Jeremy Clarkson

[J4MES OX4D 10,034]

In hot water yet again for 'using' the N word. He's pissed off Mexico and India an now we have more controversy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JV6IWjdj8Yg

 

I like the man and I like this character but sometimes he does overstep the mark with some foolish antics. There is talk of him being axed from the BBC which will leave Top Gear in a critical state but others just feel it's his cumbersome approach and that he doesn't mean things personally.

 

Has he gone too far this time? Personally he's done a hell of a lot worse in the past but I dunno how many more chances he will get/deserve before he REALLY pisses someone off. The BBC also have to protect their dwindling integrity particularly on the tax payers bankroll and whilst some can brush it off; others of a certain expectation will be less forgiving.

 

We shall see.

[Diddums 4,346]

Witch hunt. They're accusing him of racism for comments made years ago. Why now? Has India just discovered telly?

I'd like to know what's really going on. This feels like a distraction.

[Sennex 1,903]

Who?

[jordie1892 681]

[techno 3,510]

Some people having nothing in their sad little lives other than finding stuff to whinge and get offended over, its about time they were told to stfu.

I despair sometimes at where this world is heading, I mean its not like there aren't real problems out there!

[Madjonny 386]

I heard the footage was over 3 years old... So why is it a thing now?

It all seems a bit much for the situation and the timing is peculiar...

[burnfitbillyboy 505]

Seen the clip and it really isn't much. Love Clarkson, personally I just think he says things without thinking and some people just get offended too easily.

[Dr Diamond 407]

he's a total clown.,

[Drifter 851]

Know what really pisses me off. All you hear about are white people being raciest, the owner of the LA clippers being raciest and using racial slurs. Yet did anyone see Snoop Dogg's little video tirade he made against the owner of the clippers?  Snoop dogg said the guy was a (and I quote) "A White breed redneck mother fucker".  Okay....White breed redneck? Where the fuck is the outrage over that comment Snoop dogg made? If a white person had said someone was a Black breed thug mother fucker then the white person would be ran out of the music business and shamed into oblivion.

 

Personally I'm sick to death of the hypocrytical double standard in society today where people think the only people that can be racist are white. Makes me sick to my stomach to even be associated with today's society. People/media need to get their heads out of their asses and realize racism comes in many colors and stop allowing one certain race to use racial slurs as common practice, while chastising another race for doing the same thing.

[J4MES OX4D 10,034]

Well said Drifter.

 

I hate racism. I hate the language and I dislike anyone that uses it whether it be maliciously directed at someone, spoken out of anger online, trolling or just used as a word/phrase for no reason. The element that needs to be eradicated is primarily in the music industry. I don't care if the N word is used in a song made by a black person to a black person or as part of a collective group of fans; I just don't think it needs to be used at all. I find it more offensive than swearing and it gives out a horrible impression. The terminology is loosely banded around in the music industry and nobody gives a fuck but if someone did that in the street to someone; it's an arrestable offence leading to a criminal conviction. Promoting and glorifying such language also makes it seem that it can be banded around willy-nilly without people especially youngsters realising the consequences of such actions. 

 

The double-standard pisses me off the most. It should either be illegal for all to use, or such language should then be made part of the norm as it is widely used in music, TV and movies. I don't favor this language at all so I'd happily see such words or phases being banned regardless of the race of the speaker. I've been called 'white shite' before but if I retaliated; I'd be nicked.

 

I used to absolutely love RnB back in the day but half the songs I hear nowadays just contain racist lingo or horribly offensive lyrics. Use those in public; you'll be stuck in a cell. The impact it's having on society and the divide is just sickening. 

[Plumbers Crack 4,062]

As Techno said in another thread ( I think) racism is a two way street

[lepercolony 275]

just want to acknowledge the fact that this is a place where i can open a race thread and reasonably expect that no one will be acting absurdly ignorant or immature.  and then have that expectation totally rewarded.  seriously, this place is so weird.

 

Know what really pisses me off. All you hear about are white people being raciest, the owner of the LA clippers being raciest and using racial slurs. Yet did anyone see Snoop Dogg's little video tirade he made against the owner of the clippers?  Snoop dogg said the guy was a (and I quote) "A White breed redneck mother fucker".  Okay....White breed redneck? Where the fuck is the outrage over that comment Snoop dogg made? If a white person had said someone was a Black breed thug mother fucker then the white person would be ran out of the music business and shamed into oblivion.

 

the media plays to racism against minorities, and Sterling currently owns a professional basketball team while Snoop Dogg is currently irrelevant.  i think that's really the simplest explanation for the disparity in coverage on equally stupid comments from two different people. 

 

if i had to guess, the only two groups who have even heard about this Snoop Dogg tirade are people who actively follow Snoop Dogg, and maybe people who unconsciously seek to justify Sterling's racism by finding examples of counter-racism.  i can't think of any other groups who might actually care about what Snoop Dogg has to say about current events, honestly.

 

As Techno said in another thread ( I think) racism is a two way street

 

sure.  there are some implications here that might be worth exploring, though.  (slow workday, forgive the incoming wall of text.)

 

putting aside the fact that i find the (primarily white) idea of reverse-racism fascinating -- truly, white people feeling persecuted is always interesting, isn't it, because it's traditionally counter-intuitive -- if racism is a two-way street then i have to wonder if there's a preferable lane.

 

don't get me wrong, i'm not saying anyone's "right to feel offended" is just revoked the moment they're born white.  that's dumb.  i think it's totally valid to feel defensive if someone's telling you that your accomplishments are diluted because of factors beyond your control.  that feels like a raw deal.  and that makes perfect sense. 

 

but the irony of course is that by focusing on that particular "raw deal," you set yourself up to appear ignorant of the "raw deals" that those who have fewer privileges are dealt.  and because the "raw deals" which the underprivileged face will typically have much more real world impact than simply hurting someone's feelings with namecalling,  there's the danger that speaking out against reverse-racism will often appear tone-deaf and self-absorbed.

 

for me, "two-way street" implies a sense of equity.  i can acknowledge that racism is a two-way street, but i have doubts about its equity.  i'd add a bit of nuance to that analogy.  one road -- in the very generalized, non-personal sense -- is objectively easier to drive down than the other.  but yeah, sure, there are definitely two distinct lanes of traffic.  that part of the analogy still works.

 

let's take another recent example:  anyone heard of the "Princeton white privilege" kid?  he wrote an essay taking issue with the concept of white privilege, which subsequently went (somewhat) viral here in the States when (presumably) oppressed-feeling white folks passed it around to each other, collectively commiserating in their shared experience of being made to feel ashamed of perceived advantages they genuinely don't feel like they've actually had.

 

i get that.  it's a natural reaction.  but i think the way this response to his essay distills how he's missed the point -- specifically how he doesn't seem to understand the concept of privilege -- is what makes it notable.

 

at any rate, i find all this back and forth massively interesting.  if i had to use an example from personal experience, i guess i'd say that reconciling my "male privilege" is probably somewhat comparable to reconciling "white privilege."  a little background:  i don't tend to have misogynistic thoughts, and fully believe that women should have the same rights as men.  that said, i still catch myself sometimes rolling my eyes at certain feminist diatribes.  and that was usually because i used to feel defensive about the idea that simply being a man made my life easier, mostly because feminists are pretty good at making a guy feel guilty about his dick.  i used to think to myself in protest, "well, Women say they want to be treated equally, yet they still expect doors to be held open for them and meals to be paid for -- that's a double standard, Women, and i don't like it!"  (as it turns out, women who are actually like this aren't real women [and probably a waste of time], so this was flawed logic on my part.)

 

anyway, i got over myself.  i can recognize objectively that as a dude, i simply don't have the same set of concerns a woman does.  some of those concerns have never crossed my mind, and never will.  and i don't have to feel guilty about that, and i don't have to apologize to women for it . . . but as a self-aware human being, i can still acknowledge it without feeling defensive.  and that's because i know it's not a comment on the content of my character, nor does it automatically make someone else "better" than me by virtue of their being less privileged and facing more challenges.

 

if "white privilege" means having more opportunities (generally), and being trusted by society more (generally), and being represented more in media (naturally i think, when you're the ethnic majority) . . . and "minority privilege" just means you get to whinge more about being discriminated against . . . well, i guess the word "privilege" is relative then, isn't it.  and i suspect it largely depends on which lane you're in going down that ol' two-way street.

[Drifter 851]

 

the media plays to racism against minorities, and Sterling currently owns a professional basketball team while Snoop Dogg is currently irrelevant.  i think that's really the simplest explanation for the disparity in coverage on equally stupid comments from two different people.

 

I understand that, but IMO a racist comment is a racist comment no matter if it comes from the owner of a basketball team or a rapper. And honestly I think it is actually worse coming from a rapper like Snoop Dogg. Reason being- the majority of people know who Snoop Dogg is, but before this media coverage how many people even knew who Donald Sterling was?

[Plumbers Crack 4,062]

@Leper

My idea of " racism is a two way street " is as this example:-

If you don't want me to call you a "black <insert slur of choice here>", then don't call me a "white <insert slur of choice here>"

To take the road analogy further, life would a lot better if we were all travelling in the same direction on a one way street

[jordie1892 681]

"White bred redneck chickenshit motherfucker" was a quote from N.W.A's Fuck the Police. Whilst I think the original intention is to insult white racists, it certainly does insult the whole white race.

 

Snoop reacted to racism with racism whether intended or not. It was the complete wrong way to go about it and I'm disappointed in him. People need to realise that rather than attacking racists with opposite racism, we need to react in a "be the bigger man" type of fashion. 

 

Just my 0.02

[lepercolony 275]

oh yeah, no, totally wasn't defending Snoop Dogg.  nobody needed to hear that -- really unproductive.  and it's not like this was news, Sterling's discrimination was well-documented as far back as 2006, so it was that much more unnecessary to fuel the fire. 

 

it's funny though . . . i was thinking last night about how i agree that slurs should stop being used either way, but how do you approach that problem when the slurs have been adopted by their targets in an effort to own their power?  (rap and the "n-word," country music and "redneck").  how do you ask these groups to surrender the words?  i don't think a ban like James suggested would work in this country, but i don't know what the alternative would be either.

[jordie1892 681]

See, as a black guy I don't even find "the n word" offensive, regardless of who's using it. I'll think you're a dumbass if I hear you say it, but I won't be offended. The only time it'll get a reaction from me is if the person saying it is purposely using it to offend me.

[lepercolony 275]

http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/05/07/michael-jordan-i-considered-myself-a-racist/?ocid=Yahoo&partner=ya5nbcs

 

His Airness himself, Michael Jordan, with a timely quote that shows you don't fight racism with more racism:

 

"The education came from my parents,” Jordan recalled. “You have to be able to say, OK, that happened back then. Now let’s take it from here and see what happens.  It would be very easy to hate people for the rest of your life, and some people have done that. You’ve got to deal with what’s happening now and try to make things better.”

[J4MES OX4D 10,034]

BBC DJ loses his job for inadvertently playing a song from 1932 that contained the 'N word'. Although they offered him his job back; he didn't opt to take it due to the incident causing stress. This goes back to what I have said in this thread already about racist language being used in the music industry. Although this 'golden oldie' was a song from nearly a century ago; the bastards at the BBC particularly on BBC Radio 1 happily play sickening songs with shocking lyrics and racist language faded out and nobody raises an eyebrow but one poor old DJ with an impeccable service to the media and BBC radio makes an innocent mistake and is then forced to bow to mercy and still gets sacked. The BBC should have handled it much better but if they are going to get so anal about racist language in songs that are broadcast; their major stations such as R1 and Extra should not be allowed to play songs of that nature filtered or not. 

 

Fucking idiots the BBC anyway and I can't believe my taxes are going towards these clueless morons

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-27360884