2003 Brick Bock

[pootz]

BECAUSE... making fun of (sometimes not always) backward-thinking East Europeans is FUN! Even if some of us have that ethnicity, it's funny as hell. Sorry Greg!!

Believe me, I have no problem with making fun of Eastern Europeans (or any other ethnic group) as long as it's done with some wit and satire. I've been laughing my ass off at Borat for years. High five!

I just think the "commie welfare lager" thing is deader than a very dead horse. Surely the supposedly intelligent people who hang out around here can come up with some more timely insults that aren't based on a 20 year old worldview.

Seems like a conflicted ethos or at least mildly hypocritical...Borat is funny because it uses a 20 year old world view stereo type of east block men as unevolved and superficial , yet my quips about commie welfare lagers is "out moded".....hmmmmm

By that logic, we should see Baltika#3 and Laško Zlatorog on the menu at Beer bistro soon.

I sentance you to a case of Baltika until the caustic irony of "commie welfare lager" becomes clear to you

[GregClow]

Seems like a conflicted ethos or at least mildly hypocritical...Borat is funny because it uses a 20 year old world view stereo type of east block men as unevolved and superficial , yet my quips about commie welfare lagers is "out moded".....hmmmmm

Actually, I think the Borat character is funny because Cohen is a brilliant satirist who is using a 20 year old world view stereotype to point out how foolish and pathetic it is that people in the 21st century are still clinging to such stereotypes.

You know, stereotypes like "commie welfare lager".

But really, my problem is less with the term itself and more with the fact that a growing number of people around here tend to use it - and several other phrases/insults - over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again, and it's getting really tiresome.

Yeah, none of us are happy about the fact that the LCBO carries so many bland canned lagers Eastern Europe and other countries while ignoring so many other world class beer styles. But is it really necessary for people to drag out the same ol' whiny, ranty posts every time the text "LCBO" or "lager" appears in a thread here? You're just preaching to the frickin' choir, and it's not gonna do a lick of good. If you really want to make a difference - or at least feel like you're attempting to do so - contact the LCBO directly.

And before anyone says it - yes, I know, it's a free world (except in Eastern Europe, apparently), and you can post what you want, and blah-de-blah-de-blah. I'd just like to see a little less whining around here, that's all.

[Belgian]

WHAT's Greg's whining about, heh heh!

But to the sophistical questions:

the Borat character is funny because Cohen is a brilliant satirist who is using a 20 year old world view stereotype to point out how foolish and pathetic it is that people in the 21st century are still clinging to such stereotypes.

Yes, I think the forms of ignorance may change (from supposedly '20 year old' ones) but people are still as harmfully ignorant as in the 20th century or earlier. Also, I've spoken to otherwise 'civil' Europeans who are not unlike Borat in their chauvenist views (don't like minorities, still like Hitler, consider women property, etc.)

WE have not 'evolved' from the black slavery days or the Auschwitz days, when we KNOW our stock portfolio corporations exploit what is effectively human rights abuse and slavery, for rapid quarterly growth. Sick humanity. Cohen's satire should awaken our conscience of OUR blasé attitude to the world & people - that's the tough role comedy is supposed to serve and usually doesn't anymore.

...stereotypes like "commie welfare lager".

...a growing number of people around here tend to use it - and several other phrases/insults - over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again...

The phrase 'commie welfare lager' is true not literally but in implication.

This phrase implies it is the vestigal product of an historically recent & unhealthy socialist economy & it remains persistently backward as a result of the lingering societal damage caused by the plague of sick communism, certainly at no intrinsic fault of the citizens living there. You cannot 'insult' a corrupt, plague-like social system. (The LCBO deliberately exploiting these low-cost products is also sick & perhaps should be made an object of general public dissent since the LC aren't really listening to e-mails.)

Doesn't have the same snappy ring as a three-word phrase.

[pootz]

But really, my problem is less with the term itself and more with the fact that a growing number of people around here tend to use it - and several other phrases/insults - over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again, and it's getting really tiresome.


And before anyone says it - yes, I know, it's a free world (except in Eastern Europe, apparently), and you can post what you want, and blah-de-blah-de-blah. I'd just like to see a little less whining around here, that's all.

Great counter whining by the way

[GregClow]

Also, I've spoken to otherwise 'civil' Europeans who are not unlike Borat in their chauvenist views (don't like minorities, still like Hitler, consider women property, etc.)

Tell me about it. I can think of one Romanian woman I know in particular who has shocked me several times with some blatantly racist comments, despite being an otherwise intelligent and friendly individual. And while I obviously don't agree with her, I've also never called her out on it, which I guess makes me almost as bad as the people that get duped by Borat.

[GregClow]

Great counter whining by the way

No problem.