the actual bigotry in the world the ADL singles out a fictional character?!?! Heeeesterical. What do you expect from the organization where any and all questioning or reasonble debate of the policies of the Isreali government = anti-semitism? And you gotta love thier rational: stupid people might not get it...