A few misconceptions about Kazakhstan

September 15, 2004 4:45 PM

Roman Vassilenko, the press secretary for the Embassy of Kazakhstan, wants to clear up few misconceptions about his country. Women are not kept in cages. The national sport is not shooting a dog and then having a party. You cannot earn a living being a Gypsy catcher Wine is not made from fermented horse urine.
This is a response to Borat, a character from "Da Ali G Show." Previously discussed here, and here.
posted by garethspor (15 comments total)

He doesn't say anything about not having a problem with transport, though...
posted by darukaru at 5:01 PM on September 15, 2004

I suspect that the American Media, tired of being humiliated tricked the Kazakhstan minister into a position where he/she said this. I've a feeling that most people living in Kazakhstan understand who the real target is here.
posted by seanyboy at 5:05 PM on September 15, 2004

Lintmaking is not the national sport.
posted by jfuller at 5:11 PM on September 15, 2004

Sounds like Kazakhstan has something to hide.
posted by neckro23 at 5:11 PM on September 15, 2004

Well, it just so happens that I randomly surfed on over to the "Official Kazakhstan" (no joke) a while back, and I now consider myself something of an expert on the country.

In fact, I know a great deal about their national sports. While KOKPAR ("Fighting for a goat's carcass") sounds like a good time, I think they really could get somewhere exporting KYZ KUU, in which a girl on horseback fends off a boy chasing her by whipping him.

Anyway, that really is a good site if you want to learn a bit about the real Kazakhstan.
posted by whatnotever at 5:35 PM on September 15, 2004

Well if we're trying to get to know the 'stans here are Six Things you Didn't Know About Tajikistan (complete with Barf!) [self link]
posted by donovan at 5:51 PM on September 15, 2004

haha, i thought he just made that country up
posted by Satapher at 8:18 PM on September 15, 2004

We'll see if he dies in mysterious circumstances soon.

...

dun dun dunnn!
posted by kavasa at 9:23 PM on September 15, 2004

I thought it was made up for a while as well, since what he says sounds more like "Kazishan," but I eventually got it when he made a comment to the effect of "May I sing you Kazakh song?" I think it would have been better to use a wholly fictitious country, but I'm not about to lecture Sasha Cohen on comedy dos and don'ts.

Chenqui.
posted by scarabic at 10:01 PM on September 15, 2004

You thought Kazakhstan was made up??

[insert derogatory comment about Americans]
posted by reklaw at 12:39 AM on September 16, 2004

Whoosh.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 2:40 AM on September 16, 2004

"Borat doesn't look like an ethnic Kazakh" the guy says. But I'm betting that someone named "Roman Vassilenko" isn't an ethnic Kazakh and he's representing the country.

Kazakh is a Turkic language related to Mongolian, and ethnic Kazakhs look similar to Mongols or Siberians. Most leaders of government, however, are ethnic Russians because it's a post-Soviet country.

The government of Kazakhstan should be happy that people have even heard it's name thanks to Borat.
posted by Mayor Curley at 4:55 AM on September 16, 2004

Mayor Curley, Kazakhs are a minority in Kazakhstan (45% of the population) Russians are 35% with an admixture of all sorts of people... I'm not sure why you find Kazakhstan's multiethnicity distastful... but, according to the Eisenhauer institute, the gripes about discrimination come from the Russians and not from the Kazakhs as you suggest:

In the population's mass consciousness there is a feeling of differential treatment and favoritism of Kazakhs based on ethnicity, not on ability.

Kazakhstan's president, Nursultan Abishevich Nazarbayev, is an ethnic Kazakh.

As for the government of Kazakhstan being happy about the idiotic stereotypes of the country being projected in the West, that's like someone saying he'd rather be famous misrepresented as a child molester, rather than remain unknown...
posted by talos at 6:47 AM on September 16, 2004

Kazakhstan's president, Nursultan Abishevich Nazarbayev, is an ethnic Kazakh.

I stand corrected, or at least informed. I've seen reference to Nazarbayev before and assumed that he's Russian just because of his last name. See what happens when we assume?

For the record, I don't find multiethnicity distasteful. I find it so beautiful. I celebrate diversity every time I want to go to an ethnic restaurant.
posted by Mayor Curley at 8:32 AM on September 16, 2004

I celebrate diversity every time I want to go to an ethnic restaurant.

And I'm sure the Kazakh peasantry appreciates that.
posted by jonmc at 10:17 AM on September 16, 2004