WHO IS AMERICA

WHO IS AMERICA

Tonight Sacha Baron Cohen has a Showtime show Who is America? premieres on Showtime. I'm sure lots of folks are going to be offended, some are just going to find it cringe level comedy. I guess I find it just a little funny and hey, any moment to point the mirror on America and, well, show us who and what we have become... yeah, I enjoyed it.  I'm sure most folks who don't live in America will find it comical as well, that's the nature of finding humor from Americans.

On top of that, there's not really a huge ability to just say "Oh, he's going after the right! How dare he!" since he goes both after the right and the left.  But hey, who doesn't want to see Dick Cheney put his signature on a waterboard torture thing and stuff? Senators and other high level officials give endorsements to an idea of having gun handling courses for three year olds, I mean, it really sounds like he pulled off some surreal stuff and people didn't second guess him. In fact, look at the reporting on those duped.

On July 10, 2018, former Alaskan governor Sarah Palin disclosed on Facebook that she had been interviewed by Baron Cohen while he was in character as a disabled veteran. She expressed anger at being tricked into participating in the interview saying, "I join a long list of American public personalities who have fallen victim to the evil, exploitive, sick ‘humor’ of the British ‘comedian’ Sacha Baron Cohen, enabled and sponsored by CBS/Showtime."[11] A day later, former U.S. congressman Joe Walsh revealed on Twitter that he too had been interviewed by Baron Cohen in character and was critical of the methods used to gain his participation in filming saying, "Dressing up as a wounded veteran is absolutely stolen valor, his tactics are disguisting [sic] - I know cause [sic] I too was duped."[12]

On July 12, 2018, former Alabama judge Roy Moore similarly divulged his unwitting participation in the series through a statement saying, "As for Mr. Cohen [sic], whose art is trickery, deception and dishonesty, Alabama does not respect cowards who exhibit such traits!"[13] That same day, Georgia talk radio host Austin Rhodes confirmed he had unwillingly had Baron Cohen on his radio program as a guest in August 2017 while Cohen was in character. Rhodes indicated that he was not as irritated as other interviewees had been, mentioning that he is a fan of Baron Cohen's saying, "My biggest regret is not being able to shake his hand as Sacha Baron Cohen or interview him (as himself)."[14] Also that same day, broadcast journalist Ted Koppel disclosed that he had taken part in an interview for the series at his home under the impression it was for an upcoming Showtime series titled Age of Reason. Koppel was not overly irritated at the notion of being tricked saying, "Everybody loves seeing well-known people get duped. I relish it too, when it's done well." Though he went on to express concern over the notion of people posing has documentarians or journalists adding, "I think there's a larger issue here and that is, if there's one thing we don't need any more of in this particular era it's people posing as documentarians. I think there's enough skepticism to go around about people who actually are reporters, who actually are documentarians. And to undermine whatever tiny little bit of confidence might be left by pulling a stunt like this … maybe it will make for a good comedy show. I don't know. But I don't think it helps the overall atmosphere."[15]

On July 13, 2018, U.S. Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida admitted that he had been deceived by Cohen and participated in an interview. Unlike most others who confirmed their involvement, Gaetz acknowledged that he was a fan of Cohen's and was looking forward to the series saying, "It’s very consistent with his model, beginning with a seemingly normal interaction and then the brilliance of his comedy is that he accelerates the awkwardness of it to some usually ironically humorous end."

I like how they all pretend to be extremely offended just to try to cover up how bad they got pranked. I mean, it's basically the first rule of politics and all.

When is everyone going to realize that paying senators to say something has been the American experience since its inception. Was over taxes were disputes, and the whole slave thing was a state rights issue. Now that America is a 3rd world country again, people are starting to doubt.  

But can we just focus on one thing - It's totally dishonest that they labeled Trent Lott as the senate majority leader when he's actually a disgraced racist from over a decade ago. Also, the makeup on the Israeli arms expert character was so over the top. It's more confusing that those people were tricked into thinking it was a real person than they could believe that kindergarten gun education programs.

Also, on a side note. What the hell is up with Sarah Palin still being brought up in 2018. Come on, America. Let's move the fuck on already.