The BBC for some reason are not hosting this on their youtube channel.
In a suprising move Steve Coogan wrote quite a well written piece on how Top Gear had gone too far, you can read it here.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2011/feb/05/steve-coogan-top-gear-jeremy-clarkson-mexicans
It was suprising for several reasons, A) because Coogan is a regular on Top Gear and a fellow petrol head.
2)Because Coogan himself through characters such as Alan Partridge or... erm... some other character has said some pretty outrageous things himself.
and D) Because I thought that Alan Partridge was a real person and not a fictional character.
However, this has made me look more closely at myself. The odd passages from these blogs if taken out of context could make me look even worse than Richard Hammond.
I was hoping to find a picture of him all mangled after his accident but he doesn't look that bad, so I guess it would be quite easy to look worse than him... say, if I looked like this for example.
and there you go, starting on the disabled while trying to justify himself.
Actually, I have been thinking of late about the things I say on here and I can come across as a bit vicious.
"However, it does beg another question, is it worse to be a homophobe or a sexist? The women would probably say its worse to be a sexist and the gays would probably say that its worse to be a homophobe. The jews would probably say that it is acceptable to be either as long as they are not muslims...(on Gypsys)... Worse than women, gays jews and sexists and homophobes all at the same time."- What's Wrong with Being Sexy 29/1/11
Looking back there are essentially lots of things I have committed to this page which are essentially not very nice things to say... I looked in the mirror and didn't like what was looking back at me...
And who would?
I have to admit to watching Top Gear from time to time, it is a guilty pleasure and the main reason I watch it is for the lack of restrictions Clarkson Hammond et al place on themselves. It is the one place you can go on the BBC for sanitised Sexism, Racism and all of the other ism's which the Top Gear presenters partake in. I don't think I've ever knowingly met a Mexican so I can't really be sure if the stereotype about them being lazy and wearing sumbrero's are accurate.
I have however eaten mexican food and I think a fair description of its appearance is that it looks like 'sick with some cheese sprinkled on it. I took this one stage further, I promised my wife that I would cook for her and instead of cooking I simply ate raw chicken and drunk several litres of milk, sure enough I vomited, wrapped it in a tortilla after sprinkling some cheese on it... here was the end result.
Not only did she not notice, but she prefered it to her one.
And it is also telling that the first image on a google search is this.
maybe Google is racist.
So just in case you think I am a horrible racist here are 10 reasons why I'm not.
1. I was one of only 3 white people in my primary school class and had a vast array of knowledge of various foreign cultures by the age of 6 I understood the concept of different religions and races and didn't really think anything more of it. It wasn't until I got to secondary school that I even became aware of the concept of racism.
2. I know lots of black people.
3. I had sex with a jewish girl once when I was younger (a convert not an actual one with jewish blood. I'm not fucking sick!)
4. I have eaten Kosher food, I would best describe it as like sick with cheese sprinkled on it.
5.My attacks on Islam and Judaism are also compounded by attacks on Christianity, Conservatism but not so much Hinduism or Buddhism, mainly because they don't have as much impact on European culture and give me time, I'm sure their time will come. fact is, I hate all religions, I think that giving yourself over to a concept for which there is no proof is one of the laziest and unthinking things any human can do, and to kill or die for that concept is blah blah blah (I can't do it, I can't get all the way through a serious point.)
6. I know some gays, they're all very colourful, just like in Will and Grace.
7. I flinch every time someone uses the word 'Paki' in my presence. It is a word that makes my testicles shrivel I hate it so much.
8. I have read the Guardian
9. I didn't cheer at any point during Schindlers List
10. I am a Liberal
There, I said it, I AM A L-I-B-E-R-A-L. This does not mean I am not at odds with the thought processes which lead to hostile things being said. I don't mean to be one of those ironic bigots who hides behind the 'political correctness gone mad' banner either I am aware that it is a cliche.
A huge amount of time and effort has gone into justifying my position, but ask yourself this... Would the BBC- whose brief is to be entertaining, educational and informative- have allowed the broadcast of disparaiging comments about Mexicans if they were not true?
No comments:
Post a Comment