There have been many TV programs all the way back to CANDID CAMERA which set people up for pranks. It was all in good fun and the results were shown only if a legal release was signed allowing the prank to be broadcast.
Getting permission after-the-fact was essential, otherwise, you've wasted your efforts.
Ahhhh, but what about PUBLIC FIGURES who are legally exempted from the necessary "permission" form agreement?
Is an Ambush Set-Up fair or even ethical?
The answer we give depends on how much we love or hate the victim!
If we really, really dislike certain public figures there's a tendency to want to see them embarrassed and exposed as buffoons, idiots, hypocrites, and fools.
On the other hand, consider this.
In a nation as divided as is America along color lines, political factions, and social "correctness" concerns--are we lighting a fuse by going too far?
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Why am I asking this question?
I watched this preview and found myself torn. Why? Exposing dangerous people who are fools is a public service ON THE ONE HAND.
Tricking somebody by pretending you are a wounded Veteran so you can make a fool out of them--well, that's really disgusting.
I'm asking for opinions. Has Sacha Baron Cohen done us all a public service or pushed America closer to the point of no return?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkXeMoBPSDk
Who Is America? Sacha Baron Cohen (Ambush humor--what do you think?)
by TerryWalstrom 17 Replies latest jw friends
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TerryWalstrom
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TerryWalstrom
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l80Um3_xhSs
There is no doubt at all that Sacha Baron Cohen plays off
against very straight people with uproarious results. -
Simon
They are funny, sometimes the people come off looking like complete idiots, sometimes they seem to realize something is not right, sometimes the 'real them' isn't really so bad and they come out not looking too bad at all.
What you don't see is the setup - I'm sure they are designed to elicit certain responses and maximize the comic value for the pieces they then show on camera.
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Wasanelder Once
Much of Sacha Cohen I've seen didn't strike me as funny. Whether I like or don't like the person played, I think its all fair game. Wounded vet, big fricken deal. I bet they could give a rat's ass he pretended to be one. Let's face it, good ol'Sarah isn't the brightest bulb and fell for it pretty hard. Her ego and a chance to be in front of a camera and talk stupid probably was very satisfying. Even good ol' Cheney went for it. Cohen didn't seem to ask many libs it seems? Maybe they aren't so quick to take the bait? Probably watch more HBO and know who they're up against?
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JeffT
Wounded vet, big fricken deal. I bet they could give a rat's ass he pretended to be one
I bet you haven't talked to a wounded veteran about this.
Also he pulled in Bernie Sanders, so not all his targets are Republicans.
I don't watch him, because in my opinion he breaks the first rule of political (or any other kind) satire. He's not funny.
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John Free
Observe the great comedian expose the Unbelievable ignorance exsisting in middle American trump heartlands like no commentator possibly could.
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flipper
I believe Sacha Baron Cohen's humor is brilliant. His satire is meant to make people think. Borat was made with satirical humor to get people to think.
In this particular video of children getting guns it's really exposing just how fucking stupid the gun lobbyists and politicians are in this gun debate issue in the first place.
I believe Sacha Baron Cohen's humor does a service in exposing the lunacy & corruption within our government & society . Peace out, Mr. Flipper
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jws
If these are accurate responses, then I believe it should be shown. As long as it's all in context. Like they don't play a response to a completely different question and then record their own question.
It's like a racist. When you interview somebody like David Duke, as racist as he is, you get a measured person trying to not shock the masses. But, when you probably get him talking candidly among what he thinks are like-minded people, you'd probably hear things that would shock you more than you thought you could be shocked.Let's see the real thoughts of these people no matter what side of the aisle they come from.
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minimus
I’ve always thought hevwas pretty funny
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TerryWalstrom
As I get older (and older) I become more capable of taking a step back to look at the big picture. I guess it is because I'm slowly rotting away from life itself :) That gradual detachment has the one benefit of starting to see things a wee bit objectively now and then.
CRITICS of society are necessary as long as they don't give a distorted end result. We need the Devil's Advocate. We don't need fraudsters.
The end does not justify the means.
When Legal Authorities, for example, use entrapment--they actually provoke law breaking just so they can make an arrest.
To me, I see this as cheating. It is disgraceful. The justification, of course, is that we've taken a Bad Guy off the streets.
Well, bullshit.
The same can be true of Ambush Humor.
I remember a case of a famous football player who was set up for a sting.
The football hero and his wife were ripe targets. They were notorious lovebirds and Christians who constantly talked about their happy marriage.
The football hero was approached in a bar by a gorgeous young lady claiming to be a fan. She was, in fact, hired because she was younger and more beautiful than his wife--and he'd met her before.Cut to the chase: he went to bed with her. He was recorded doing the deed.
A newspaper had engineered this entrapment JUST FOR THE STORY and "gotcha" publicity.
Question: Did this PROVE he was an adulterer all along or that he was of low character?
How many of us could pass such tests?
Anyway...
Sacha Baron Cohen sometimes makes me very uncomfortable because he is like the whore in the bar. He gets a payoff in the same way.
Who am I to judge?
Well, who do I have to be?
I'm just worried that my laugh has come at a disreputable cost.
Like I said, this is mostly because I'm an old man with little time left for ethical introspection. That's why I toss out these questions for you folks to discuss.
When you are young, "ETHICS" can seem like a snooty formality or holier than thou posturing.
Yeah. That's dangerous thinking.
The ties that bind us together as a society are fragile. Very very fragile.
We have to agree to disagree or we'll be cutting each others' throats in a Holy War of righteous indignation.
Over dramatic? Maybe. Maybe not.
Thumb through history and see.
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http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1997-05-18/news/9705171005_1_kathie-lee-gifford-frank-gifford-globe