snafuSorry, not getting at anybody, but Stepney was an important guy until his fall from grace so when I saw that this thread hadn’t been updated since last month…
snafuNot an awfully ‘official’ thread if it doesn’t report all the news…
Former Ferrari engineer Nigel Stepney dies after being hit by truck
The former Ferrari engineer Nigel Stepney, who was sacked by the Formula One team after being accused of sabotage and leaking confidential data to McLaren in 2007, has died in a road accident, his sportscar team said.
The JRM team said their technical director and team manager was killed on Friday morning.
Kent police said in a separate statement that a 56-year-old was hit by a truck at 1.28am after stopping his van on the hard shoulder of the M20 motorway at Ashford.
“For reasons yet to be established, the man appears to have entered the carriageway and was then in collision with an articulated goods vehicle. He was pronounced deceased at the scene,” police said.
http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/may/02/nigel-stepney-killed-crash-truck-ferrari-formula-one
snafuSandals, walking, yes.
Socks, yes.
Sandals and socks, together, an abomination.
What colour socks do you wear with your sandals – white or beige?
snafuI am now confused about the confusion that has been caused to my head about the confusion of thread numbers!
Signed Confused of Bristol
Your previous post was #162, which is the one that John Green was referencing in his post #154 – he got the number wrong.
If you ask nicely Snafu might delete it and continue the trend!;)
Dream on; I’ve not noticed any deletions and I keep all my mistakes up and on display.
This thread is about mumblin’ Jeremy Clarkson – stay focused people.
Anyone can make an mistake – even me. You do it most of the time. Single me out and you’ll be in my target area for a long time.
A mistake, you? And I suppose, in you eyes, my mistake is to contradict your rants…
snafuRe 154
Re 162
Don’t be dishonest – most of all with yourself.
..”always been prone to being overweight…”
In other words, you eat too much. That is why most of us who are overweight are overweight. We eat too much. Including me.
You’ll be telling me next that it is another disease like hyperactivity, attention deficit and dyslexia.
You are really confusing, you know that?
Try using the post quote facility if you cannot be bothered to put the right post number in your replies – it is so much easier…
It is simple mathematics…or as somebody once said – your mouth is (say) 2” wide and your anus is only less than a quarter of an inch wide…. ; )
Really way too much information.
Is this thread still going?… Obviously, it is…
At the moment, yes. But for how much longer…
Intro to Eminem’s song…
John Lennon, song…
Marilyn Manson, song…
Bob Dylan, song; Hurricane…
John Frusciante, song…
Eminem, well, what can I say.
John Lennon and the Patti Smith song covered by Marilyn Manson (good grief) were using the word for shock value as a connection, not a deliberate racist angle.
Bob Dylan’s song was about a black boxer stitched up by authority for a racist crime, who incidentally died recently.
John Frusciante’s song… I don’t have a clue despite looking at the lyrics. Was he clean when he recorded it?
I suppose they can have the defence that they are/were artists, defining a situation that was not in anyway a racist slur, whereas Jeremy Clarkson’s muttering was him just being a prat, twice, and it falls rather flat on the amusement scale.
They all must be “Racists” too because they’re all white, yet they’re still shown in one form or another on the BBC and haven’t been branded as racist like Clarkson has for his use of the word, which apparently, “kinda sounds like” ni**er, about 75%… What’s the difference, exactly?
Ooooh! My Sushi is arriving! (Not a racial slur before anyone accuses me of being a “Racist”).
Can I guess that they – even Frusciante – had a well thought out and artistic reason for using the word, unlike Clarkson? My 16 year old has said before that it’s a shame Eminem was born the wrong colour (I have no interest in him, rap is a book not just closed but welded shut in an iron box that has been dropped in the middle of the Atlantic, so I wouldn’t know) and maybe his theory is right?
Enjoy your dead fish.
It is about context and intent. None of the examples you’ve quoted are intended to be insulting or demeaning.
Clarkson used it unthinkingly – hardly racist but ill-advised at best.
Oh, yeah, what he said^!
snafuAll part of the left wing starter kit™, if someone is openly not towing the party line, then bring their mental health (or any of their health come to that) into question, however, very much like the once bullet proof ‘racist card™’ it has lost its impact for the cause & may as well be discarded.
Anyway, you disgust me snaffy old chap, fancy trying to use someones mental health as a crutch to prop up your argument, not very equal ops of you I must say. 😉
I apologise for my ‘self medicating’ jib.
It was more to do with the way you were last Saturday evening, where there appeared to be no structure, no sentencing, in fact frequently it was one long blat with all the appearance of you having had one or two shandies that were light on the lemonade. I assure you it was nothing to do with mental health.
snafuIt was the political thread from Andy in Beds.
I was just about to hit the ‘go’ button but decided to see if there was a recent last post…
If anybody cares (which I doubt) he is my latest missive to that thread (which will get this thread deleted, I expect):
As with Snafu, I’m deeply honoured to be mentioned in a thread title – in a good way (I think…)
Not sure honoured is quite the right word…;o)
Agree with the rest though.
What I would like to see is
Allowances totally got rid of, take an average of all MP’s allowances and increase their wages by that amount plus £5000.
Issue MP’s with a combined Underground, Bus and Train Pass
Housing for MP’s in London, if living within the accepted London commuting distance for industry then commute, no second mortgages etc, If outside the commuting belt, then subject to attendance at Parliament provide fixed price accomodation at set hotels within the Commuting area paid direct to the Hotel.
No second jobs or honorary board positions while serving.
Any of the cash for questions or criminal convictions, instant dismissal and a byelection held.
MP’s wages linked to inflation and civil servents pay, no over the top payrises
if they cannot accept these, do not stand for parliament.
Not too much to disagree with there either, except that they should be on minimum wage, by the hour, with a board of ordinary voters deciding on (ok, generous within reason) extra pay for work undertaken (constituency surgery, etc, with independent proof that the event took place) and for appearances in parliament and committee work – without knowing who they are judging. Wages rises should be linked to benefits/pension/minimum wage, and any personal staff required (secretarial, admin, etc) should be recruited via job centres, etc. with equal MP staff pay scale across the board (so that they are not paid a pittance but equally not paid huge sums for ‘other’ reasons) paid via parliament, and the staff must not be family. Any researcher or work experience whose work had been unpaid will be on the MP staff pay scale as long as they are assisting with constituency or ministerial work. Any party work within the constituency must be paid for by the political party once the MP gains office, there is to be no unpaid workers associating with or working for MP’s. All finances are to be freely available – where it’s from, why, etc.
I’m sure I”ll think of more to add, but that should be enough to be going along with.
I am not sure that Andy is becoming any wiser by our contributions. The strong message is they the current system is heavily criticized, politicians are held in low regard but no one has any suggestions to improve the, as they see it, flawed system.
The problem is, neither have they (the politicians) (or lizards). I don’t know of any who have made a suggestion as to how to improve their reputation, or indeed any that felt that their personal reputation needed improving and until that is accepted you might as well try pushing a wheelbarrow full of rattlesnakes up a cliff face safely.
‘Capitalist’ lizards? Well, maybe, but I think ‘capitalist’ is just being used as a derogatory term by people who don’t have any alternative to offer.
Sorry, my capitalist jibe was more to do with the ‘class’ of people trying to become politicians, mainly public school, independent inherited wealth and the sort of income from their ‘main’ job that gives the impression they have blackmail material hidden away. Maybe it is their friends and backers who are capitalists…
…but surely you now have the possibility of electing a Labour leader who is certainly no Blair clone nor crony. His aspirations are certainly more statist than his recent predecessors. So would you not want to give him a chance.
Who, who? Tell us, oh knowledgeable one… Oh, you mean Miliband. Zzzz…
Simply put Charlie–NO.
Questioning what was once simple faith has moved me to a position of trusting no one who wishes for power–that pretty much goes for all organisations.
Blair bludgeoned to death the left of centre vote and brought in the champagne ‘socialists’ he leeched from the centre right and beyond. Now few really trust Labour, especially with the current leader whose challenges at PMQs has not exactly been…well, noticeable really.
1) ‘Capitalist Lizards’ sounds a bit David Icke to me.
Sorry, but we have latched onto it probably for that reason. If only Douglas Adams had written about meerkats or penguins or something less conspiratorial.
2) Beware the power of the news media, for good or ill.
Um, they are fully aware of the ‘evil’ power of the press, thank you. How many votes does Murdoch and his papers bring along?
Yes, but I actually meant the electorate; not the politician.
‘The electorate cannot simply vote themselves rich.’
Change the rules, why don’t you!
Ok, but if they bribe somebody important…;o)
.
snafuHaven’t really got it have you Snafu, the ‘cards’ no longer work dear boy, the only ones who appear to have issues are the lefties, probably because everyone has actually moved on & don’t really care anymore, we can make our own minds up now thanks without your invaluable assistance (sic), the days of the left being champions of the oppressed are over, & I’m sure that they are glad to hear it.
Trivia like this whole Clarkson thing, is all the left have to kick off about these days, I see this as a good thing, it proves that the real issues have long gone & folk can get on with their lives.Nighty night matey.
Obvious I haven’t got whatever you think you have. But there are still oppressed out there, unless (for example) the food banks are being attended by greedy opportunists, there are still people being forced into jobs with zero hour contracts or having their work contracts changed so that their contract has zero hours on it, there are still people for whom life is difficult due to low pay, no pay rises, and rising prices.
Spent a while looking for these ‘cards’ but haven’t found any mention until now.
I’m sure if you tell people often enough and with enough ‘persuasion’ then they will believe that they don’t care anymore.
Oh, and what issues are left if the real ones have long gone? What were the real issues anyway? What on earth are you on about? And when are you going to answer the questions your last visit here opened up?
Oh, and just waiting to hear you’ve chopped off your non-right hand because its official designation offended you…;o)
Of course there are words that are not only designed to be derogatory, but also highly offensive, and if we are ever in the slightest doubt about their impact then we really shouldn’t use them should we.
Which brings us back to the ‘n’ word – it was not offensive originally, but (apparently) a descendant of a Latin word for the colour black and derogatory variation from the word negro.
Quite frankly though, if you are hetrosexual and someone refers to you gay, and that offends you, then I suggest you get a thicker skin and fast.
Do you have kids? There is little more confusing than being called a name and not having a clue what they are on about when you are eight years old. Maybe adults, who are mentally stable and not being bullied by colleagues and bosses or distracted by problems at home or financially, maybe they should grow a thicker skin. But just because it has little affect on you does not mean the same can be said about others in the world.
What a load of utter drivel this thread is.
Sorry to disappoint you. It is, for the most part, one side saying one thing and the other side disagreeing so that the first side disagrees with the second side and…so on.
Why not come up with the solution, something that all can agree on, then post something else that can be discussed – like the late Bob Hoskins used to say, it’s good to talk…
If any one wants to play the “being offended game” I find comments like that considerably worse, certainly as regards this forum I am very much to the left, in fact in some minds nothing short of rabid communism, however as regards Clarkson I don’t give the leavings of a flying rat’s a##e what he said, is he so important that his words of wisdom carry some weight?, no, is the comment so important? no.
Chill, it is not the end of the world. And some of them regard Hitler was a hand-wringing, soft Austrian leftie bedwetter, so no need to get unmellow…;o)
See, this ‘Dr Strangelove’ member is precisely what I was talking about in an earlier comment (I can’t see the post number on my phone). There really is no need to be so arsey…
Just assume he is self-medicating and leave him alone…;o)
I know there are arguments that if the targets of offensive language use the offensive words to describe themselves then they somehow ‘reclaim’ the word and change its meaning but I think that really just confuses the issue.
Maybe a little bit, but I know that the things that get said in rap songs are hardly likely to be uttered by me, so if everyone else feels fairly similar there is an opportunity to lose much of the confusion.
And the word is theirs to reclaim, just as they are unlikely to try and use the apt ‘grumpy middle aged white men‘ as a slur for us to try and reclaim…
In that example it could not be more clear that no offence is intended so common sense and tolerance dictates that none should be taken.
Um, how exactly is it clear? Is there clear and concise evidence that Gibson was not racially aggressive that has not been so far revealed? Or the counterpoint that he was?
I am not saying Guy Gibson was a rabid racist (or anything of the sort, understand?) but if you are basing your entire supposition on the film (you know, the one with the incorrect bomb mechanism on the Lanc’s because it was still top secret at the time) then you have nothing (but then neither do I). The point at this time is that in this day and age the name is offensive and not going to be reclaimable until hell freezes over (not the one in Norway – that happens every winter) if then.
snafuSnafu – All of which reinforces my contention that it’s a great deal of fuss over absolutely nothing of any significance. Pathetic.
Except…
Just because you’ve never heard it (apparently) doesn’t make it any less offensive to those for whom the term is a derogatory slur deliberately aimed at them.
You don’t like the word ‘gay’ being used to infer homosexuality? Imagine you are still at school and somebody has picked on you – for some reason, or even for no reason – and others join in calling you gay. Yes, it can be an offensive slur without even a solid connection to you being homosexual.
Or you do something as basic as hold a pen the ‘wrong’ way (in the eyes of a bully) and it might be indicated as “um, gay?” with others laughing at you. Nothing to do with an interest in the same sex, but more just something to intimidate you, like calling you a ‘spaz’ or a ‘joey’…
snafuSince the bridge was indeed sloping, no other connotation crossed my mind! Which doesn’t stop it from being a lot of fuss about nothing. I wonder how frequently programmes are referred by Ofcom following a single complaint.
But they decided to mention the skew of the bridge at the same time as a local gentleman was crossing. Oh bl00dy hell my sides have split. Again.
But a shovel is not a spade. A similar problem with the word gay. We have effectively lost a word from the language.
Can you tell me where you have lost this word? I imagine that if you went into your local garden centre they are not going to have you arrested for asking where the spades are, nor is your neighbour if you ask to borrow his spade – not unless you start sniggering conspiratorially and turn it into some sort of joke, like asking for a gay spade…
New one on me too. I think that I’m reasonably well read and know most of the popular slang/slurs (as someone would have it) no prizes, but, I haven’t heard of this particular one.
Have you not seen those films I mentioned? Whilst there are bound to be more those two are the best known of the Vietnam era. The Tarantino one on the other hand – you either like him or you don’t.
Does it lessen the slang/slur if one qualifies it by adding ‘slope forwards/slope backwards?’ Is it that the person so described is leaning slightly to one side or the other ? Does alcohol play its part ? Is this possibly a neurological condition or one affecting all or part of the organ of balance eg. the vestibular canal ?
No, the fact that most of you are pleading ignorance of the apparent slur shows that it is largely ineffective here, although drawing attention to it as they did can only increase the recognition and allow moaners to declare we’ve lost a word from our language. As mentioned it is largely an American and Australian based slur.
Well, according to Wiki, the word ‘Charlie’ is a racial slur….
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ethnic_slurs
I scrolled down and was pretty gobsmacked at how many I didn’t know!
But since most of them originate in America hardly surprising. Just don’t boast about snorting a little charlie over the weekend, unless you like that sort of thing of course…;o)
Indeed and clearly along with another 4 or 5 million others watching the programme!!
None of whom actually got the joke, so it was wasted. I think not…
snafuA propos Clarkson’s latest spot of bother for which Ofcom is investigating the programme, are any of you aware the the word “slope” has offensive overtones in some overseas countries? No, nor me! Apparently the BBC had ONE complaint. Talk about molehills and mountains!!
Thought it was quite well known, after all it was mentioned in Top Gear and you know how they like their word play.
In Australia it became big during the Vietnam war and afterwards, when the country accepted large amounts of refugees. Similarly with the US, it was a popular slur in Vietnam and then against any Oriental/East Asian, and has been used in films like Apocalypse Now, The Deer Hunter and by Christopher Walken in Pulp Fiction (when he talks about hiding the watch). Some websites imply it was in use during WWII. I’ve read it in numerous books about the Vietnam War (ie Chickenhawk by Robert Mason)
11. vulg. slang , derogatory ( US ) a person from Southeast Asia, especially a Vietnamese
I wonder when we’ll have to find an alternative word for the long-handled garden tool used to dig soil!!!:rolleyes:
What, shovel?
snafuHe can’t be talking about me since I’m still here…
Well thank you for your insight into my into views, but please do not try to label me or second guess me, I am not and never have been a racist, a lot of my friends are multi cultural, what I was trying to put across was that views on people’s origins are fluid, what was acceptable 30 years ago is no longer acceptable, though with the ferver over immigration in the UK today, recent immigrants could claim to be abused to the same extent, just the immigration issues tend to disguise it.
Peoples views may be fluid, but we cannot go backward: things will never be ‘as they were’ with such words and these days to try and rehabilitate them will cause as much controversy as trying to get any of the main swearwords into polite, everyday usage. Those that use such words open themselves up to assumptions of racism through their own cultural intolerance.
The problem is as I said the worry over being PC, it has got so bad people dare not even broach the subject of immigration for fear of people like you labelling them as racist.
It is off topic but…the problem with things like discussing immigration on a forum is that the more extreme view-holders (the send-’em’back, deport-’em-under-the-lorry-they-came-in-on, feed-’em-to-my-dogs types) will spout their views based more on skin colour than anything else.
Yes, there shouldn’t be mass immigration with the open borders we have at the moment, but nobody (bar UKIP, probably) has mentioned anything about reinstating customs and immigration controls (which would also cover illegal drug smuggling through ports, thereby killing two birds with one easy to apply stone). If the immigrants were white few would have any problem with letting them in: from personal experience I know there are many white South Africans in Britain who left after the fall of apartheid, some of the Afrikaners having no link at all with Britain other than a desire to work here rather than the Netherlands. You can understand why whites might want to leave Zimbabwe, but the couple I met displayed qualities that made it quite plain why they couldn’t stay; incidentally neither of them had current family connections here, their ancestors having arrived, via South Africa, with Rhodes in the late 19th century. Then there are the Australians, New Zealanders, Canadians, other members of the Commonwealth, Americans (there are lots of Americans here; I have met a few who claim to be almost political refugees, and others who came here for work reasons and just stayed), plus those who came here without having English as a first language.
But the extreme view holder will pick to battle those who are of a different skin complexion to him, every time. I have no problem with discussing immigration as long as all aspects are covered, fairly and equally.
Yes the show I was referring to was Love thy Neighbour, one of the highest rating shows of the time, and yes gladly we will not see the likes of again, but you do not get it, it was popular and it was acceptable at the time, otherwise it would never have been produced…. Life and the world has moved on, will you ever stamp out racism?, never, there will always be racism sadly as long as there are people of different races or colours in the world.
Looked into love Thy Neighbour and it appears that both the men displayed bigotry, the writers claiming to try and spread it over both of them although they were heavily criticised for it (mainly for making the white man a bumbling fool). I have to say that I never saw it – just three channels, such a small choice of viewing in those days yet my Mum wouldn’t watch ITV! Apparently it did happen in those days…
The trouble is your so called PCness is it isn’t always equal, when you can have an imman in the UK spouting his racist hate on the streets of the UK without fear of arrest or prosecution, that tells you something.
That’s religion for you. But it is the same in America – the TV preachers and the Westboro Baptist Church, nearly all Western friendly, non scary, Caucasians.
As for my comment about Clarkson’s comment and do I care, nope not in the slightest, it wasn’t broadcast, he was nieve and perhaps stupid, but there are more important things happening in the world, the Ukraine, ferry deaths, landslides in Afghanistan etc..than to worry about one mans stupid comments… Myself I learnt my tolerance of others getting spat in my face in Ireland and to think it was all over religion that preaches peace!
Peace and choirboys, very popular with the godly-frocked ones…
These other ‘important’ things happening – I have tried to start threads, and tried keeping others going, yet usually no one (apart from the usual suspects) wants to discuss on them or even start their own serious thread about…anything.
There was criticism of racism of a local Morris dance team here because they black their faces as they have and as tradition demands for hundreds of years. I almost pity idiots who feel the need to express such inanities.
The blacked up face usually, originally, represents the dark one (I think) and was easier and cheaper to do than any other colour (presumably they might have preferred red instead?). In Mummers Plays and the earlier Mystery Plays the blackened face, or a big hat, was more usually there to obscure the players face so that he could beg for money from his employer, or the local lord, in the run up to Christmas without the shame of recognition. These days the begging is for charitable causes.
snafuYes, how dare you intrude on Mr. Snafu’s private fiefdom.
Calm down, Moggy has asked us to play nicely before and I am just warning him that for a mod to be seen on a contentious thread is not good – if he favours me you’d complain and vice versa.
Now play nicely.
1/. He was found guilty by a jury (who listened to all of the evidence, which was not available to me,) so I’m content to go by their decision.
2/. No, but I fail to see the connection to a man’s (alleged) racism.
ii/ It is back a bit, probably too far back for you to look.
It isn’t, but you can’t admit the possibility that both sexes can commit offences, can you?
What? I can fully accept it – it was the way that others seemed to think that if boys could accept it why couldn’t girls. It is a little way back so you can either look or remain confused.
I take it you are privy to all the discussions that he had with the crew, then?
I take it you accept that he knew the word was on a naughty words list and shouldn’t have been used in front of a camera, whether intentionally or not? No need for discussion – the concept must be workable if you decide to attack me rather than what I wrote.
So muttering is now an offence under law, is it?
Have you made up a law, since I never mentioned a law about muttering – but if you are starting to imagine things do you want me to allow you concessions?
Or he thought that a private filming session would remain private, forgetting there are people (of which you are a prime example) who will move heaven and earth in their attempts to find (and express) offence at the drop of a hat.
BUT I was not the one who revealed this to the Mirror. I was not working anywhere with access to unseen footage. I was not someone who decided that Clarkson had been silly enough to make such a gaff and cause him PR problems. I was not the one who made the ‘n; word offensive, nor the one who uttered the offensive ‘n’ word twice before using a different word, I was not the one who denied saying the offensive ‘n; word before apologising for it.
What made the person who blew the whistle do so – was it just the money or was it a way of getting his/her own back on the BBC or the production company or maybe Clarkson himself?
What would make someone do something like that to someone as wonderful as Clarkson…?
Which points up a major difference between us; I’m not interested in someone’s reputation, since it can always be coloured by the opinions of the writer/speaker.
You asked me if I’d believe him – if you really want me to give you a chance to talk about yourself instead why not just say so…?
I have no need to, since the origin of Sooty’s name have been told, but you continue to ignore that, since you prefer to see it as racist, which a ludicrous stance to take, and Heaven help us if we get any snowy weather this winter.
I know of the origins – if you’d bothered to go back and look you’d have seen that I had already mention the origins, but since you ignored my advice to look back there you seem to have decided to make up my answers, which is a ludicrous stance for you to take…
Neither, since both are equally bad, but it’s some comfort to see you admit that the intention was to offend, which says everything about what you are trying to do on here.
No, I asked which offended you – not only was it not intentional, it wasn’t even aimed at you.
Didn’t, or can’t?
Are you flirting with me? You aren’t bothered, then you are bothered, and now I neither know or care. You want it you can do your own legwork or live with the lazy status.
Possible that they wouldn’t be happy to be part of a children’s game?
No, I emboldened ‘possible’ because, along time ago, I put that word down before slur with reference to teachers…
It was one of Tony Blair’s advisors (non-white, and his name escapes me) who first brought that one up.
And it was you who said it here, without quotation marks. Are you saying you don’t believe that is true, or do you still wish to remain mysterious?
As I said, I’m not interested in reputations.
You can ignore the bit where I mentioned reputation, but are you also going to ignore the rest, or is the entire statement sullied by association?
Good at the lowest form of wit, aren’t you?
Thank you. I strive to please.
A blatant lie, since I told you exactly what experiences I’ve had.
You do like to pick and choose which aspect you answer. On this occasion you did not supply the websites as I asked, so the blatant lie is yours.
It can be, if you follow the trail right back to origins, rather than stopping at a point to suit your bigotry.
But since the word has been thoroughly discussed, its use in medieval times and possible Germanic origins, I fail to see where I am “stopping to suit my bigotry”. On the other hand you would rehabilitate a word which is currently regarded as offensive without consideration for the people concerned, presumably so that you could use it as you had done in your youth.
In A Dictionary of Modern English Usage (1926), H. W. Fowler states that applying the [n] word… is “felt as an insult by the person described, & betrays in the speaker, if not deliberate insolence, at least a very arrogant inhumanity”; but the second edition (1965) states: “N. has been described as ‘the term that carries with it all the obloquy and contempt and rejection which whites have inflicted on blacks.'”.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Dictionary_of_Modern_English_Usage
As you can see, in Britain the word has been regarded as offensive further back than you gave me reason to imagine you believed.
Does it all at the end of the day really matter? If the BBC sack him, they will lose TopGear one of their cash cows, Clarkson will simply up sticks and move the show to another channel who will welcome the revenue with open arms and the rest of the “stars” will no doubt follow.
Or maybe a show like it, depending on if Clarkson sold the rights to the BBC or not. And there was that show that Ch5 did (Fifth Gear or something? Probably didn’t last long with Ch5’s tiny audience) that took a few former presenters and imitated.
The fact he didn’t get sacked illustrates that the BBC is much more concerned with watching out for the money rather than demonstrate that it’s presenters are reliable, under personal control of themselves, and concerned enough for their jobs and their reputations that they won’t overstep the mark. Since Top Gear is made by an outside production company the BBC must have decided it was not itself at fault, but Clarkson was either playing the clown or the bigot and decided that he was a big enough character that he could have his fun without risking his job; he will be undoubtedly furious that someone dropped him in it, but whether it gets into his brain is another matter.
There will be those who say drop the show because it makes money for a public service broadcaster rather than Sky, but they will already be making money from Sky so could be a little biased anyway.
I enjoy his humour and style of show and couldn’t give a toss if he used the N word or not…. Live with it, it’s all just PC bull****, 30 years ago it was relished and even had shows written around it, the world has moved on ok, the N word, calling those from the northern India region the P word etc has simply shifted to the poles and the like swamping the country now…
Good grief – somebody has decided to come out and (no pun intended) show his colours!
150-200 years ago would you have been in favour of slavery, as long as the right races were the slaves? And you using the word 30 years ago might illustrate your ignorance in race relations and consign you in peoples minds in the same category as the National Front or the Jim Davidson level of comedy…
No, you live with it – the word is offensive to non racist whites and all ethnic minorities in the UK, just as it was 30 years ago.
Which shows were written about it – Love Thy Neighbour? Did you not notice the way the racist guy always came off worst? Still doesn’t get repeated though.
It Ain’t Half Hot, Mum? with its face-painted and fake accented white guy standing in for a genuine Asian actor – of which there were a couple who had smaller roles? Also unrepeated.
How about The Black and White Minstrel’s Show, just about still going in the very early 80’s but never repeated since, which had the nerve to accept a male dancer chucked off of Top Of The Pops because of his colour – but only on the condition that he also ‘blacked up’ with the white dancers?
Tony, you stick to your indefensibly extremist beliefs, tell us how bad it is when you can’t call ethnic minorities offensive names because of the PC police getting uppity. Please do, I like a good laugh.
Not in my case; the whole thing has become a tiresome exercise in one-upmanship, and I’m sick of it, so will not rise to any further baiting, in the (possibly faint) hope that this thread dies, and is consigned to the wastebin of history.
Not much hope when people like Tony (see above) leap in with both feet fully mouth-bound…;o)
Ah, so only the cool kids are allowed to be racist / sexist at the BBC then?
And it doesn’t matter who hears (or doesn’t hear) what…..what matters is what the BBC broadcasts!
I’m not condoning what Clarkson said, but if the BBC is to have standards…..they shouldn’t be double standards.
I asked my 13 year old about Radio 1 and she rolled her eyes – to her its full of DJ’s raving about One Direction, boy bands in general, and who they met at which club last night (so pretty much how it was when I stopped listening to it). She doesn’t listen to it because they don’t play music applicable or relevant to her; she doesn’t recall any racist language in the music on stations she does listen to, but agreed that if she listened to rap or hip hop then she would expect there to be more racist and/or bad language (or blanks/bleeps where it would be had it not been censored).
I have heard 212 by Azealia Banks and could hear why Radio 1 had to make more than 50 edits to make it playable after the watershed; it was a catchy enough tune and had an interesting way of jumping the music’s beat around, but if they had to remove so much it must have been near unplayable!
But, to be fair to the BBC, that Clarkson video wasn’t broadcast by the BBC so they would probably be perfectly able to claim that it was out of their hands due to it originating from a production company. Radio 1, on the other hand, is all their own work (I believe) so if you do happen to be listening and hear something you don’t agree with they can’t shift part of the blame elsewhere.
snafuLuckily the PC police weren’t around in Guy Gibsons time or we not have had the dams raids,, I can just imagine the uproar that would have occurred over the naming of his dog. And I wont say the dogs name here, I don’t want the PC police up my ass today. It was a nice world before the PC police got going.
Oh yeah, and this thread is really in the crapper,,,,,
Back in ‘those’ days ethnicity was easy – you were various shades of white or you were at best known as a ‘darky’. The humpers and diggers in the US Army in the run up to D-Day were very much white minority units, explore the lengths the Tuskergee Airmen went to against a racist military leadership in order to get into action, and the way that using nicknames for ethnic minorities now regarded as offensive was not a problem because those ethnic minorities were, at best, not regarded very highly. And you can’t use that word here anyway, it gets censored; but you won’t moan to the mods about that will you…
Does anybody actually give a toss about Clarkson and his utterings these days?
He’s a past-his-sell-by-date journalist who can’t drive any better than your average sales rep, but as a saving grace has a feel for military history.
If he’d stick to what he’s good at – historical documentary – instead of trying to be a ‘lad’ we’d all be much happier. Him included.
Moggy
You sure you should be playing here? One side will claim you favour the other,.which ever that is.
You can suppose, if you like, after all, you’ve proved you’re good at it. And do stop putting words in my mouth; if you need information, simply ask a question, without the innuendo.
Thank goodness you’ve returned, I was starting to worry…
Ok. Do you think Max Clifford is guilty? Do you also believe that there has never been anything like sexual abuse in the workplace?
And there was an identical situation, at my first job; we young boys were warned never to go into a women’s department, because we risked losing our trousers and having our private parts blacked with boot polish, and it was the women who thought it was all a bit of fun.
Yes, but there will have been firms where girls did not go into work areas staffed by ‘playful’ men – why is this disputed?
Your next sentence (as so often) has nothing to do with this thread, so a response is unnecessary.
Up to you. Still a form of sexual abuse in the workplace for at least one of them, even if only because that is where they met.
So there’s no possibility that Clarkson, knowing the word shouldn’t be used, went over it, trying to work out an acceptable replacement? Wouldn’t go with your attempts to make him out to be a racist, though, would it?
Oh he is a wag, that Clarkson… Knowing that using ‘that’ word wouldn’t be allowed, he couldn’t bring up his concerns about it during the script read through or in the run up to the camera/s being made ready but instead decided to be filmed saying the word, twice, for a laugh, before using another word?
But knowing that he’d get into trouble for using ‘that’ word yet still he used it, twice, who was he trying to impress or amuse with his cutting edge sense of humour? Only his workmates would ever see the joke, if he drew it to their attention; letting the lesser members of the crew in on the joke surely opened him up to being revealed as an ‘n’ word mutterer – which has been proven to be the case.
So he either didn’t think about the problem of this being revealed, or he didn’t care. And you lot say he isn’t stupid?
While not bothering to acknowledge that they might not, of course.
Not in the case of my ex neighbour, no. You knew exactly what his feelings were about the Asian family across the road who apparently smelled funny because they ate curry all the time, or how he wouldn’t buy fruit from Tesco’s (and he claimed he wrote to the manager about this, so strongly did he feel) because of the skin colour of the display fillers. Yet he would go on about how good a particular boxer was unless he beat a Briton in a match – always with Muhammad Ali beating Henry Cooper, but then Ali could do no wrong in the jungle, it seemed.
Never have needed to display my feelings openly.
Didn’t ask you to at this point. Knew you and Che Guevara would never connect via a t-shirt.
And if he did deny it, how likely are you to believe it?
At this point, with his current reputation, I would need a second opinion to confirm anything he said.
Try his compilations books, from his Sunday Times column; his 2008 dedication reads, “This is dedicated with gratitude to the Green Movement, the Americans and the Health and Safety Executive for giving me so much to write about.” Ringing with racist remarks, is that.
Is it? I would have thought he wouldn’t have stuck his head above the parapet…
What I see is you trying hard to make a connection between a British children’s programme, and a foreign author; sorry, you’ll have to explain that further, since I can’t see the connection.
The connection are the apparently racial slur words Sooty and Snowy, but if you don’t want to go back and read the thread and see why EELighning mentioned them that is your loss.
But you’re happy to introduce it into a thread (where there is no necessity for it, whatsoever) that can be read by anyone, of any age?
I replaced one offensive word for another to gauge how offended he would be. Which word offended you more?
The “not bothered” is the correct part of your little rant, and I have no desire to “justify” anything, since I leave that to the other person, if they feel that they need to.
Fine. You were the one who asked for the examples, and now you are sniffy because I didn’t supply them.
“Catch a teacher by the toe.” That’s one heck of a slur, isn’t it?
Not as much as the one word he used twice before he replaced it with ‘teacher’. Maybe teachers wouldn’t be happy with their profession being so used, it is possible.
“Can” doesn’t automatically translate into “will.”
Whatever you say – I was only trying to help you after you said ‘only we all know white men are racist‘. You never said anything about that – denial or otherwise.
Sounds like they’re not as offended as you seem to be.
It does, rather, despite his reputation (which you ignored, I notice). But then we all know about the repeated claims that the BBC has a left wing bias and, maybe, they are trying to show there isn’t one by doing their very best to act in the best traditions of the right wing hearts-and-minds industrial machine with a follow the money mantra.
Just following your lead.
You may touch the hem of my robe if you wish, but only if your hands are clean.[/sarcasm]
You can ask…
I did ask, but you didn’t supply. And isn’t etymology a fascinating subject…?
snafuSorry – slip of the finger on keyboard.
If you didn’t know, the Dragonfly is one of a number of themed artworks around the Soltice Park site, all of which were produced by the QinetiQ apprentices at MoD Boscombe Down.
Are any of the others made from recognisable aircraft parts?
Sign In
