Far from revealing the fundamental racism of American society, the Borat film serves to validate Americans’ essential decency and tolerance. Sure, if you go looking for racists you’ll find them. But the fact that people appear willing to go along with Borat’s racist japes does not prove that such people are racists, any more than the Milgram experiments proved that the citizens of New Haven were a bunch of Eichmanns-in-waiting.

 Seinfeld was a show about manners and civility. It routinely demonstrated how sociability is lubricated by implicit rules we all follow (no close-talking or re-gifting), and when we do violate them, we are censured (anti-dentites, not that there’s anything wrong with it). Borat sets out to deliberately violate  all of these rules. What is remarkable is not that people go along with him, but that he doesn’t get his head kicked in. It is a very, very, funny movie. But it does not teach us anything about racism or America.

Further reading:

John Tierney, The Running of the Yokels 

Melik Kaylan, Spoiled Borat 

Borat punched by angry man