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Watch a 10 minute preview of Sacha Baron Cohen's "Who is America"

beefheart said:
The gun nuts really got owned. They had no problems reading the teleprompter, and Larry Pratt just bought into it hook line and sinker.
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Yeah, my jaw hit the floor several times while watching this, as much in shock as in humor. It is really amazing that some of these people did not blink when suggesting that we should arm 4 year olds in schools. The "anti-tragedy agenda..." "First Grenaders..." "Pheremone Blink-182 produced by the part of the liver known as the Rita Ora..." zomg

I can only hope that a lot more interviewees responded like Rep Gaetz. That's a pretty desperate hope, I know, but still.

He also interviewed Bernie Sanders, who apparently was not having any of it. Should be amusing to see who's on the left that he successfully trips up.
 
OldFatGuy said:
He is a threat to our nation's society and well being. He sets an unacceptable tone of deceit. I don't care about his politics, I care about his methodology. I enjoy Bill Maher. Never heard him purposefully lie. I understand why you don't get it, even tho you don't.
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Art is not safe.
 
HenryChinaski said:
Art is not safe.
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No one claimed or is claiming art is safe. Cohen is not an artist, he isn't honest with himself, let alone an audience.

Even tho her beliefs and those she served were vile, Leni Riefenstahl was honest with herself. Her legacy, works of art despite their purposes.
 
OldFatGuy said:
No one claimed or is claiming art is safe. Cohen is not an artist, he isn't honest with himself, let alone an audience.

Even tho her beliefs and those she served were vile, Leni Riefenstahl was honest with herself. Her legacy, works of art despite their purposes.
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There is no requirement for artists to be honest.

Journalists, yes. Comedians and artists, no.

Calling something a "work of art" does not confer value on it.

Oh, and thanks for Godwinning the thread.
 
Visbek said:
There is no requirement for artists to be honest.

Journalists, yes. Comedians and artists, no.

Calling something a "work of art" does not confer value on it.

Oh, and thanks for Godwinning the thread.
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You're confusing dishonesty with literary license. All art is dependent upon honesty, perhaps not within in a character, but definitely within the underlying emotional movement. Your ad hominem tells us of your own lacking honesty.
 
OldFatGuy said:
You're confusing dishonesty with literary license.
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Not even in the tiniest degree.


All art is dependent upon honesty, perhaps not within in a character, but definitely within the underlying emotional movement.
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Not even in the tiniest degree.

You personally may prefer art that is "emotionally honest," but the reality is that you have absolutely no way of requiring, let alone detecting, any such quality.

E.g. Richard Avedon made a famous portrait of the Windsors:

richard_.jpg


The Duke had resigned as king, and was given the boot to the US with his once-divorced wife. Everyone assumed they were miserable, when the reality is much more nuanced. During the photo shoot, the couple were presenting a rather polite and reserved demeanor, which isn't what Avedon wanted. In order to nail the couple looking sad, Avedon lied and claimed he was upset because he ran over a dog en route to the photo shoot. The couple, who were dog lovers, flashed an upset look and bam, Avedon got the image he wanted.

Was it "emotionally honest?" Nope. It was Avedon pulling the expression that everyone expected from them, rather than an attempt to determine how they actually felt. It was a lie, through and through. And yet, still a work of art. (Nor does anything in the image convey the story I just told you -- and chances are, if you hadn't heard it, your feelings about the portrait would be radically different.)

I might add that I can easily assert that Cohen is in fact being "emotionally honest," even if he has to deceive his subjects to get there. He did not force anyone to suggest that we should arm 4 year olds in schools; they could have declined to do the promos any time (as did one of the respondents). They were being genuine in their support for the program, which yeah, doesn't exist and just happens to be bat **** crazy. If anything, his deception illuminated how some of those individuals actually think and feel about a critical political issue.


Your ad hominem tells us of your own lacking honesty.
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lol

I love how you simultaneously complain about an alleged ad hominem, and then... make an ad hom attack on me. Way to seize the moral high ground.
 
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