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

[DrTuner]

Excellent, I always enjoy learning new words to slander folks. My boyhood dream was to become a cursing pirate, but then I found out I was a <deleted> landlubber, <deleted><deleted><deleted><deleted><deleted><deleted><deleted>.

[advancebooking]

jeremy is a low class idiot looking for tv ratings / money. Every year he is saying controversial shit. Its a ratings game. He is a simple minded querky pom

[Goat Roper]

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.

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

Yes, nothing racist to be seen there ... just good clean fun if you're brain dead and torching a village.

Isn't Clarkson the same git who regularly offends people wherever he goes with his tedious show and gormless crew?

Top Gear’s festive special saw Jeremy Clarkson take his tired act to India

This year’s one-off Top Gear special lasted for an hour-and-a-half. 90 minutes. That’s roughly 30 full minutes of faux haplessness and scripted embarrassments mixed in with 60 minutes of general boys’ toys ‘banter’.

At times, the boys did come dangerously close to angering yet another nation – let us not forget that it was less than a year ago that they last outraged the Mexican people – and the more cynical amongst us will wonder whether the BBC sent the Top Gear presenters to India in order to stir up some controversy.

http://metro.co.uk/2011/12/28/top-gears-festive-special-saw-jeremy-clarkson-take-his-tired-act-to-india-tv-review-268651/

This term was used before Vietnam, it was a common term used by US Military in Korea back in the middle 50's. I was there.

[simon43]

Don't be ridiculous,Brits are PERFECTLY aware of this term in its racist form

I'm as British as Churchill, and I have NEVER heard this word used other than referring to something that is not level.

Dictionary.com has a definition:

slang , derogatory ( US ) a person from Southeast Asia, especially a Vietnamese

It is US slang, not UK slang. Please do not try to tarnish the English language with American slang, (apologies to all US members...)

Simon

[luangtom]

This term, "slope", was used quite often during the Vietnam era by "farangs", sometimes in rebuttal to the locals, be it in Thailand, Vietnam, Laos or Camobodia. The term, "slope" was not not nearly as offensive in context as "gook" or "Victor Charlie", which fighters referred to their enemy as. I guess lotsa people currently in Thailand led a sheltered-life or are too young to remember back to the late '60s or early '70s.

[brit1984]

clarkson should issue a public apology to the bridge

Not the 'slope' on it? He might even do that; more publicity, more money for him and the BBC. Great PR.

to make the PC brigade happy, clarkson should be sacked and replaced by a drug-addicted elderly retarded bangladeshi lesbian vegan animal-rights activist convicted pedophile with AIDS... even if she doesn't know as much about cars as clarkson, at least she wouldn't be accused of being a biggoted middle-aged white guy...

...and i'm sure top gear would be just as funny to watch

Edited March 18, 2014 by brit1984

[DiamondKing]

One Word

PATHETIC

[laislica]

I can well understand the anger, after all I get called Farang all the time, how derogatory. I have also been called white boy,pale face, round eye, gwailo, o-fay, buckra, honky, gavacho, bolillo, gringo, whitie, & blue eyed devil. Who do I sue?

Gosh get over it, what a bunch of BS over nothing.

Great post.

Not a red faced money then.

We were called that in Penang in the 60's Funny really cos we were just that!

[speedtripler]

jeremy is a low class idiot looking for tv ratings / money. Every year he is saying controversial shit. Its a ratings game. He is a simple minded querky pom

and thats why hes a millionaire ............hes good at his job

which is to entertain and poke fun at car manufactures ,americans who can only drive in straight lines ,his fellow presenters ,people who drive rovers are boring ,women cant drive etc etc etc , and now asians .........

its a light hearted show , get over it already

Edited March 18, 2014 by speedtripler

[lostinsurin]

i'm planning to drive in Burma in the is next year or so. So I watched the show to get some idea o=f what it might be like. I certainly didn't realise that the VERY FIRST UK people to be allowed to drive through Burma were going to take such a flippant attitude to the country and i wonder what damage they've done for future visitors.

I expect a lot of government officials will get to watch this show to see how their respective countries are portrayed by the BBC - this isn't going to help future visitors to the country one bit.

Don't see what Burma has to do with it, which by the way is in itself an insult as it is no longer called Burma

also there is no such "bridge over the River Kwai in Thailand" there is a Khwae Noi or Khwae Sai Yok and surely getting

the name correct would be of more importance.

And seeing as this whole issue brings up the subject of Japans visit to Thailand in WW2 i can't see there being too much said.

apart from that Thais are naturally beautiful people so any insult to the way they look is just foolish.

Edited March 18, 2014 by lostinsurin

[Bantex]

The bridge is sloping to the right as pointed out by Hammond but that might be just because that's the same side that Clarky's standing on - he must be heavier than he looks!

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand.

[lamkhamhaeng]

Playing the racism card is getting out of hand these days. In Seattle, you can't say 'brown bag.' No wonder so many of us ex pats 'fled' to Thailand, where you don't hear 'racist' 'sexist' 'fascist' (except on Thai visa 555)

Yeah, except that of course you can say brown bag, and that fleeing your own country for a less developed country so that you have the freedom to be more racist doesn't make you look good.

[Lupatria]

sorry, am i missing something, this is the 21st century isnt it

In most parts of the world it is- but here. They say some people are only happy if they find something to be unhappy about.

I don't see anything derogatory in this. However, if someone would like to talk derogatory about this country, there's plenty to choose from. And just in case they still don't know- all given reasons to do so, are "made in Thailand".

[laobali]

If it was a Thai "Top Gear" programme, would the presenter say 'there is a farang on it'? Seems there are double standards somewhere... :-)

No, because it would have made no sense in a Thai context. Humorous word play and puns are best used so that only certain people will see ambiguity of meaning – and choose to be either amused or offended, or a bit of both.

[Skygod2000]

Offended? Build a bridge, you'll get over it

Edited March 18, 2014 by Skygod2000

[aripengu]

Jeremy Clarkson is a great guy, not politically correct all the time, it's Top Gear, either you get it or not.

[Baerboxer]

Jeremy Who??? Never heard of the guy. So the bridge was sloping what is all the fuss?

Your're lucky Chooka - and you ain't missed much!

He's the sort of silly schoolboy humor whinging POM stereotype that even lot's of POM's loath.

He's like vegemite and marmite - either loved or loathed. An acquired taste to out it politely.

[wilcopops]

Playing the racism card is getting out of hand these days. In Seattle, you can't say 'brown bag.' No wonder so many of us ex pats 'fled' to Thailand, where you don't hear 'racist' 'sexist' 'fascist' (except on Thai visa 555)

Yeah, except that of course you can say brown bag, and that fleeing your own country for a less developed country so that you have the freedom to be more racist doesn't make you look good.

I think you mean so many "racists" have fled to Thailand. sometimes I'm ashamed toy admit I'm an expat as it associates me with some of the most ignorant and racist people I have ever met.

[WhizBang]

Geeze, more stupidity from the PC crowd.

[Gillyflower]

I can't get the BBC so don't know Clarkson. In spite of having spent my childhood in Australia I have never heard the word 'slope'. It would have gone right over my head. I do remember that I always wanted a black doll. Then they stopped making them - it was 'racist'. What you gotta listen to.

[lamkhamhaeng]

I have never seen so many deluded halfwits in all my days. You lot are disgrace to the West, I'm ashamed to be culturally associated with you.

Anyone who suggests that the variety of racism suffered by white people (paying a little more for the gym, being stared at on the street) is equable to the variety of racism suffered by other ethnic groups at the hands of whites (slavery, police brutality, endemic institutionalised oppression, day to day vitriol, casual violence, the denial of human rights, internment in war time) is so clearly infuriatingly mind-numbingly skull-achingly blisteringly DELUDED as to negate any possible conversation.

I'm GLAD you fled the multi-cultural societies of the West, where racism is usually viewed as antiquated, I'm so so very glad that you felt unwanted and unneeded there, felt that other people weren't on your infuriatingly ignorant wavelength.

[HooHaa]

far more offensive (if indeed offense must me taken) is the refusal to refer to Myanmar as myanmar but rather burma.

I still call HCM City Saigon & I still prefer to use Burma. Offensive?

Sent from my GT-N5100 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

from a colonial perspective not at all.

in fact i think everything should be referred to by a name preferred by the british, rather than the name used by the actual country itself.

[ginjag]

Playing the racism card is getting out of hand these days. In Seattle, you can't say 'brown bag.' No wonder so many of us ex pats 'fled' to Thailand, where you don't hear 'racist' 'sexist' 'fascist' (except on Thai visa 555)

Yeah, except that of course you can say brown bag, and that fleeing your own country for a less developed country so that you have the freedom to be more racist doesn't make you look good.

I think you mean so many "racists" have fled to Thailand. sometimes I'm ashamed toy admit I'm an expat as it associates me with some of the most ignorant and racist people I have ever met.

Many racists have fled from the ethnics in UK.

[wilcopops]

Jeremy Who??? Never heard of the guy. So the bridge was sloping what is all the fuss?

Your're lucky Chooka - and you ain't missed much!

He's the sort of silly schoolboy humor whinging POM stereotype that even lot's of POM's loath.

He's like vegemite and marmite - either loved or loathed. An acquired taste to out it politely.

back in the seventies Clarksoin revolutionised motor journalism in UK. His legacy is that it is still some of the best in the world. However success ca go to yor head and it can be at the cost of keeping in touch with reality. Clarkson developed a persona over the years that has made him a lot of money, but he gets too cocky and displays his ignorance more and more often these days. If this comes back to haunt him and gets the black-lash he so richly deserves than so be it.

[technologybytes]

far more offensive (if indeed offense must me taken) is the refusal to refer to Myanmar as myanmar but rather burma.

I still call HCM City Saigon & I still prefer to use Burma. Offensive?

Sent from my GT-N5100 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

from a colonial perspective not at all.

in fact i think everything should be referred to by a name preferred by the british, rather than the name used by the actual country itself.

I don't know if you are serious or not. We call The Netherlands "Holland" and nobody complains, for that matter we call Krung Thep "Bangkok".

[sacolman]

What did you really expect from those conceited dimwits on Top Gear? They are supposed to be entertainers and they think of themselves clever, but really they are just bums.

[ginjag]

far more offensive (if indeed offense must me taken) is the refusal to refer to Myanmar as myanmar but rather burma.

I still call HCM City Saigon & I still prefer to use Burma. Offensive?

Sent from my GT-N5100 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

from a colonial perspective not at all.

in fact i think everything should be referred to by a name preferred by the british, rather than the name used by the actual country itself.

I like the sound of SIAM---BURMA--TAIWAN (Formosa) ----

[wilcopops]

I can't get the BBC so don't know Clarkson. In spite of having spent my childhood in Australia I have never heard the word 'slope'. It would have gone right over my head. I do remember that I always wanted a black doll. Then they stopped making them - it was 'racist'. What you gotta listen to.

I can't see how you never having heard of a word negates it's offensiveness.

As for "I do remember that I always wanted a black doll. Then they stopped making them" - no they didn't, they questioned how and why black dolls were promoted. Why did YOU want a "black" doll?? did you see and judge dolls in terms of color?

I think you need to review your perception of how racism works.

[speedtripler]

Jeremy Who??? Never heard of the guy. So the bridge was sloping what is all the fuss?

Your're lucky Chooka - and you ain't missed much!

He's the sort of silly schoolboy humor whinging POM stereotype that even lot's of POM's loath.

He's like vegemite and marmite - either loved or loathed. An acquired taste to out it politely.

back in the seventies Clarksoin revolutionised motor journalism in UK. His legacy is that it is still some of the best in the world. However success ca go to yor head and it can be at the cost of keeping in touch with reality. Clarkson developed a persona over the years that has made him a lot of money, but he gets too cocky and displays his ignorance more and more often these days. If this comes back to haunt him and gets the black-lash he so richly deserves than so be it.

he comes from a generation where PC bullsshit didnt exist so you can hardly blame him for making the odd reference to words

that were used decades ago BEFORE they became offensive and the jam jars still had gollywogs on them for most of his life

hes no spring chicken and to be fair ,there were 2 slopes on that bridge and he could have been talking about either of them .....

[BarnicaleBob]

I've seen reference in books I have read to the use of the word "slope" going back well over 100 years. Not sure where it was first used but in the 1920s it was to refer to Asian people in several ways: Slope, slopehead, slopy, slopey, sloper

It was definitely used as an insult as it was referring as an attempt to malign the intelligence of Asian people by indicating that they are "slope-headed" with little fore-brain. (Ironically, most people of the maligned groups have higher foreheads than the European-descended coiners of the term.) Also used was the term slope-browed" (going for a Neanderthal thing).

As an example of how old the term Slope is you can refer to a book written by Richard McKenna who served aboard a Yangtze River gunboat in 1936 but set the novel a decade earlier, during the Nationalist Northern Expedition of 1925–1927, aboard the fictional USS San Pablo, a gunboat left from the Spanish–American War. The phrase "sand pebble" is a pun on the boat's name; thus, the sailors who serve on her are the sand pebbles. In this book the term Slope and slope head was used in making derogatory reference to Asians.