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AIBU?

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Original poster

to be bemused by the reaction to Jeremy Clarkson's strike comments

153 replies

fizzwhirl · 02/12/2011 09:30

I mean, have the people who are getting all wound up about it actually watched it?

He was being completely tongue-in-cheek. He starts off by saying how nice it's been to have empty streets. Then pretends to pull himself up with the comment that 'we have to balance it though don't we, because this is the bbc', and then he makes up the most extreme anti-striker view he can think of, which is what everyone is quoting.

Even if you took it literally (which would be a very strange thing to do!), he explicitely says that it's not his view.

IT WAS IRONY!

The generous part of me wonders whether the unions are just upset because he was being rather dismissive of the effect of the strikes - he certainly wasn't being respectful and taking them seriously. But I can't help thinking that actually they're just showing genuine inability to evaluate and understand.

Karen Jennings from Unison said it was almost like Gadafi making a comment about a demonstration! And she was being serious!!! Riighhhtt... so, a celebrity making a joke is the same thing as a dictator using foreign mercanaries to slaughter his people?! I suspect the Libyans would have preferred Jeremy Clarkson...

Personally, I think it's Karen Jennings who should be sacked - not for making a comment which is more offensive than the one Jeremy Clarkson made, but just for not having the slightest clue!

OP posts:
OldMumsy · 02/12/2011 15:18

The best thing about JC is that he annoys the sort of people that I don't like so long may he broadcast.

PeneloPeePitstop · 02/12/2011 15:29

Comparing this with Jimmy Carr's joke about variety buses?
Hmm. Now let me see, adults striking by their own choice that are fully capable of answering back vs kids with disabilities that they had no choice about having who cannot defend themselves.

Um.... no. Not quite the same is it.

velvetvamp · 02/12/2011 15:38

YANBU. The reactions against it have been quite embarrassing to read. The eagerly offended baffle me and this is a prime example of why. As I said on another thread, maybe those getting offended should be shot themselves. It would eliminate that pesky PC gene!

sportsfanatic · 02/12/2011 15:43

The outcry makes me laugh. When the Guardian had talkboards they used to resonate with left wingers going on about Thatcher e.g. "want to dance on her grave", "why doesn't the old witch hurry up and die" etc. The only difference between that sort of statement and JC's was that the poster actually meant what they said.

Kind of confirms what a combination of po-faced, oversensitive souls "professional" left wingers such as Karen Jennings are.

CrosswordAddict · 02/12/2011 15:46

JC is entitled to his opinion (so are the rest of us) As long as this is a free country we are entitled to state our opinions.
However, it was neither the time nor the place to be so controversial and frank.
But what good publicity for the One Show! No wonder this news story has been given so much airtime on the BBC News.[cynical face] Xmas Wink

TheHumancatapult · 02/12/2011 16:07

I have to admit I figured it was a tounge in cheek moment

Roxy33 · 02/12/2011 16:15

I note in the BBC news article on this issue that they state he has received 314 messages of support....well 315 now. If you are interested in actually countering the complainers then the website link is below. Grin

www.bbc.co.uk/tv/feedback/

stinkingbishop · 02/12/2011 16:16

I think I am going to complain about the head of Unite saying he would like to go back to the 80s and shoot Thatcher.

People might take him seriously! That poor defenceless woman! Police enquiry, NOW!

wannaBe · 02/12/2011 16:23

"The best thing about JC is that he annoys the sort of people that I don't like so long may he broadcast." love it.

giveitago · 02/12/2011 16:38

Wow - so he said something sooooo bad (like his opinion that has no influence on the outcome of the strikers and their cause) and the union want to take him to court - for what exactly?

If they do, I hope the courts have a bit of brain on this one.

Who cares what he says.

Bue · 02/12/2011 16:39

Completely agree about the professionally offended more or less trying to muzzle free speech - so WHAT if people are offended? As my DH is fond of saying, "Nothing happens to you when you're offended. You're just offended. You don't die."

oneofsuesylvesterscheerios · 02/12/2011 16:45

I seem to remember a certain person getting very offended with the ideas that she tied babies to missiles and fired them into Libya (or somesuch) a number of years ago. A joke... but one which the person it was aimed at complained bitterly, resulting in mumsnet making a hefty out-of-court settlement, and everyone on MN having to be very careful about their rights to express opinons on certain baby care gurus, jokes or not.

Not everyone agrees on what constitutes a joke. For instance, I found the comments about babies and misiles extremely funny at the time, whereas I find JC's 'jokes' (about public sector workers and train suicides) just the kind of thing the DM-loving public will see as free licence to be as judgmental and ignorant as they please, all in the name of 'pc-gorn-mad' if anyone disagrees.

giveitago · 02/12/2011 16:48

Like the people who were negatively affected by the strike (in some cases in the private sector those people will have their jobs - not nice pensions - on the line) should take the unions to court. More of a cause but they don't. But bless the unions - their feelings were hurt.

Original poster
fizzwhirl · 02/12/2011 16:48

Bue, that's a fantastic quote! I'm going to start using it Grin

OP posts:
velvetvamp · 02/12/2011 17:02

Bue, your Husband = legend!

Original poster
fizzwhirl · 02/12/2011 17:05

My ishoo isn't really about whether Clarkson is funny or not, or even about whether it's ok to joke about wanting to shoot people.

My problem is with people getting 'professionally offended' about something that wasn't even said. They're either willfully misinterpreting it, or not very good at English comprehension. Neither of which is great, really - especially for a union official. Confused

Oh, and I also have a problem with people likening something which they don't like - but which is essentially harmless - to a really serious situation abroad. They are inappropriately 'borrowing' the horror of something genuinely awful in order to make something they just don't like seem more serious. I actually find that really offensive Grin

OP posts:
KeepInMindItsAlmostChristmas · 02/12/2011 17:22

Having seen it only a complete idiot would think he meant it and go complain about it.

upahill · 02/12/2011 17:37

I have just read that the comments were scripted (how come I am not suprised!!) Apparently he went a little bit further than planned ( shot in front of their families)

But who really cares?

Bue · 02/12/2011 17:38

Yeah, occasionally he actually talks sense :)

DesertOrchid · 02/12/2011 18:32

I find it slightly hypocritical to see the unions getting their knickers in a twist about what is clearly a non-opinion and non-issue, suggesting it will influence people and that JC can't tell people what to do, it's outrageous etc etc...

... when for the last few weeks I have (as currentlynotteaching-teacher but still union member) received innumerable texts, pieces of paper and information written in the most appallingly inflammatory, dictatorial and biased fashion. These all tell me I must vote over the action, I must vote yes, I must be cross about my pension, I must not do my job if told not to...

Obviously as a teacher I needed to belong in case anything untoward happens, but I do dislike this assumption that all members of all unions feel the same and that those in charge can speak for everyone.

wordfactory · 02/12/2011 18:35

Someone just sent me a link to the MP for Hull yapping on and on about how JC had said this before the watershed and ickle children were going to bed terrified for their parenst lives!!!!

OMFG.

Hull is one of the most disadvantaged parts of this country. The jobless figures are dire, the schools rank as some of the worst in the UK. The children of Hull have a lot more to feckin' worry about that Jeremy Bleeding Clarkson.

A note to the left : the country is in a state. Please prioritise your energies accordingly. I thank you.

boaty · 02/12/2011 18:38

Jeremy Clarkson 1, Unite 0.
Next round? Xmas Hmm

JaneBirkin · 02/12/2011 18:40

I haven't read this thread, just the OP briefly but I just wanted to say that we had the telly on the other night, and for a few minutes it was the One show. I remember walking through the room, and seeing JC on it and thinking WHOSE idea was that, it's a total anachronism to have a funny, slightly offensive, dark humoured presenter on a show that is best described as a temple to mundanity and boredom.
It's M&S for television. It's dreadful and it's shallow and it's perfectly 'nice' above all else.
Seriously - what was he doing there?
I thought his comments made perfect sense in the context, were completely ironic, and warranted a small laugh if nothing more.

The expressions on the faces of Matt Baker and that woman were just ridiculous...it was as though someone had said 'shit' on Blue Peter.

I can understand why folk didn't want it said before the watershed. Yes of course - not great for children to hear those terms.

But I really think it was a massive hyped up fuss over very little, they just chose to take it the wrong way because they could.

Idiotic.

JaneBirkin · 02/12/2011 18:44

I mean I just don't understand what the programmers thought he had to oFFER to the viewers of the one show. Surely in a poll they would prefer an interview with Alan Titchmarsh or that bloke off As Time Goes By or something

JaneBirkin · 02/12/2011 18:46

I missed the bit about people jumping in front of trains. That sounds a bit nasty.

Again though...on Top Gear it would probably go unnoticed.

What did they expect him to do on that programme? Talk fondly about his grandchildren and pets?

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