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Robin.
There seems to be a disparity on when this word can be used in the media. It seems if its a black person saying it its ok, if a black person is saying it to another black person its ok, if its in a film its ok and if its a white person saying it to a black person as social commentary on how regularly the phrase is used its ok.

It should NEVER be OK!!!
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Why? It's a word. I mean, we can't even have a sensible discussion about the word if the word is banned! Imagine having this chat with your kids:

"Honey, you can't say that word."
"What word, daddy?"
"******"
"But you just said it!"
"Well, yes, but only to tell you that you can't say it."
"Daddy said ******! Daddy said ******!"

On a sterner note, banning words is the first step to banning books, banning speech and banning thought. We know what that leads to... Godwin's Law. Not to mention that banning the word doesn't suppress racism, only leading to more racial hatred - the sort of people who'd use it as a term of abuse use the fact it's banned and "whitey", "chalkface" or "cracker" aren't as a divider, us vs. them, or eventually a propaganda for a political platform. See the BNP.


What shouldn't be okay is using it or any other word offensively.

Words have only the power we give them. If we're not happy with giving a word the power to be a specific term of abuse against a race, we should stop giving it that power, not putting it onto a naughty list and giving it even more power as a forbidden term.
 
hsv010
He said "slope" to describe a bridge, which is a term for people of Asian descent.
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Really. That's it? He racial insulted a bridge? That is as far reaching as this whole "catch a tiger" bit. They have kept Clarkson around for years because his being an arse has garnered ratings. Now they want to hang him up by his toes for it? I just can't fathom the shallow minds of today's media.
 
Ken Koios
Really. That's it? He racial insulted a bridge? That is as far reaching as this whole "catch a tiger" bit. They have kept Clarkson around for years because his being an arse has garnered ratings. Now they want to hang him up by his toes for it? I just can't fathom the shallow minds of today's media.
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It's actually a bit less distinct than that.

The comment was "there's a slope on it" and, in the background, a Thai man was walking over their slopey bridge. "Slope" is, it turns out, a Vietnam War-era term for a member of Viet Minh used only in Australia and the USA, virtually unknown in the UK. Apparently, the producers, according to Andy Wilman, put the term in on purpose thinking "hahaha, it means Asian person", without realising it was a racial epithet. A fuss was kicked up by the usual sources.

Net result: Everyone in the UK now has a new term of abuse for Asian people (because we badly needed one :rolleyes: )
 
Ken Koios
Really. That's it? He racial insulted a bridge? That is as far reaching as this whole "catch a tiger" bit. They have kept Clarkson around for years because his being an arse has garnered ratings. Now they want to hang him up by his toes for it? I just can't fathom the shallow minds of today's media.
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He said it was a good bridge, but there was a slope on it, as someone was walking accross it.
 
I get the idea. He could have been directing towards the nice Thai gentleman. In fact, knowing Clarkson, he probably was. As a joke. On words. Oh look, something I can use as a double entendre. I'll exploit that for a cheap laugh. That's the way I see it. I'm not defending him as I don't know his true intentions. But at the same time, should the phrase "A chink in your armor" be outlawed now? This is just reaching for drama. I mean, was the bridge sloped? Maybe he was genuinely referring to the bridge's incline. Sorry, this just really irks me. People are trying to outlaw anything that can be considered offensive. And the only logical outcome is social apocalypse of one kind or another.


EDIT: grammar check
 
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Ken Koios
I get the idea. He could have been directing towards the nice Thai gentleman. In fact, knowing Clarkson, he probably was. As a joke. On words. Oh look, something I can use as a double entendre. I'll exploit that for a cheap laugh. That's the way I see it. I'm not defending him as I don't know his true intentions. But at the same time, should the phrase "A chink in your armor" be outlawed now? This is just reaching for drama. I mean, was the bridge sloped? Maybe he was genuinely referring to the bridge's incline. Sorry, this just really irks me. People are trying to outlaw anything that can be considered offensive. And the only logical outcome is social apocalypse of one kind or another.


EDIT: grammar check
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Yes the bridge did have a slope on it. At the time almost no-one knew the other meaning to the word 'slope', not even our resident Profanisaurus @Famine :P

I remember hearing a rhyme once regarding the eventual ban on talking and it ends with the people descending on the politicians who are pleading for mercy but no-one listens due to the ban on talking. I think the metaphor for it was, In a society of silence, no-one listens.
 
Many people these days seem to live in a big 'PC bubble' and will get wildly offended if anyone makes a joke where there is the smallest chance of it minutely affecting 5 or 6 people on the other side of the world. They will take offence and use it to get their clause across and make some dough in the process. I'm certain that a few hundred people watch Top Gear simply so they can find something to be 'offended' by, before writing to the BBC demanding Clarkson's head on a plate for the 174th time.

As for the 'racism' incident it has gone way to far. Clarkson obviously did everything he could to avoid the 'n-word' being broadcast, and when that episode was aired the word 'Teacher' was used. Top Gear is known for slightly controversial moments, and these are clearly always intended to be light hearted jokes not to be taken seriously (although somebody always manages to...). Obviously Clarkson experimented with mumbling in the rhyme but felt that the word was too clear, hence why he changed the final take and asked for the other to be gotten rid of.

The Mirror (Best known in the UK for faking images of British soldiers torturing Iraqi civilians) have dug up a 2 year old clip which was never broadcast in public and made a s:censored:storm out of it. As the former head of the BBC said, 'The only person who should get sacked is the one who allowed The Mirror to access the unreleased clip.'

It infuriates me that the BBC and many other haven't stood up for Clarkson, instead giving him one last chance to keep his job, which with the people I speak of in the first few lines of this post still happily wasting oxygen, will sadly not last long. :banghead:
 
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I am well aware that there are plenty of idiots on Twitter, but it seems like those idiots are out in full force over Jeremy's latest tweet about a lost Labrador.

Also, about the BBC wanting to fire Jeremy if they receive one more complaint, if they fire Jeremy, Top Gear won't be Top Gear without him or his humor. Then, people would stop watching the show. It would be the BBC's fault for what happens to the show.
 
Famine
It's actually a bit less distinct than that.

The comment was "there's a slope on it" and, in the background, a Thai man was walking over their slopey bridge. "Slope" is, it turns out, a Vietnam War-era term for a member of Viet Minh used only in Australia and the USA, virtually unknown in the UK. Apparently, the producers, according to Andy Wilman, put the term in on purpose thinking "hahaha, it means Asian person", without realising it was a racial epithet. A fuss was kicked up by the usual sources.

Net result: Everyone in the UK now has a new term of abuse for Asian people (because we badly needed one :rolleyes: )
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I think the term is as unknown here as it is in your country. I have never heard the term in reference to any Asian before this "controversy" & after asking out of curiosity to a few Vietnamese & Cambodian friends if they had ever heard it, they all said no (though, 1 Vietnamese friend told me he knows what it means; he was shocked & wondered how the hell I could have known that). 2cents.
 
CallmeDan
Also, about the BBC wanting to fire Jeremy if they receive one more complaint, if they fire Jeremy, Top Gear won't be Top Gear without him or his humor. Then, people would stop watching the show.
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Call me a cynic, but I reckon it's a marketing ploy. If there was ever going to be a sure-fire way to boost ratings, it's to string an axe up over Clarkson's head, and then give him the means to drop it. Everyone is now going to tune in, waiting to see if he does it.

And can you blame them? Outside the reviews, the show hasn't had a decent feature segment since they went rallycross racing on a budget. I caught the tail end of the hot hatch piece the other day, where they went tearing through a supermarket and caused thousands of dollars of damage, then tore around the army base with heavy machinery. While it was amusing, it was also obvious that the ideas department was running on fumes.
 
I'd like it if they started looking at bolstering the cast.

Let's face if. Part of the reason they're having so much trouble with Clarkson is that he's a dinosaur. Borne of the time when such PC considerations weren't so prevalent, and when the viewership would be more accepting of such antics.

This is not to say that he isn't entertaining (I still read his column every month... I still like May's better), but Top Gear needs new blood. It doesn't have to be PC. They just need to find some more modern goofballs who will fit.
 
niky
Part of the reason they're having so much trouble with Clarkson is that he's a dinosaur. Borne of the time when such PC considerations weren't so prevalent, and when the viewership would be more accepting of such antics.
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Most of the appeal in the show lies with Clarkson. If they get rid of him, the show could easily struggle. Especially if they do it for the sake of making the show more politically-correct.
 
Unless they took action now and added 1/2 more presenters over the next season or two to get the on screen chemistry there then if he does get the axe Top Gear will die, simple as. People won't just accept someone else straight off in replace of their loveable Jeremy. However should they make this other people an on screen character for a year or so prior maybe it can still work.

My only worry is that even being a car nut myself I don't watch top gear for cars, I watch it for the 3 presenters. Its a comedy show not a car documentary program.
 
prisonermonkeys
Most of the appeal in the show lies with Clarkson. If they get rid of him, the show could easily struggle. Especially if they do it for the sake of making the show more politically-correct.
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You don't have to grow sissified. You just have to know which buttons are safe to push.

You could even put in someone like Sacha Baron Cohen... in which case, the "satire" defense would be a pretty effective fallback for the producers every time he utters something racist, sexist or just plain old vanilla offensive... :D
 
I saw the the video. Most of the time what he says is incomprehensible, but on a couple of occasions it sounds like he's saying "catch a nipper by his toe".

Honestly, all of this is just a non-controversy. There are far bigger issues elsewhere in the world for us to be worrying about.
 
Normally I'm very PC, but I'm not among the mob who wants to lynch Clarkson. He tried his damnednest to avoid using the N-word, so he's got that going for him.
 
If they revisit one challenge, I want them to revisit, as I've said often, their first CCC.

£100 cars. What's changed? What can you get 10 years on from a Volvo 700, an Audi 80 and a Rover 400? But, I dread the cringe factor if they did go there.
 
Liquid
If they revisit one challenge, I want them to revisit, as I've said often, their first CCC.

£100 cars. What's changed? What can you get 10 years on from a Volvo 700, an Audi 80 and a Rover 400? But, I dread the cringe factor if they did go there.
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I remember that they said many years ago, they would take that MG SV around the test track again with the supposed optional nitrous kit capable of 1000hp after losing out to the M3. I'm guessing there wasn't much to the nitrous kit as they never did go back to it. :)

As for the £100 cars, it would be quite interesting in what they could find for that much.
 

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