Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
A review by Boustro
Ratings: 5 out of 5 stars 
Guilty pleasures: affordable clothing (made by children overseas), safe cosmetics (tested on animals), Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (humiliating a poor village in Romania). But we reap the benefits. Or not. Some of us will boycott this or that, making a statement, taking a stand. Some of us won't.
Take Borat. I saw the movie before I heard about the ruckus over the production's exploitation of a small, very poor village in Romania, representing Borat's home town in Kazakhstan. In a nutshell, the villagers say they were misled and humiliated, portraying a place where incest, prostitutes and rapists are perfectly acceptable. I think the producers have crossed a line, and those people deserve some kind of compensation. Maybe. Or one could argue that they were just actors, paid (albeit very inadequately) for their portrayals of fictional characters. Some other victims, like the frat boys who looked stupid and bigoted in their scene (yeah ...
"looked"
), are suing, too.
Had I known of the village's plight before seeing the movie, would I have seen it anyway? Probably. But I may not have laughed at the village scenes as heartily, if at all. As I watched, I hoped that this "village" was a set built in Hollywood, with paid actors and extras, uncomfortably suspecting that it was not. But enough moral struggling. On to the film.
What a film! I wouldn't say it's the funniest film ever, but it's high on the list. It has a pretty high crudeness index, too: very anatomically correct male nudity, plenty of coarse language, masturbation, a nude wrestling match (again, male, and with overtones of gay sex), potty humor in the extreme, etc. So it's not for everyone, and even some of us liberated ex-Pentecostals may want to pass. But if you can stomach it (and if you're not inclined to boycott), it's freakin' hilarious!
Let me start with my favorite scene. Yes, that would be the famous Pentecostal church scene. Oh, let me tell you, it brought back some memories. They filmed part of a real UPCI (United Pentecostal Church International) camp meeting service, and though I'm an escaped AGer (Assemblies of God, which in the eyes of the UPCI is a polytheist, hell-bound, evil, false religion, and I tend to agree with some of that), I gotta tell ya: the UPCI's insanity isn't much different from the AG's. Maybe they both have the same "Holy Spirit", after all. Anyway, you have to see this scene, if only via copyright-violating clip on YouTube, while it lasts. Our hero, a reporter from Kazakhstan, is down on his luck. But he responds to the altar call, gets an interview with the preacher (the crowd cheers), and meets Mr. Jesus. I'm pretty sure he got the baptism, too. The pain in his heart (he was hurt, among other things, by Pamela Anderson, his intended bride, doing "something terrible on a boat") is gone! Yay! Now he and Mr. Jesus will go to California and "take" Pamela! Yay!
I think it's very big of those UPCI folks to play along, even after discerning that this fellow is, of course, just faking it. Who knew they had a sense of humor? (Heh, heh.)
And don't miss the dinner party! After some confusion on how to use the bathroom (stay for the credits, and you can see who provided one of the props for that scene!), Borat's date shows up (a prostitute), and, well, the party's over!
Other scenes are great, too. Oh, that poor etiquette teacher! And the feminists! And the rodeo! Oh my. The U. S. and A. will never be the same.
Borat (played by Sacha Baron Cohen, a UK comedian) has a knack for bringing out the worst in unsuspecting bigots and self-important preachers. Some targets were not so deserving, like the villagers. Well, we can only hope that they will get some justice. As for the drunken frat boys, I hope they reap millions in their lawsuit . . . pause . . .
NOT!
Dealing with Cynicism after Pentecostalism
by Lutherius
When one initially leaves Pentecostalism, it is a bitter cup to drink to admit that we were fooled and that we believed in something so stupid. Usually, after we leave, we must build defense mechanisms to protect ourselves. We do this because after a recent escape, we must vow never again to be fooled by any such movement or anything similar. This is a necessary process in most cases. We are so close to the exit from the religion that fooled us, and we might be vulnerable to get fooled again if we do not take steps to build up our defenses. Thus, we study the techniques used to manipulate people, and we form a way of thinking that sifts through the potential rubbish of anyone or any idea we meet. If we do not sift through the stuff that comes at us, we can end up in a similar situation that we left.
Emotional appeals to a particular political movement, or for a car sales pitch, or to meet some interesting person must be severely sifted. We were sucked in through the manipulation of our emotions, and we must be on guard like an armed sentry at the gate of our heart.
This is where the process of leaving can get difficult. We have been hurt severely and we vow to fight anything that even remotely would threaten us. We see potential friends approach us with an upbeat smiling face, and we have flashbacks to that evangelist preacher who had a similar smiling face who promised healings that never happened – but we deeply believed the evangelist. We look at the new potential friend or acquaintance with suspicion and cynicism. So, we link what we saw in the past with the things we are introduced to in the present. The past haunts our present.
Such a state of mind can produce a mild to severe form of cynicism in the Ex-Pentecostal. We were fooled so deeply by people we loved - in some cases with all our hearts. This has the potential – with a high degree of probability - to make cynics of us all. We see the potential evil in humans. We look at people we meet every day and try to figure out what type of manipulating evil they are capable of. We have come face to face with pure evil in our past and we begin to see evil all around us in the present.
Why do we do this? Is this normal? Is this potential cynical outlook bad?
I do not think that being a cynic as a recently emancipated Pentecostal is a bad thing. I think that we need a good dose of cynicism to balance out the lack of cynicism we overdosed on for years within Pentecostalism. Think of a pendulum. We were at one extreme of a big pendulum in Pentecostalism with full trust of our leaders. It is a good thing that for some time we swing to the other side of the pendulum to the point where we trust nobody. We must learn to build a solid boundary. Initially, we will tend to build a fortress of steel, iron and brick, as it were. Again, this is not a bad thing for a period of time to learn how to build boundaries. A strong dose of pure cynicism could be the proper dosage to offset the disease of Pentecostalism. However, after our mental immune system is healed with this serious, bitter dose of medicine, we can begin to wean ourselves from this bitter pill.
After a few years of getting our bearings, rebuilding our social networks, working through emotional problems with counselors and trusted friends, we should be able to let go of most or even all of our cynicism toward the world and toward other people. After we go through this dark period of treatment with the bitter medicine of cynicism, we can begin to love again – although we must start out slowly. We must test ourselves in many cases to see how easily we fall for scams, but we can begin to reach out to others once more. Our bitter cynicism will be seen by the observant ones a little behind our eyes, and that will be a mark of wisdom through trial in our souls. We will be able to see evil without affecting the innocent. We will be able to recognize evil long before it affects our families and social circles long before so that we can take preventive measures from this experience of wisdom.
We must always remember that as Ex-Pentecostals we have several stages to go through before we are truly healed and free. If we suffer from cynicism, we just need to remember that this too shall pass, and that tomorrow is another day, and each day it gets a little easier.
Learning From Our Mistakes
By Boustro
I learn from my mistakes. It's just that it usually doesn't "take", the first time around. Case in point: While attending college, I worked in a cafeteria, and one of my jobs was to keep the serving line stocked. Once, as I was dumping some spaghetti sauce into a pan under the heat lamp (you're way ahead of me, aren't you?), my knuckle bumped into that super-hot flood light.
OUCH!
Oh
man
, that hurt! But there was more sauce to dump, so ...
OUCH!
That hurt
again!
Same knuckle!
Then there was the coffee grinder incident. (Relax. This one doesn't involve a nasty injury.) First, some boring but necessary set-up: our grinder is the "burr" type (not the whirly blade type), with a hopper to hold the beans, and a catcher in the front for the grounds. The catcher is a clear plastic cup, with a lid. It slips into the grinder to catch the grounds that are blasted into it, through a little hole near the top. (Remember, I said
blasted!
) On the grinder, there is a start button and a sliding switch to select the amount to grind, with an "off" position to the far left. (Hey, I warned you it was boring, but it's necessary. Sorry.) Select, say, 8 cups, and it knows how long to grind, then stops. OK, we're ready for the fun part: one day, after I pour the fresh grounds into the paper filter, set the unlidded catcher on the counter, and fire up the coffee maker, I grab the grinder to move it back out of the way. Oops, I pushed the start button! As freshly ground coffee starts blasting out the front, do I have the presence of mind to instantly slide the switch to "off"? No! Do I grab the cord and unplug it? No, of course not! Instead of taking a half second for either one of these common-sense options, I grab the catcher, fumbling for the lid, frantically trying to put it on and slide the assembly into the grinder! Three cups' worth of grounds later (spread over the counter, the floor, and me), the situation is under control.
Next time I bumped the start button, though, at least I remembered to turn the thing off right away, minimizing the wasted coffee. Sometimes I do learn (part of) the lesson the first time!
Our gas stove has metal disks that rest in the middle of the burners, I guess to direct the flame outward or something. One day, as I'm heating the wok, my son suggests that I turn the grate upside-down and remove the disk, so the wok wouldn't wobble. OK, so I turn off the flame, use tongs to lift the grate (it was hot!), then start to lift the disk. Don't ask me why, but not with the tongs -- with my thumb and forefinger.
Doh!
I decide to wait a bit, but notice that the disk was not in place (duh!). With my other hand, I pick it up to replace it.
Doh!
Now you're thinking, "Nobody is that stupid." I know what you mean. Normally, I'm pretty smart. I just have "moments", that's all. One more story, and this one is really funny. I crack myself up whenever I tell it. I used to go to New York about once a month, for work. On one trip, I spotted a fellow there, in the cafeteria, that kind of reminded me of Bob Dey, who was my boss several years before. Next time in NY, I saw the guy again, and thought, "Yeah, that does look like Bob Dey." Next time, it was "Wow, he
really
looks like Bob Dey!" Finally, when it turned into "That
is
Bob Dey", I walked up to the guy and said "Bob?" He said "No." (Here's where you will laugh hysterically.) I said "Bob Dey?" (
Doh!
) He gave me one of those tilted-head, skeptical-that-he-really-heard-what-he-thought-he-heard looks, and said "Noooo."
But, there's one mistake I will not make twice: falling for the pentecostal delusion. Hmm. Wait a minute. I
did
fall for it twice! For a while, away at college, I left the Assemblies of God, and attended a Nazarene church instead! Home from school, I went back to the AG.
Doh!
Well, I've learned that lesson, second time around. As usual. |
