Clarkson is cheekier than that. I get the feeling he’s not so much racist as that he thinks it’s the funniest thing ever to say naughty words on the BBC. It’s always in the guise of something innocent, but happens too often to be accidental.
Amazon doesn’t have the same staid reputation as the BBC. Maybe that’s the freedom Clarkson has been wanting, or maybe he just can’t resist pulling the lion’s tail.
I know. I was implying patterns of behavior for humorous effect.
Most boys’ humor is where you take a friend and make fun of inconsequential things about them or, failing that, simply call them a poopy head. There is no ill-intention and the fact that you’re joking about someone to their face is a sign of acceptance. If someone isn’t a friend and you’re talking to them, you don’t make any jokes about them because you haven’t accepted them. If someone isn’t a friend, and you’re talking behind their back, then any jokes you make about them are likely to be ill-intended. A racist joke is one that you would tell to your friends, talking about some other person or group, with ill-intent.
I believe that the Top Gear crew intends all of their humor as though lorry drivers and Mexicans are watching the show. They intend the jokes to show that they’re cool with those people and just ribbing them. That the BBC and some viewers don’t get that, as the Top Gear crew would view it, would be the problem of the BBC and those viewers having no idea what’s going on. They’re like the people who want to ban Mark Twain’s novels because he used the word ‘nigger’, ignoring all context around that. And consequently, they’re not really people worth humoring, because they’re idiots.
As a “slant”, I have another idea. How about they’re just flaming racists, and think that they’re talking to a white audience, and so it’s perfectly fine to make these sorts of comments? You’ll notice that May doesn’t say these sorts of things on air. Whether it’s because he’s just smart enough not to, I have no idea, but clearly it’s not because “all audience are all our chums”.
Notice how the live crowd in the studio is pretty much all white?
Possible, but it runs contrary to everything I’ve seen them say or do.
Yes. I also noticed that their studio is in England.
So far as I’m aware the only restriction they have on ticket sales is that they discourage single males from coming, so that they aren’t swamped with men. Otherwise, anyone of any race and nationality is quite free to attend. They’ve had Americans and Australians show up, for certain, even though they’ve made any number of jokes at the expense of the US and Australia. I think the US has probably been the country most taken through the ringer by them.
After reading Elon Musk’s claims about them misrepresenting the Tesla, I’m actually offended at this.
Having just gone through the 1000+ pictures my wife took during 2 weeks at various places in England, the place (the country as a whole and cities in particular) is far from as “all white” as the Top Gear audience is/was. I didn’t bother googling anything but it could have the US beat in some aspects of diversity and percentages.
that aside, I never got terribly offended by any of the remarks on TG. I looked at it as some of the various racist/nationalist/homophobic/name something of your choice remarks and depictions on Monty Python - pushing the envelope for comedic effect. Their favorite bash was the US, even during their trips here - and I have to admit that I laughed pretty hard at a lot of it and cringed when the gas station of rednecks came close to actually attacking them.
Ah, you’re one of “those people” - don’t you realize Jeremy Clarkson is our modern day Mark Twain, and he’s “cool with” you so it’s all good?
I’d find it pretty hard to believe that the Vietnam Special was them writing nice things simply to be popular, and that they were further able to act well enough that they made their monologues believable. So far as I could tell, they were genuinely impressed by the country and its people. That goes counter to any chance that they are racist.
So you have the hour long Vietnam Special, where they’re effusive with praise for the Vietnamese and their country, versus a single crude pun that they snuck in to a single line of an episode see if the censors would miss it. I’m not inclined to believe that the latter is greater evidence than the former for racism.
By all means, Clarkson is an ass. And I fully see him making a crude remark because he’s an ass. But being an ass and being a racist are different things. And if the only argument in ones favor is that, at 55, your sense of humor is in line with that of a 14 year old boy, that’s probably not a great indication that you’re a great person. But again, being juvenile is a different thing from being a racist.
Of course, you’re free to be offended if you wish. I feel no need to convince you that you’re wrong to be offended. I was throwing out an idea as to Clarkson’s mindset when he decided to put in a potentially offensive joke, no less, no more.
It’s a slippery slope argument.
Sorry.