This Computer journal blog-its very nice!

Last night, I got to watch Borat. It was not as laugh out loud funny as I expected, but it was much more brilliant than I could have anticipated. Assuming, that many of the scenes were not staged then it is absolutely incredible how well "Borat" could stay in character and stay in the plot. The true genius though is how he played a character that played on American arrogance driven sterotypes enough that people could honestly believe he was from a backwards "stan" country. Based on this he then pushes peoples sensibilities to the point where they get flustered, revealing some of the absurdity present in American life. I love how he goes to a rodeo full of rednecks and declares "I support your war of terror"and gets thunderous applause. However, the section of the movie that I found most interesting was this one (please note the song at the end was added by the poster, and not actually in the movie)


I have always been very highly critical of the Pentecostal speaking in tongues. Speaking in tongues as demonstrated on the day of Pentecost is one thing, the gibberish "heavenly language" is quite another. I think this video really shows how forced it is. In that situation, could someone who truly wants to repent, who truly wants to experience grace, do it in that envrionment? Given that situation, and some dude tells a person to open their mouth and "let it out" while everyone else is shouting in inane phrases, I imagine most people will just shout whatever random syllables they can string together. That kind of "conversion" seems to play completely on a type of emotional ecstasy and less on a conscious, humble accepting of forgiveness and a "warming" of the heart. I can not write off the experience of speaking in tongues as demonstrated in that video, because it is not part of my personal experience. It very well could be a legitimate way that people find a closer connection and greater worship of God, but I think this clip from Borat, for me at least, confirms that there is an element of, for lack of a better word, charlatanism involved. People are manipulated into this behavior because it is normative for the community. How can someone truly worship God, if the words are not words at all, but ramblings that have no conscious thought? I think when this goes unchecked then the "gift" becomes a greater focus than God. Also, this leads to absurd situations where the bodies hit the floor: