In January, 2020, presidential candidate Joe Biden told the New York Times that he rejected Polish-Americans in favor of "smart people."
"Well, look what's happened. Look what started to seep in, beginning and probably even with candidates during our administration. We stopped showing up at the Polish American club. We stopped showing up, and we all went to you, the really smart people. We had a new kind of coalition we were putting together. College-educated women and college men and boom, boom, boom and so on."
Presidential Candidate Joe Biden, New York Times, January, 2020.
Recently, Joe Biden laughed uproariously as Sacha Baron Cohen, as his character Borat, denigrated Poles by equating them with the "number one Jew crushing nation." Cohen hides behind "Kazakstan" -- which is bad enough as is -- but in fact Borat is Polish. Cohen offers many clues to Borat's true identity, but in the YouTube clip below, you can see and hear Borat speaking repeatedly in Polish.
For a detailed analysis of how Cohen communicates that Borat is really Polish, please see my book, Bieganski: the Brute Polak Stereotype.
Thanks to Jan for sending this in.
Really, I'm terrified of what I see.
ReplyDeleteI see people bursting out laughing at others, at people of other nationalities. They are seemingly laughing at the Kazakhs, who are now an even weaker nation and are unable to defend themselves. But we know that they are actually laughing at Poles, but this is camouflaged mockery, so Poles cannot defend themselves either.
Those people who are laughing are not ordinary people, but educated people from the upper classes. These are representatives of a nation that wants to be a moral leader for other nations.
These people have bought tickets to attend a cultural event. Cultural! (sic!)
I have always been against ridiculing other social groups, especially the weaker ones. I was very sensitive to any signs of contempt for other people. And that's why now I'm really wondering what I'm supposed to think about the people in this movie. Is it really not possible to explain to them that this is inappropriate behavior?
Hello AnnaD - I am just watching it now. It's not even funny - but clearly it is considered politically correct to laugh at it. These foolish foreigners... what contempt we, the "elite", have for them. And, yes, in the world's terms, aren't these "educated people"?
DeleteThe Bible speaks of two kinds of wisdom, the wisdom of God and the wisdom of the world.
"Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this system of things? Has not God made the wisdom of the world foolish? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not get to know God through its wisdom, God was pleased through the foolishness of what is preached to save those believing." - 1 Corinthians 1:20,21
So if that is "the wisdom of the world" in action, in shining contrast, our Creator, Jehovah, teaches us to treat everyone with the kindness and respect we would want for ourselves. And where "the world" (the current system of things on the earth) will tell us that "sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me", the Creator of language, in the Book of James, warns us that one wrong word can do as much harm as the little spark that sets a forest fire.
Whose standards are going to prevail on the earth? Isn't it our Creator's, so all we need to do is to learn about Him, learn what he wants for us and from us, and to teach others, all who will listen.
Psalm 37 contains such wise advice, such perfect advice, when it comes to dealing with this sort of nastiness. And it also assures us of the coming rescue - the rescue we pray for when we say the Lord's prayer and ask for God's Kingdom to come and for his will to be done on the earth.
Can you imagine an earth on which everyone was treated with kindness and respect - so different from what we see now, and so different from what we see in the video above?
Well, I will say this for President Biden and the Borat guy. They clearly understand the politics going on here.
ReplyDeleteYour book Bieganski gets more relevant by the minute... sadly. What will 2023 bring to us in the way of "untering"?
To take a positive though, aren't we one year nearer the loving, impartial rule of the Kingdom of God, the heavenly government that values and cares for every one of its subjects. And how much we need it!