November 7, 2006
Borat 'elected' President of Kazakhstan
by his fans
By Gulliver
Spoof Kazakhstan TV journalist Borat - created by British
comedian Sacha Baron Cohen - has been spreading his mischievous
brand of mayhem and controversy around the world.
Now his fans have aped him by hijacking the free online
encyclopedia Wikipedia and making the controversial reporter
the President of Kazakhstan.
The fans logged onto internet site Wikipedia, which proudly
boasts that "anyone can edit" it, and edited the
page for the fictional character's home nation.
The national anthem opening line was changed to read, "Kazakhstan
greatest country in the world. All other countries are run
by little girls."
The alterations made to the site to fans also said the country's
motto was "High Five."
Wikipedia has a practice of permitting free editing of over
five million articles. But they have now banned users from
contributing to the Kazakhstan page.
A notice at the top of the page says: "because of recent
vandalism or other disruption, editing of this article by
unregistered or newly registered is currently disabled."
According to newspaper reports, previous entries on Wikipedia
pages for US President George Bush and British Prime Minister
Tony Blair have also been locked because of similar vandalism
attacks.
Wikipedia says that false entries are usually spotted and
corrected within minutes by other users.
The real President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev has
now been restored to his rightful place on Wikipedia.
The opening lines of the country's national anthem has also
been corrected to read, "Golden sun in heaven, Golden
corn in steppe, Legend of courage - It is my land."
The sexist, racist and anti-Jewish Borat gets a generous
mention on Wikipedia's Kazakhstan page. It reports how "In
2005, Cohen ran foul of the Kazakh Foreign Ministry's Yerzhan
Ashykbayev, who stated that the character's strange behaviour
is not consistent with that of the Kazakh people, and that
his government reserves the right to any legal action against
Cohen."
The movie 'Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make
Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan' has just been released
in cinemas worldwide amid much fanfare and controversy.
Some of Borat's Sayings:
"In U.S. and A. they treat horses like we in Kazakhstan
treat our women. They feed them two times a day. They have
them sleep on straw in a small box. And for entertainment,
they make them jump over fences while being whipped."
"American wine is like Kazakhstani wine, but not made
from fermented horse urine."
"In Kazakhstan we have many hobbies: disco dancing,
archery, rape, and table tennis."
"There are many job opportunities in the US and of
A. For men, construction worker, taxi driver or accountant.
For woman, prostitute."
"Throw the Jew down the well, so my country can be
free, you must grab him by the horns, then we have a big
party."
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