Amazon Sign Top Gear's Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May

Post by avereveard » Thu, Jul 30, 2015, 7:36 PM UTC

foldr wrote: post #90

yokohama11 wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a huge difference between being considered a "serious" TV personality and an "unserious" one, and what your public image is. And even then, it depends on audience. FOX News personalities express far worse sentiments daily and mean them than Clarkson ever has. Their audience is fine with that. Paula Deen was supposed to be a nice upstanding older woman showing people cooking. Even the claim that she might have…

There is no comparable mainstream show in the US with a presenter as openly racist and offensive as Clarkson. Nor could there be, because they would be fired (as my and your examples show). I wouldn't necessarily say that the US is "less racist" than the UK on the whole, but to the credit of the former, it is hard to imagine a US show about cars being presented exclusively by openly bigoted white dudes.

Post by foldr » Thu, Jul 30, 2015, 8:43 PM UTC

avereveard wrote: post #92

foldr wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is no comparable mainstream show in the US with a presenter as openly racist and offensive as Clarkson. Nor could there be, because they would be fired (as my and your examples show). I wouldn't necessarily say that the US is "less racist" than the UK on the whole, but to the credit of the former, it is hard to imagine a US show about cars being presented exclusively by openly bigoted white dudes.

I've yet to hear an actual propf of him being openely racist. There was that outtake never shown on tv when he said thw n word as part of an old rymhe that was what it was. Can't find much more beyond that. Some wanton racism on their trips, played on stereotipes and misunderstanding, but critiquing vietnamese cousine or italian way of driving doesn't sound openly racist.

Post by ptaipale » Thu, Jul 30, 2015, 9:58 PM UTC

justincormack wrote: post #63

vollmond wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are they doing anything illegal in their "tax-dodging"? If not, why would they ever choose to pay more? I've never understood the point of vilifying companies for using "loopholes" to pay less taxes. If there was a loophole that allowed me to pay less income tax, I would absolutely take advantage of it. Why give away more of my money than I have to? If you want them to pay more, close the loophole that allows them to…

Almost certainly it was illegal, yes, certainly highly dubious process which at one point threatened to being down the European Commission president. The European Commission is investigating eg see [1] and Amazon have stopped doing it. Oh and Amazon's head of tax was Luxembourg Honorary Consul to the Seattle are, hum. [1] http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jan/15/amazon-lux...

Post by ptaipale » Thu, Jul 30, 2015, 10:30 PM UTC

ris wrote: post #71

omonra wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did not see it - but I read the Wiki article about his controversies. All of them appear to be no more than play on words, there is never any ill will or desire to humiliate anybody. The reason these particular jokes get noticed is because some people are obsessed with crying foul when certain groups are offended. He could make 10 jokes about the English/Scotts/Welsh and nobody would bat an eyelash.

So a play on words with the word "nigger" would be ok by you? "...never any ill will or desire to humiliate anybody" - this is the sort of very flimsy faux-naivity that I come to expect in these debates - especially on technical forums with a very literal-thinking crowd. "He could make 10 jokes about the English/Scotts/Welsh and nobody would bat an eyelash." Context. You cannot ignore context as much as you try. In t…

Post by ptaipale » Thu, Jul 30, 2015, 10:35 PM UTC

foldr wrote: post #91

yokohama11 wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He makes fun of himself, his co-presenters and basically everything about the UK and British people constantly (especially when it comes to manufacturing). For that matter, they've done entire episodes about how terrible the UK is at things, like the British Leyland cheap car challenge. If he made those comments about anything else, someone would call them offensive. I find that double standard and the concept that y…

I don't see how that's comparable. He's used racist slurs against various non-white ethnic groups and explicitly advocated for discrimination against certain (non-white) ethnic groups. If he's done the same with regard to white people, I'd be interested to hear about it.