WASHINGTON -- I went, I watched, I winced.

I felt ashamed. I felt proud. I felt sorry.

I laughed.

I didn't laugh.

I hated it; I loved it. I don't want to think about the wrestling scene; I can't stop thinking about it.

There's something about ``Borat."

This faux documentary that exploits every stereotype and turns every phobia inside out has exposed not just the obvious -- that some people are racist, sexist, anti-Semitic and homophobic -- but also has cast a light on a cultural pathology unique to our times.

Show a mouse a camera, and he'll want to be a star.

That is, people apparently will allow anyone into their lives as long as there's a shot at fame or celebrity. The photo-snapping, video-camming, MySpace, in-your-face narcissism of our media age became a perfect storm with ``Borat."

The joke isn't on us. It is us.

For those arriving late to Planet Earth, Borat is the fictional star of the runaway hit movie by the same name. Well-known to the under-30 crowd, Borat is one of several characters played by British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen on HBO's ``Da Ali G Show.''

In the film, he pretends to be a Central Asian TV journalist making a documentary about ``Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.''

Essentially, Borat plays a naive, lovable, optimistic, oversexed, anti-Semitic, Third World fool in search of America. His mission takes him and his producer/sidekick (and their pet bear) across country in an ice cream truck in pursuit of Pamela Anderson, whom Borat hopes to wed.

Along the way, he interacts with ``real Americans'' in their natural habitats -- a rodeo, a Pentecostal church, an antique store, a bed-and-breakfast, a humor school, a dating service, etc. -- and does whatever is necessary to provoke, embarrass, enrage and shock.

In the process, he manages to disable some people's inhibitors, cajoling them into admitting that shooting Jews, hanging homosexuals and running down gypsies are all pretty good ideas.

Now that ``Borat" is a box-office hit, some of the citizen-actors are, shall we say, not happy. Continued...