The Challenge of Borat

If you Google “Borat ethics” or “Borat moral” you’ll get about 1.5 million choices. But so far, I’ve been unable to find anyone discussing the real moral question this movie asks, so let's address it here.

Putting aside the men wrestling naked, the attempt to force Pamela Anderson into the “engagement sack,” and the other wacky physical gags, most of the discussion has centered on the behavior, typically by Texans and other southerners, that revealed a kind of bigotry that we might have thought outdated.

People who knew that they were on camera still went ahead and told “Borat” which caliber gun is the best to stop an oncoming Jew, agreed that women should be treated as property, and made other outrageous comments. Anyone who thinks these people were “tricked” or “trapped,” probably hasn’t seen the movie.

However, it is true that none of these participants were in the middle of bigoted behavior when Borat joined them.

So, the question is not, “are you a bigot?”, but rather, “are you willing to stand up against bigotry?”

The “suckers” who betrayed themselves on camera, were mostly following Borat’s lead. Yes, there are still some people who want to spread hate. But the Borat film reveals a much bigger problem—in social interactions, especially with strangers, a great many more people went along with these bigoted ideas, rather than opposing the bigotry and making waves.

Maybe I’m the only person who’s gone into the break room at work, the locker room at the gym, or just chatted with a stranger out in public, and had to make the choice whether to listen quietly and stay out of trouble, or open my mouth and say, “No, that’s not what it’s like at all, that’s not what ‘they’re’ like at all. I find that joke/idea/opinion insulting.”

If your income, your safety, or even just your popularity is at stake, many of us will look out for ourselves and keep silent, instead of stepping in and saying what our consciences are telling us to do.