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

[ginjag]

What a lot of BS and curried mangoes. Never heard of that experession in my life. 555

Right, but OTHER people have read books and are culturally aware, so... who really cares what you've heard of and haven't heard of?

I see you have just arrived on this forum. Everyone is entitled to comment and have an opinion here and to answer your question I care and I am interested as to what ThaiMouse and others say. Don't have to agree but I am still interested.

bpai, maybe some have read too many books, and have taken 50% of them to heart, so a line is difficult to draw or we all would have to be very careful with near every word.

Example, someone here calls me a cheap Charlie, I like it they mean you should part with much more of your money to THEM, I love being a cheap Charlie, it shows I am being careful. KEENYOW is a Thai word for being a scrooge.

Because there are so many words thrown about that could be offensive, to my mind many of them is how you say the word, in most cases.

Many are used in company jokingly.------Shouting some directly at a person is asking for trouble.

[rodroy]

Total BS, as "slope" is an American term ex Vietnam.

If the PC armies want to get ammo listen to BBC/VOA newcasts from WW2 and document what the Japanese were referred to!

Whats next everytime a newsman on radio or TV asks for someones "slant" or opinion on a topic the PC armies rise from their hiding spots?

Or everytime a math teacher ask his class including Asians what the slope is he/she will be similarly buried by the PC armies!

Get a life !

Edited March 18, 2014 by rodroy

[Emster23]

If you haven't heard the term "slope" in America, then I might guess you are not of Viet Nam generation. Nothing to do with selling drugs, but rather angle of the eyes.

As for the term "gook" I figured this one out, maybe. Korean word for American is "Mee gook". I can see some GIs walking down street during that war, some kid points at them and says "Me Gook". Americans assume bad English for "I am a gook". So the name spread for Asians in general. Funny thing about it is that Americans are the actual gooks referred to. Next up: French fries.....

[wilcopops]

The ignorance that some people are displaying on racism is in some cases taking my breath away. of course one of the main problems with racists is that they are too stupid to realise how racist they are.......whilst racism is not the preserve of the ignorant it does make them very welcome.

[ginjag]

A bit off topic but there is a dark(black guy) farang joker on tv most mornings and my wife and her friends always joke about how dark he is and the other day he had his face painted white they were in hysterics .

I must admit its all fun but I read about different celebs blacking out for fancy dress and everyone goes crazy

I would have thought the black man brand mops in stores in Thailand would be more offensive?

Much more annoyed at Manchester uniteds form at the moment with the david moyes football genius antics

Years ago I had to laugh when shopping in a Pattaya store, walking past the womens knickers shop was the brand / company called FANNY, I do not know if it still is existence but it could be taken as offensive.

Just only some words are what you want them to be.

[laobali]

The 53-year-old is heard saying: 'That is a proud moment, but there's a slope on it', as a man walked towards them on their makeshift bridge over the River Kwai in Thailand.

Jeremy should have said 'in it' and not 'on' it.

I don't think so... "there's a slope on it" sounds ok to me

but if he noticed a crack in the wood he should have said... "there's a chink in it"

Assuming he was quoted correctly it would have save a Jeremy and Top Gear lots of unnecessary and silly controversy don't you think?

For "lots of unnecessary and silly controversy" read "lots of extra free global publicity for a syndicated show".

[lamkhamhaeng]

You bloated apologists rambling on about the indignities suffered by whites in Asia (he called me blue eyed! And it hurts so much, because my eyes are brown!) are aware, of course, you must be, because anyone who has ever READ A BOOK must be aware of this, that white middle class western men suffer THE LEAST AMOUNT OF PREJUDICE of any people on the planet? Right?

[Benmart]

People can be offended by merely looking at them too long. The pendulum swings both ways and at present it's at the end of "Please don't offend me" journey as far a I am concerned.

It seems that there is no end to what constitutes offensive words and the resulting narrowing of free speech.

There may come a day when insisting on free speech is offensive to the listener by the mere utterance.

[KevinB]

In Southern Africa - where we have some choice racist words that are flung around and listed in some country's legal ordinances and by-laws of racial terms that are officially outlawed and whose use is punishable by a fine - we are used to the word "slope" - but there it refers to a white Afrikaner - or a "boer". This term of endearment comes from the fact that white Anglo-Saxons born and brought up there think the Afrikaner to be a person of reduced intelligence and bit of a genetic throw back to someone like an early caveman - the big bumbly guy with the long hairy arms (knuckles dragging on the floor) and the sloping forehead (hence the connection).

So one mans VC in SE Asia is, I suppose, another mans favourite rugby player in Africa.

[SOTIRIOS]

....one would wonder what he went through during the filming...then to have the last shot ruined.....

[lamkhamhaeng]

I've experienced racism as a white westerner in Asia. In the supermarket Bangkok a till woman shouted FARANG! at me, followed by a stream of Thai, because I was queueing a few inches from what she deemed to be the correct queueing point. It wasn't very nice. Ipso facto, it's probably more not nice when ethnic minorities in the West are, oh I don't know, discriminated against in the classroom by their teacher, physically detained by the police when they haven't committed a crime, apprehended on suspicion of shoplifting when they've legitimately paid for their items, or beaten to death in police custody.

But do you know what has been by FAR the most common experience I've had as a Westerner in Asia? Adorable kids running up to me on the street so they can say hello to me. But then I don't have decades of bile and ignorance etched into my flabby sunburned face.

[laobali]

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

Even better if she was trans-gender!

[Suradit69]

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.

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

You must live in a very special bubble. The term "gook" originated in Korea for one thing, not Vietnam and it's on a par with the N word aimed at Africans.

Noun[edit]

gook (plural gooks)

1. (slang, vulgar, pejorative, offensive, ethnic slur) A person from the Far East, Oceania or Southeast Asia, in particular a Vietnamese, Filipino, Chinese, Korean person.

Usage notes[edit]

• In the US, gook refers particularly to a Vietnamese person in the context of the Vietnam War, and particularly to the Viet Cong. It is generally considered highly offensive, on a par with nigger.

Edited March 18, 2014 by Suradit69

[Donnie Brasco]

I just hate these guys and their nonsense.

I find this kind of thing offensive.

Downloaded some of their stoopidity and halfway through the ordeal of watching them screw up some road trip they were on I dumped the whole series and moved on to something else.

It was either that or get on a plane, hunt these two screaming yammering, over caffeinated peckerwood yobs down and pound on their arrogant beaks for ten or fifteen minutes.

They were THAT irritating.

The explanation that "Oh It's British humour that's alli, you just don't understand British humour is one offensive arrogant blurt that you hear less and less from these tw@ts . . . . . . . . . .. but occasionally you do hear it.

The British would do well to make a note of this idiot's comment and learn something from it.

"Sometimes, 'fuggedabowdit' just means fuggedabowdit."

[wilcopops]

A bit off topic but there is a dark(black guy) farang joker on tv most mornings and my wife and her friends always joke about how dark he is and the other day he had his face painted white they were in hysterics .

I must admit its all fun but I read about different celebs blacking out for fancy dress and everyone goes crazy

I would have thought the black man brand mops in stores in Thailand would be more offensive?

Much more annoyed at Manchester uniteds form at the moment with the david moyes football genius antics

Years ago I had to laugh when shopping in a Pattaya store, walking past the womens knickers shop was the brand / company called FANNY, I do not know if it still is existence but it could be taken as offensive.

Just only some words are what you want them to be.

Fanny in US and UK have different meanings.

"Slope" has 2 meanings too.

It isn't the word itself that is offensive it is how it is USED.......or the intention of the user. In Clarkson's case he was well aware of the use of the word and decided to keep it in the program and broadcast it.

this wasn't an "off the cuff" remark it was a considered piece of editing.

Edited March 18, 2014 by wilcopops

[lamkhamhaeng]

for the record golliwogs don't typically have big backsides. that is a stereotype though. I have banged a few black girls with normal size <deleted>, some of those girls have been quite petit too. just my limited experience.

Lucky, lucky girls. 'Limited experience' seems like a good phrase for you. Consider substituting 'experience' for 'intelligence' and 'humanity' when appropriate.

[laobali]

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.

They're in good company. Are Thais not racist too?

[binjalin]

Having lived and worked in Asia for 13 years, I now realise I have led a sheltered life.

I have never heard the "slope" expression used before and if some sensationalists hadn't written this drivel, I would still have been happily ignorant of it's meaning.

I vaguely remember having learned in school that the correct term is &lt;deleted&gt; as in Worthy Oriental Gentleman

"western" I believe

[lamkhamhaeng]

What a lot of BS and curried mangoes. Never heard of that experession in my life. 555

Right, but OTHER people have read books and are culturally aware, so... who really cares what you've heard of and haven't heard of?

I see you have just arrived on this forum. Everyone is entitled to comment and have an opinion here and to answer your question I care and I am interested as to what ThaiMouse and others say. Don't have to agree but I am still interested.

My meaning was not that the author didn't have the right to make a point, but that their point was totally redundant. Disputing the veracity of facts because you 'haven't heard of' them should not be acceptable behaviour in any discussion between adults.

[ginjag]

A bit off topic but there is a dark(black guy) farang joker on tv most mornings and my wife and her friends always joke about how dark he is and the other day he had his face painted white they were in hysterics .

I must admit its all fun but I read about different celebs blacking out for fancy dress and everyone goes crazy

I would have thought the black man brand mops in stores in Thailand would be more offensive?

Much more annoyed at Manchester uniteds form at the moment with the david moyes football genius antics

Years ago I had to laugh when shopping in a Pattaya store, walking past the womens knickers shop was the brand / company called FANNY, I do not know if it still is existence but it could be taken as offensive.

Just only some words are what you want them to be.

Fany i US and UK have different meanings.

"Slope" has 2 meanings too.

It isn't the word itself that is offensive it is how it is USED.......or the intention of the user. In Clarkson's case he was well aware of the use of the word and decided to keep it in the program and broadcast it.

this wasn't an "off the cuff" remark it was a considered piece of editing.

Suppose the normal saying for a morning call would be "I'll knock you up in the morning" to an American would mean putting a lady up the stick. same same but different.

[wilcopops]

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.

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

You must live in a very special bubble. The term "gook" originated in Korea for one thing, not Vietnam and it's on a par with the N word aimed at Africans.

Noun[edit]

gook (plural gooks)

1. (slang, vulgar, pejorative, offensive, ethnic slur) A person from the Far East, Oceania or Southeast Asia, in particular a Vietnamese, Filipino, Chinese, Korean person.

Usage notes[edit]

• In the US, gook refers particularly to a Vietnamese person in the context of the Vietnam War, and particularly to the Viet Cong. It is generally considered highly offensive, on a par with nigger.

I*t seems someone doesn't understand the word "originate"

[Fat Haggis]

I've experienced racism as a white westerner in Asia. In the supermarket Bangkok a till woman shouted FARANG! at me, followed by a stream of Thai, because I was queueing a few inches from what she deemed to be the correct queueing point. It wasn't very nice. Ipso facto, it's probably more not nice when ethnic minorities in the West are, oh I don't know, discriminated against in the classroom by their teacher, physically detained by the police when they haven't committed a crime, apprehended on suspicion of shoplifting when they've legitimately paid for their items, or beaten to death in police custody.

But do you know what has been by FAR the most common experience I've had as a Westerner in Asia? Adorable kids running up to me on the street so they can say hello to me. But then I don't have decades of bile and ignorance etched into my flabby sunburned face.

Better to be called Farang than her turning round and saying "Hey Knobhead, you're in the wrong queue"

All the kids in the village where I live call me farang, it's not derogatory at all, the lads in work call me a "Porridge &lt;deleted&gt;" .. water off a ducks Back too, as it's done in humour.

Clarkson is an a-hole, but he's a funny a-hole, and the fact he hates Peirs Morgan with a passion makes him alright in my book.

Pepper Me.. I was down in the Falkands during the "Stills and Bennies" , that made me chuckle when you reminded me of that time.

[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.

I have several good friends from Myamar - doctors, nurses, accountants, business and public officials. A good mix and age range from mid 20's to mid 50's. They all refer to themselves as Burmese and use the name Burma more that they do Myamar. Not found one that is insulted by the name Burma.

Over 20 yrs ago some Thai friends took me to see the war graves, museum and what's left of the actual bridge constructed by the enslaved prisoners and forced laborers. A small fragment by then. But they called it the bridge over the Kwai too and asked me if I seen the film and new the story.

Clarkson is a buffoon who's mouth often operates before brain is engaged. He has his view on humor which has got him into trouble before.There is a difference between making a remark trying to make humor out of a racist derogatory term used as a pun and calling a country or historic landmark by terms which are still used and widely accepted,

Agree with you about Clarkson, just making the point that Burma is as you called it now called Myanmar.

That the river is not called the Kwai was pointed out to me by a Thai teacher friend (see I have friends too)

So lets just get the name sorted as life is not the movies.

[wilcopops]

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.

Someone who needs a reality check. Sad that he has to live and think like that.

[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.

I have several good friends from Myamar - doctors, nurses, accountants, business and public officials. A good mix and age range from mid 20's to mid 50's. They all refer to themselves as Burmese and use the name Burma more that they do Myamar. Not found one that is insulted by the name Burma.

Over 20 yrs ago some Thai friends took me to see the war graves, museum and what's left of the actual bridge constructed by the enslaved prisoners and forced laborers. A small fragment by then. But they called it the bridge over the Kwai too and asked me if I seen the film and new the story.

Clarkson is a buffoon who's mouth often operates before brain is engaged. He has his view on humor which has got him into trouble before.There is a difference between making a remark trying to make humor out of a racist derogatory term used as a pun and calling a country or historic landmark by terms which are still used and widely accepted,

Agree with you about Clarkson, just making the point that Burma is as you called it now called Myanmar.

That the river is not called the Kwai was pointed out to me by a Thai teacher friend (see I have friends too)

So lets just get the name sorted as life is not the movies.

[laobali]

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.

That says a lot about the millions of viewers all over the world who enjoy watching Top Gear – compared to the minuscule amount of people who complain about it, doesn't it?.

[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.

They're in good company. Are Thais not racist too?

Do you seriously think that citing or accusing others of racism can justify your own?

[cornishcarlos]

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

Obviously not, otherwise the bridge would have been made of concrete and 'level'

[lamkhamhaeng]

I've experienced racism as a white westerner in Asia. In the supermarket Bangkok a till woman shouted FARANG! at me, followed by a stream of Thai, because I was queueing a few inches from what she deemed to be the correct queueing point. It wasn't very nice. Ipso facto, it's probably more not nice when ethnic minorities in the West are, oh I don't know, discriminated against in the classroom by their teacher, physically detained by the police when they haven't committed a crime, apprehended on suspicion of shoplifting when they've legitimately paid for their items, or beaten to death in police custody.

But do you know what has been by FAR the most common experience I've had as a Westerner in Asia? Adorable kids running up to me on the street so they can say hello to me. But then I don't have decades of bile and ignorance etched into my flabby sunburned face.

Better to be called Farang than her turning round and saying "Hey Knobhead, you're in the wrong queue"

All the kids in the village where I live call me farang, it's not derogatory at all, the lads in work call me a "Porridge &lt;deleted&gt;" .. water off a ducks Back too, as it's done in humour.

Clarkson is an a-hole, but he's a funny a-hole, and the fact he hates Peirs Morgan with a passion makes him alright in my book.

Pepper Me.. I was down in the Falkands during the "Stills and Bennies" , that made me chuckle when you reminded me of that time.

Yeah, but WHY isn't it derogatory to you? It's not because it's done it humour, but because YOU'RE in the position of power. White western men are the most privileged and least oppressed people on the planet. There is no reservoir of atrocity and oppression under the surface to which the terms refer. Unlike other racial slurs against peoples who have suffered terrible atrocities, slurs like slope and gook and the n word and all its variants.

And if any of the soldiers you served with (I'm assuming you were serving in the Falklands) had, say, a brother or sister or close relative with some form of learning difficulties (as, and I think this is correct but feel free to check, roughly 20% of people in the UK do or will at some point) then you might not be so quick to chuckle at those terms.

[wilcopops]

Some people need to realise that "racism" is a "white" invention...it is tool for suppression that became common place in the l18th and 19th centuries to justify such things as slavery and genocide of indigenous peoples.

trying to sideline it by using sound bites like "PC" and "sensitive" are just not part of a reasoned response.

A common argument amongst racists is to cite incidents of what THEY regard as racism by other "RACES", often as some kind of justification of racist behaviour by themselves.

This actually only seems plausible or logical if you are racist yourself. irt is in reality just an admission of racism by the person promulgating this idea