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The Other

Saturday, Nov. 25, 2006:

The media are abuzz this fall with Borat. I haven't seen him, and don't plan to. Apparently he's a comedian who pokes vicious fun at Kazakhs.

It seems to be part of human nature that we love to belittle and disparage foreigners. The hapless Kazakhs are only the latest in an endless string of victims.

In 1960 a comedian named Bill Dana was the toast of the town. His adopted character was named Jose Jimenez. The gag was that NASA (competing with the Russians for technological prestige) wasn't too sure that an astronaut could survive being shot into space. So they were going to send a Mexican. If he survived, then we'd send real astronauts.

Today, Dana's routine could never fly. Hispanics are far too well integrated into the American psyche, so Jose Jimenez would be perceived as offensive. Today the world is smaller. We're uneasy about Central Asians. Thus: Borat.

I've never thought farting was funny either. Maybe someday somebody will explain that to me.