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I'm normally pretty well versed in dry humour, being a near native speaker of such. But I'm failing to comprehend whether you're being satirical or serious... p

I'm normally pretty well versed in dry humour, being a near native speaker of such. But I'm failing to comprehend whether you're being satirical or serious... perhaps I need more tea. Can you clarify?

core-questions 7y ago
Well, you're either employing tactical nihilism or you truly do need more tea. Cohen has shown himself to enjoy manipulating rubes in social contexts where the pressure to perform is present, not entirely dissimilar from how hypnotists work in crowd situations. Rather than letting it be all in good fun, though, Cohen has made people say offensive things, and then uses it to pretend it's what those people really think rather than admitting it's 99% social pressure.
- sharkmerry 7y ago
  Is your argument that none of the people Sacha has gotten to say things, actually believe those? Its just pressure to perform, so EVERYONE would say things they dont believe if put in the same position?
  - handelaar 7y ago
    That, and he's also arguing that they're all somehow the victims of a hate crime.
  - Udik 7y ago
    Cohen is a great comedian, but I suspect he also has the skills of a con-artist, or a hypnotiser: he manages to get people to "sing along" with him well beyond what is normal and reasonable, and then ridicules them. It's funny, sometimes very interesting, sometimes leaves you a bit suspicious.
  - SpicyLemonZest 7y ago
    Yes. I'm confident that a charismatic person could walk into any bar anywhere in the world, and get some of the people there to sing along with an offensive song. I'm not quite sure how someone who's familiar with bars or alcohol in general could doubt this. I'm equally confident that most of the people who sang along did not actually want to throw Jews down a well.
- jonbarker 7y ago
  One distinction though, the rubes he targets are generally rubes with some level of power or influence. That's kind of the point.
olivermarks 7y ago
I was being serious. Cohen plays a dangerous game of tricking people into interviews and situations under false pretenses and disguises and then ridicules their responses. This is low blow comedy but can be very funny. When you subsequently reach a point of publicly deliberately mischaracterizing and misrepresenting the tricked people it becomes defamation. You'd think the ADL would not want Cohen as a spokesperson.

core-questions 7y ago

Well, you're either employing tactical nihilism or you truly do need more tea. Cohen has shown himself to enjoy manipulating rubes in social contexts where the pressure to perform is present, not entirely dissimilar from how hypnotists work in crowd situations. Rather than letting it be all in good fun, though, Cohen has made people say offensive things, and then uses it to pretend it's what those people really think rather than admitting it's 99% social pressure.

sharkmerry 7y ago
Is your argument that none of the people Sacha has gotten to say things, actually believe those? Its just pressure to perform, so EVERYONE would say things they dont believe if put in the same position?
- handelaar 7y ago
  That, and he's also arguing that they're all somehow the victims of a hate crime.
- Udik 7y ago
  Cohen is a great comedian, but I suspect he also has the skills of a con-artist, or a hypnotiser: he manages to get people to "sing along" with him well beyond what is normal and reasonable, and then ridicules them. It's funny, sometimes very interesting, sometimes leaves you a bit suspicious.
- SpicyLemonZest 7y ago
  Yes. I'm confident that a charismatic person could walk into any bar anywhere in the world, and get some of the people there to sing along with an offensive song. I'm not quite sure how someone who's familiar with bars or alcohol in general could doubt this. I'm equally confident that most of the people who sang along did not actually want to throw Jews down a well.
jonbarker 7y ago
One distinction though, the rubes he targets are generally rubes with some level of power or influence. That's kind of the point.

olivermarks 7y ago

I was being serious. Cohen plays a dangerous game of tricking people into interviews and situations under false pretenses and disguises and then ridicules their responses. This is low blow comedy but can be very funny. When you subsequently reach a point of publicly deliberately mischaracterizing and misrepresenting the tricked people it becomes defamation. You'd think the ADL would not want Cohen as a spokesperson.