Jeremy Clarkson accused of 'racism' during Top Gear series finale in Thailand

[Kooweerup]

What is this notorious racist murder that people are talking about, just re read the op and can't find anything

[Soutpeel]

Hahahaha...... great joke.

Keep it up Clarky....

BTW 'slope' is not derogatory... It comes from the Vietnam war and was used by US troops to refer to Vietnamese Communist troops.

Gooks, slopes, Cong, VC, Charlies ..... etc.

Not for defaming reasons, but more a casual military designation.

When the Brits liberated the Falkland Islands. The British Squadies referred to the island locals as 'Bennies'.... If you are a Brit you should know what I mean. For those who don't... Benny was the name of a popular 70s soap opera character, who happened to be mildly retarded.

The military put out a communique to all squaddies and contractors not to refer to the locals as 'Bennies'... So after that everyone referred to them as 'stills'.

They're 'still' Bennies........ lol.

I think you should know better, all those names above are offensive and racist, not to everyone, but to some, those of us with Asian wives and children perhaps? These terms are derogatory and you should, if you're as well educated as you make out to be, know that. Just because you may live in South East Asia doesn't make you exempt from the rules of common decency and accepted moral behaviour. Just because soldiers started them first doesn't make them harmless! If I used those terms here in Scotland at college or in the workplace or in the media I would be severely reprimanded and maybe prosecuted in court. The internet is, after all, worldwide, not just for your area, so remember, your readers are far reaching.

We Brits are quick to label and name folk and it is buried deep in our humour, but it it is also part arrogance and ignorance and shows a distinct lack of respect for others, as is shown by your description of the Malvinas story and the British troops there. Is it normal to call a community 'slightly retarded'?

As for Clarkson, he's a journalist who epitomises everything bad about our British condescending attitude, and has talked himself into disrepute yet again.

I'm surprised the moderator of this area has left this post up here!.....Oh, and lol.

Is it normal to call a community "slightly retarded"

If you read TV yes it is, this sort of comment is made or inferred every day when referring to Thai nationals

If you read TV? What do you mean by the above statement?

I mean exactly what was written, get off the PC bandwagon dear boy and stop trying to infer another meaning to what was written

[angsta]

Jezza? Clarkie?

Does he post on TV or something?

Has he been seen in that cafe/bar down in Hua Hin?

Inquiring minds wanna know...

He's still a grade A moron however.

[Donnie Brasco]

Jeremy Clarkson and all his little front seat cuddle-buddies.

The British at their best then, eh ?

"Sometimes, 'fuggedabowdit' just means fuggedabowdit."

[Stupooey]

I would hazard a guess that about 80% of Top Gear viewers are unaware that 'slope' is also the 's-word'. Of the remaining 20%, maybe half would not have noticed the double meaning since the bridge was indeed sloping. This would have left some 10% in on the 'joke', some of whom would have laughed, some would just have thought 'typical JC' and accepted it, and others would have disapproved. However, I am not sure that anyone would have felt insulted at the time. The only 'crime' as such was to mention the s-word.

Fast forward to the TV forum, and what do we have? Over 500 posts (and counting), most of which contain the s-word. Many of the replies are from people who were previously unaware of the s-word, who will now either add it to their vocabulary or have to think twice before uttering the word 'slope'.

I would therefore contend that the continual repetition of the s-word here has been far more damaging in the racist sense than the original comment. Perhaps we should stop giving JC the publicity he so desperately craves.

[bigbamboo]

Jeremy Clarkson and all his little front seat cuddle-buddies.

The British at their best then, eh ?

"Sometimes, 'fuggedabowdit' just means fuggedabowdit."

Not exactly but still better than it's American copy.

[kimbathewhitelion]

What has a murder 25 yrs ago in England got to do with this topic? Why was it brought up and why are people arguing about it? I have never heard of the victim either and couldn't possibly be expected to as I was growing up in New Zealand at the time. This topic is about a sloping bridge how did it get to a murder a quarter of a century ago?

But did you go off in a hissy fit calling the guy an idiot horse shagger ?

It got to (the topic) a murder 25 years ago because that crime was a racist hate crime, and this is racist too. The fact that you didn't know about it is not important. If you didn't know about it, you should have kept yer mouth shut, and yer hand down yer trousers.

I knew exactly what it was about what are you blabbing on about ?

I think he's trying to justify political correctness.

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[kimbathewhitelion]

Did anyone actually see the show, can even confirm the guy crossing the bridge is of which the offense is taken. Could just be a tourist crossing. Thailand in itself takes anything offensive to Face even if just generalized or referenced. Also given, looking at the photo, the TV Host (forgot his name at this point) is gesturing towards the bridge so the comment is directed at the bridge, making the complaints purely PC, as the PC people do take anything of which is indirectly referenced, an instant offense to themselves. An example, would be a guy referencing a brown package, but so happens within ear-shot of a Hispanic, thus making the guy automatically a racist by media standards & than later by all the ignorant PC sheep in the world.

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[Soutpeel]

Jeremy Clarkson and all his little front seat cuddle-buddies.

The British at their best then, eh ?

"Sometimes, 'fuggedabowdit' just means fuggedabowdit."

Not exactly but still better than it's American copy.

There's an Septic version of these two asses ?

That's like comparing stool samples.

"Sometimes, 'fuggedabowdit' just means fuggedabowdit."

Well there is actually 3 of them, but nice to see you have actually watched the show either septic or UK version

Before making your insightful posts

[BirdsandBooze]

In the end what this thread will show is how poorly informed and unaware many TV members are about issues surrounding racism.

it doesnt ,it just means sad people are just looking an excuse to whine and b1tch about something else

topgear is a comedy show for auto enthusiasts ..........if there was a spade on the bridge and a black person

in the background that would have been even funnier ........

if you dont like topgear or clarkson dont watch it but plenty of comics make jokes about stereotyes and race and clarkson

should be alllowed the same freedom .........if he wasnt actually talkling about the incline which he may have been ........?

He is working for the BBC, as was his repugnant side kick when he abused Mexicans. They are paid by UK tax payers, they are seen to represent the British. I don't want to pay the wages of bigots, nor see them represent my country.

This makes me PC? What is PC anyway? It's simply a dated and tired dismissal for anyone who challenges a small and petty minded world view. And that's being charitable. In the case of this thread it's being used largely by ignorant racists who have travelled half why across the world in search of cheap blow jobs Well here's some news, while you have been away home has changed a bit and you are a laughable minority

BTW mate, when you see lots of red under the words you type it means you have not spelled them correctly.

They're paid from the BBC license fee not from taxes. And actually most British people despise the whiney PC minority who are forever lecturing people on how they should behave.

[swbloke]

Did anyone read the reports of mass indignation over this scene?? No.... I doubt it.

So what's the difference?

The difference/ Pulp Fiction is fiction. it has characters that are made up, some made up characters say horrible things. Topgear is factual entertainment.

I know, really hard to understand isn't it.

[MAJIC]

Some people see Racism as a way of life,and where none was intended. I saw the whole of that program,and after they built the Bridge,it was plain to see there was a definite lean to one side.sadly the control freaks rule again!

[rwdrwdrwd]

These people complaining must be part of the small percentage in England that don't use the word 'Paki' when refering to southern Asians. I guess Paki is a term of endearment, not racistm. Or maybe they suffer from selective indignation.v

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No, that's ignorant and racist as well, I come from the UK and where I'm from someone using that word is simply (and rightly) considered a bigot and an idiot.

I have been around the type that uses it growing up, but they were in the minority thankfully, generally pitiable and patently thick individuals from dodgy suburban council estates and backward villages - neither of which I miss much.

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Edited March 18, 2014 by rwdrwdrwd

[steverino]

Some people see Racism as a way of life,and where none was intended. I saw the whole of that program,and after they built the Bridge,it was plain to see there was a definite lean to one side.sadly the control freaks rule again!

I'm pretty sure Clarkson intended the innuendo cum pun, he likes to try and be witty!

[steverino]

Just forget it and get a stiff black cock down your throat.

it's not worth arguing about.

Oh yes it is....!

[348GTS]

Chris Rock's black.

Really? I hadn't noticed. Not that it makes any difference. This whole "you can use racial slurs if you are part of the ethnic group they are aimed at" is for the birds. People make it worse by buying into it.

"Racism is about CONTEXT"

In caps mind you... followed by...

'the race of the person using the slur doesn't matter' (paraphrasing).

Brilliant. With reasoning skills like that I'm amazed you managed to string a sentence together. If you're going to finish your ill-advised unreconstructed ramblings with phrases like "it's not rocket science" you should probably be more careful not to say things quite so mind-bogglingly stupid.

With "paraphrasing" like that, it is clearly obvious that you possess little to no understanding of what I wrote. Furthermore, you go on to post two comments I made in two different posts, ironically taking them completely out of context in relation to each other. Sigh. Unfortunately it seems this topic is rocket science for you after all. Sorry about that. Next time I post, I will dumb it down for you.

[wotaplonker]

'shocked' by what? perhaps the twitter shock brigade should try protesting about something important,

in the mean time that another insulting word for my 'insult cabinet' anybody know one for Estonians?

[Torrens54]

No excuse for this Clarkson Moron, the BBC should sack him. How dare he come to Thailand and use so-called "school boy humor."

It is not a JOKE and the buffoon should be made Persona-non-grata all around Asia.

[bigbamboo]

The topic is about racism. It was a racist murder. It's really not at all bamboozling.

Christ! Do you ever get tired of playing the race card? You'd do Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton proud.

Isn't it strange that when racist white men kill a black person because of his race, it's regarded as a shocking racist hate crime worthy of national news reporting but when racist black/Asian men kill a white man because of his race, it's just a crime with no media attention?

Suzuki GSX-R1000 L3 182 hp in-line 4 Superbike

I'm sure bpai l.m.k. is aware that racist murders are committed all over the world by different racial groups. He is just using this particular case as an example.

[Skint]

No excuse for this Clarkson Moron, the BBC should sack him. How dare he come to Thailand and use so-called "school boy humor."

It is not a JOKE and the buffoon should be made Persona-non-grata all around Asia.

Why are you getting so upset? If it was not for this thread you would have known nothing.

[DavidBonnie]

Clarkson and co are about as ridiculous as can be. The term is derogatory and everyone knows it. Who the <deleted> is he to make those kind of references. Hearing a Thai refer to westerners as farangs upsets some people on TV so this stupid and boorish remark is completely out of order in the same vein that we have come to expect from this stupid and boorish show that millions of morons love.

[PaiMei]

You know what would be purely poetic - if the 'slope' on the bridge approached Sir Jeremy and offered him a sandwich.

Then, BAM, popped him in the jaw. Dreadfully sorry love, a 'knuckle sandwich' that is. Only playing love, no reason to get irritated or get all PC on your high horse.

Fade to black...

[rhythmworx]

"MUM MUM....that man just called me a Farang!"

<deleted> all the people on this thread who have mention that old chestnut.

Grow thicker skin will you.

[MRJOHNNY]

As usual someone reading something into nothing,I've never known anyone complain about being called a farang even though the Thais use it as an interchangable derogatary name and as a freindly term for a westener, I dont mind either way, and as we all know its derived from the word Francais or as the thais pronounce it Farangse, and we all know what the english think of the French, either way it doesnt bother me, so all the upset viewers of Top Gear, all I can advise is lighten up and take it in the way it was meant, as a crafty joke or stop watching Mr. Clarkson and co.

[Skint]

There is far worse to moan about like that Burke the duke of Edinburgh nobody wanted to sack him

[Soutpeel]

"MUM MUM....that man just called me a Farang!"

all the people on this thread who have mention that old chestnut.

Grow thicker skin will you.

And the same thing could be said for those who have expressed outrage over JC's comment

[canuckamuck]

If it were a Thai TV show and the two hosts were discussing the bridge, while a westerner was walking in the distance and a guava was on the bridge in the foreground. The hosts could then have said, nice bridge but there is a farang on it. And all who saw it would have thought it to be slightly humorous and only the most self-important expats would be upset.

[rhythmworx]

"MUM MUM....that man just called me a Farang!"

all the people on this thread who have mention that old chestnut.

Grow thicker skin will you.

And the same thing could be said for those who have expressed outrage over JC's comment

I concur.

I've lost the will to live reading it.

[Thaiready]

If the shoe fits kind of thing....

[JohnThailandJohn]

Sloap-head, gook, farang ... all are dehumanizing terms for a person of different origin. The dehumanization is for a purpose... It is easier to hate something not quite human. Where Vietnamese, Asian and Westerner relate to human beings, sloap-head gook and farang have no human connotation.

I agree with you in the sense of how some words are used to dehumanize, especially names used during wars such as gooks, slopes, krauts..., but farang is not generally one of these words. Thailand is not a melting pot of foreigners with different looks as you see in much of the west and it is simply a term to distinguish foreigners (usually white). Somebody can even make "white foreigner" sound like a bad terms but generally it is not used this way. Thais in general find farang features (skin, eyes & hair color) very attractive. While you may hear many Thais talk about a very "cute farang baby" in a very loving way, I don't think you will hear too many people talk about a "cute gook baby".

Farang is not much different than whites saying Asian.

Thais are much less offended by pointing out or commenting on the obvious than westerners. A waiter may tell another waiter the farang table needs more water but in the west you are not going to hear a waiter say publicly the Asian table needs more water. In the west we may ask a friend, who looks like they have got fat, if they have been working out? In Thailand it is not uncommon to have a friend blurt out, you got fat.

However any of these words can be used negatively. Asian is certainly not a negative term but it can be used as one such as saying, "the dirty lying piece asian". The bottom line being is farang has not negative connotation by itself just as Asian doesn't unless the person using it is a racist.

Oh please.

When someone talks about as "the farang", when I am standing right there, it is basically very insulting. They wouldn't do it to a Thai, in that they would ask his name, and address him or her by their name. Yes it can be used to differing levels of rudeness and insult, but last time I looked, I have a name, and I am British. Not some huge generic mass of farang. So at best, it is rudeness out of ignorance. Fantastic.

You are confusing your perception of rudeness on another culture you don't seem to understand that much except in a judgmental fashion. Somebody, in your mind, being rude to you has absolutely nothing to do with the word farang being a negative word. Your being upset that somebody has not asked you your name, likely out of shyness, is truly bad form in this culture as your desire to try to see something like the word "farang" negatively. The word means nothing more than describing somebody as being an "asian" in an English speaking country. If you want to see things negatively or focus on the times the word is used negatively (as "Asian" sometimes is) or take offense to such inconsequential things then you really should try to learn some of the positives things of Thai culture because being so negative is generally seen as being rude and making people feel uncomfortable (sorry for you) here. It is normal, after being used to being around more similar people and language most of our lives, to feel insecure here but taking a greater effort to understand Thai culture and manners as well as how it varies depending on the level of society would do you a great deal of good in terms not feeling as insecure and taking things personally ... not like anyone is calling you a slope.