A black mans Cadillac

1. Yes

2. Top Gear positions themselves as being not PC. It's part of their brand. So they know when they're being offensive and they do it on purpose. In a PC world, it is appealing to have some level of irreverence and they count on that. Having said that, you couldn't get away with that in the U.S. But I think race issues are very different there than they are here.

"I know that in Europe you can occasionally see topless women on TV, not skinemax or ho-time but regular TV. We all know that would never fly here. It seems we here are so worried about offending the easily offended that we are constantly censoring ourselves. "

TCM. Turner Classic Movies. Shown complete, uncut, no commercials. Take a look over there, and every now and then, SURPRISE!

Having the black comedian on "legitimized "--for the producers--the black references and jokes. "We're laughing at ourselves."

When the "god" is "god damn", gets dropped or bleeped--broadcast or cable, yet a gory, blood-for-blood's sake gore scene is allowed any time of the day, something is definitely amuck.

And has anybody seen the programming "for Kids" on the Disney kid's channel? A lot of it should be on Comedy Central, at night.

Society seems to be in free-fall. But then, when has it not seemed so? Perhaps, and on a limb here, perhaps during both World Wars. Which, of course, is ironic.

Yeah, his anti-american crap gets on my nerves. They always piss and moan about how an American car is bigger than they think a car needs to be. Well, can we help it if most of our country was built with cars in mind? On second thought, no it wasn't. It was build with horse and buggy in mind, as was theirs.
They have to build small cars because they can't afford to use better than a 2 liter engine. And we may be on average 25 pounds heavier, but we have straight teeth.

NickF40 wrote: I just don't get why we're so uptight compared to for instance Britain, you can tell a huge difference listening to TV over there including Top Gear.

Different history there. Watch enough other things on BBC and you'll see the other tensions. If you have a black guy on a show, no one really notices it. But if you have a Welsh guy on a show, they'll never stop going on about it.

British tensions are more about class and empire than about race specifically.

It ain't like Clarkson is skinny. I'm sure he weighs more than me.

Speaking as an ex-Pat Brit who is now an American citizen. Yes America get's way too uptight about many things which I believe comes from it's puritanical roots. I've met so many people over here who subscribe to the belief that the British are all 'stiff upper lip', repressed and never talk about sex or other subjects. The reality is that's it's America that's repressed, particularly with respect to sex and the female body. Heaven (used purposefully) forbid that a woman's nipple is seen on network TV or a white guy makes a joke about a black guy, yet it's perfectly acceptable to depict and glorify violence, murder and killing. Now with respect to the race issue, due to America's relatively recent civil rights issues being still within living memory of millions of people, I can understand that it's a more sensitive issue over here than over there. The show is made for the UK market, not the US market (the version shown on BBC America is edited) so why should they pander to American sensibilities. I recall JC giving Lewis Hamilton a hard time about black people blinging up their cars and Lewis played right along with that.

Now, back to the OP and TG on 'black man's Cadillac'. First you have to remember TG isn't a car show. Its an entertainment buddy show about pushing boundaries with a backdrop of cars. The show has been in trouble many times for insulting as many groups as they can. American's are fat. Mexican's are lazy, German Nav systems that can only show directions to Poland, East European countries were all the cars are stolen from the west. Cheese eating surrender monkeys for the Frog's, sorry French. They've been in trouble for a remake of the classic VW Gti add where a guy ends up shooting himself in the head. They don't limit it to foreigners, they go on about unions killing the British car industry, about total crap quality, about half hearted attempts for UK manufacturers building cars in garden sheds, about the UK being a Police state etc A couple of years ago the got in a massive amount of trouble for a skit about lorry (translation truck) drivers murdering prostitutes and how useless bus drivers are. The show thrives off controversy as controversy keeps viewers up. The fact it's the biggest show on BB2 and the most pirated show in the world shows the formula works.

DrBoost wrote: ..... but we have straight teeth.

And remember the crap they used to give the hamster about getting his teeth sorted out? They hand out crap on all sides, if people get sensative about it, that makes them fair game for more of the same.

DILYSI Dave wrote: Too many people want to pretend that E36 M3 was never bad. Too many people also want to pretend that E36 M3 is still bad. Is it perfect? Nope. But it's pretty solid. And yes - dancing around issues, being PC, etc. just hinders progress IMO.

I could not agree more.

Adrian_Thompson wrote: Speaking as an ex-Pat Brit who is now an American citizen. Yes America get's way too uptight about many things which I believe comes from it's puritanical roots. I've met so many people over here who subscribe to the belief that the British are all 'stiff upper lip', repressed and never talk about sex or other subjects. The reality is that's it's America that's repressed, particularly with respect to sex and the female body.

I'm not sure exactly where our hang-ups about sex came from, but it actually wasn't from the Puritans. The puritans were actually quite open and understanding of sex. Pre marital sex was common and not frowned upon. The only thing expected was that the couple get married if there was a pregnancy.

Puritan philosophy left an entirely different mark. The puritans believed in divine pre-determination and that God had already decided who got into heaven and who didn't, and that there were signs of that based on fortune in life. They believed people who were more fortunate were chosen by God and therefore inherently better people.

integraguy wrote: You are asking this on a forum where every now and then someone asks: "Is the (insert car name here) a woman's car?"

I still remember the "How can I man up a miata" thread. My favorite answer was "tire rash"

Salanis wrote: I'm not sure exactly where our hang-ups about sex came from, but it actually wasn't from the Puritans. The puritans were actually quite open and understanding of sex. Pre marital sex was common and not frowned upon. The only thing expected was that the couple get married if there was a pregnancy..

Damn, there you go again mucking up a perfectly good discussion with facts.

OK, so it wasn’t' the original puritans themselves, but It's the kind of behavior that people think of as 'puritanical' if you'll allow me that. I think it goes along with attempts at prohibition, and many places, closely aligned with what's frequently called the 'bible belt' still have 'dry' counties etc. This is not a dig at religion in itself, but possibly a comment on what some people of religion put forward as an agenda. Damn, I'm digging myself deeper here aren't I?

Look, at the end of the day, no one place or system is perfect. The views this country holds on sex and the showing of the human body seem laughable to most people in Europe. Yet the level of government control and lack of freedom common in Europe seems appalling to many people here. I've joked that I'm a just right of center, centrist with some libertarian leanings when measured from the view point of most developed democratic systems, that means when viewed within the US I'm an extreme left wing liberal. The funny thing is it's not really a joke, it's the truth. Different cultures have different views that are dictated in large part by where and with whom you grow up.

So back to TG and the UK. Let them bash fat Americans and make the occasional joke about other countries, cultures and races and we'll carry on joking about bad British teeth (guilty as charged), Police states and high taxation and we can all live in blissful ignorance OK?

Adrian_Thompson wrote:

DrBoost wrote: ..... but we have straight teeth.

And remember the crap they used to give the hamster about getting his teeth sorted out? They hand out crap on all sides, if people get sensative about it, that makes them fair game for more of the same.

Now you know that was good natured ribbing, I knew there were a few ex-pats here and just couldn't help myself.

racinginc215 wrote: As a black man this whole thing leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

?

racinginc215 wrote: As a black man this whole thing leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

If you said "As a gay man this whole thing leaves a bad taste in my mouth" it would have been funnier. It really doesn't work as a black guy joke at all.

Clarkson & Co. must resort to being offensive. It's the only way they can continue to amuse us. After all, it gets dull when they keep recycling the same jokes over and over again:

We can't have a nipple waving about with all those erect peni on the damn bus. Geez guys, it's pretty freakin' obvious to me. You guys have enough on your plate trying to control those things without that kind of distraction.

I think the difference has to do with our lateness in abolishing slavery and dealing with civil rights issues. I don't think just any Brit could get away with saying the things Clarkson does, but he is known to offend all equally. Similar to some comedians who get a pass because they offend all including their own.

A black mans Cadillac = stereotype

I never met a stereotype I couldn't discredit

I am not a black man, but my last name IS Brown which qualifies me to reply to this post and collect unemployment:

I view British television the same as I view British cars. For every good one there are hundreds of terds out there BUT even the good ones are drastically flawed.

I think that we need to go back to the fact that they get away with non-political correct statements all the time, not just about other countries and cultures, but with their own country as well. I can't tell you how many times Clarkson makes remarks about the people of certain regions of the UK. When he makes a funny comment about the people from Devonhampshireton and thier tendancy to wear bad wigs, I have to take his word for it because I definitely don't know anyone from there.

They definitely have a much more easy time being non-PC than this country can.

Adrian_Thompson wrote:

Salanis wrote: I'm not sure exactly where our hang-ups about sex came from, but it actually wasn't from the Puritans. The puritans were actually quite open and understanding of sex. Pre marital sex was common and not frowned upon. The only thing expected was that the couple get married if there was a pregnancy..

Damn, there you go again mucking up a perfectly good discussion with facts. OK, so it wasn’t' the original puritans themselves, but It's the kind of behavior that people think of as 'puritanical' if you'll allow me that. I think it goes along with attempts at prohibition, and many places, closely aligned with what's frequently called the 'bible belt' still have 'dry' counties etc. This is not a dig at religion in itself, but possibly a comment on what some people of religion put forward as an agenda. Damn, I'm digging myself deeper here aren't I? Look, at the end of the day, no one place or system is perfect. The views this country holds on sex and the showing of the human body seem laughable to most people in Europe. Yet the level of government control and lack of freedom common in Europe seems appalling to many people here. I've joked that I'm a just right of center, centrist with some libertarian leanings when measured from the view point of most developed democratic systems, that means when viewed within the US I'm an extreme left wing liberal. The funny thing is it's not really a joke, it's the truth. Different cultures have different views that are dictated in large part by where and with whom you grow up. So back to TG and the UK. Let them bash fat Americans and make the occasional joke about other countries, cultures and races and we'll carry on joking about bad British teeth (guilty as charged), Police states and high taxation and we can all live in blissful ignorance OK?

..and let's not forget about how the ribbed Albanians.

They are equal opportunity offenders and I think it's refreshing.

As for being offended by the anti-American stuff, lighten up, Francis. It's funny. The Brits are allowed to break our balls. It's their legacy.

gamby wrote:

Adrian_Thompson wrote:

Salanis wrote: I'm not sure exactly where our hang-ups about sex came from, but it actually wasn't from the Puritans. The puritans were actually quite open and understanding of sex. Pre marital sex was common and not frowned upon. The only thing expected was that the couple get married if there was a pregnancy..

Damn, there you go again mucking up a perfectly good discussion with facts. OK, so it wasn’t' the original puritans themselves, but It's the kind of behavior that people think of as 'puritanical' if you'll allow me that. I think it goes along with attempts at prohibition, and many places, closely aligned with what's frequently called the 'bible belt' still have 'dry' counties etc. This is not a dig at religion in itself, but possibly a comment on what some people of religion put forward as an agenda. Damn, I'm digging myself deeper here aren't I? Look, at the end of the day, no one place or system is perfect. The views this country holds on sex and the showing of the human body seem laughable to most people in Europe. Yet the level of government control and lack of freedom common in Europe seems appalling to many people here. I've joked that I'm a just right of center, centrist with some libertarian leanings when measured from the view point of most developed democratic systems, that means when viewed within the US I'm an extreme left wing liberal. The funny thing is it's not really a joke, it's the truth. Different cultures have different views that are dictated in large part by where and with whom you grow up. So back to TG and the UK. Let them bash fat Americans and make the occasional joke about other countries, cultures and races and we'll carry on joking about bad British teeth (guilty as charged), Police states and high taxation and we can all live in blissful ignorance OK?

..and let's not forget out how the ribbed Albanians. They are equal opportunity offenders and I think it's refreshing. As for being offended by the anti-American stuff, lighten up, Francis. It's funny. The Brits are allowed to break our balls, SINCE WE KICKED THEM IN THEIRS . It's their legacy.

Edited for content.

hotrodlarry wrote: ...Jeremy Clarkson kept referring to Camaro owners as "murderers". I own a Camaro and it didn't offend me, I thought it was funny.

Well, hey; I'm an accountant and I don't get offended when people call me an accountant.

Top Gear isn't afraid to offend. That's why I like the show. They can bash car makers at will (or praise them). Heck, sometimes, they say bad things about cars because they love them (Ford GT).

They also don't seem to mind offending Americans, Albanians, southerners, Camaro drivers, midgets, black people, all of the employees at Chrysler, the Scottish, Americans (again), white people, women, men, minorities, majorities, children, people with iPhones, the Japanese, the Welsh, SUV owners, Audi owners, or Morris Minor. Equal Opportunity Offenders. No discrimination.

I love that in the US we can't show nudity but we can show explosions and killing on TV all day. I would prefer to have a boob shoved in my face then a gun.

I love British comedies because they make fun of everyone. The best episode of TV is The German by Fawlty Towers.