PC gone mad? Critics of Top Gear

[TessaK]

Both Steve Coogan and Stewart Lee have recently had a go at Top Gear. When I read Steve Coogan's comments, I couldn't help wondering why, after three appearances on the show and many years of misogyny, homophobia and racism, it was comments about Mexicans that made him decide TG had gone too far.

I'm also getting a bit fed up of not being able to criticise these three men without accusations of being humourless or some sort of man-hating harpy. They are white middle aged middle class men sneering at pretty much everyone else for their own amusement.

Freedom of expression has responsibilities. There's a big difference between someone taking offence at something that a)was not intended to be offensive and b)no sane person would be offended by and being deliberately offensive.

In defence of the Top Gear team, they're as likely to take the piss out of their own shortcomings as they are of anyone else's. Any fan knows that Hamster is a vain midget, Captain Slow is a boring pedant and Clarkson is a fat old bloke with bad hair. The Mexican sports-car stereotyping, I think, was in the same episode as the Aussie Top Gear team arriving in a prison wagon and being referred to constantly as 'Bruce'... although they called our lads 'Nigel' throughout so I think they gave as good as they got.

Yes, it's boorish and childish and if the same remarks were excised from silly Top Gear and inserted into a more serious/worthy programme they'd stick out like an offensively sore thumb.

Steve Coogan he's hardly PC! He did a sketch about some contacts he had with two Irish men in (his home) the travel lodge. He was taking the piss saying"there's moir to Ireland dan dat" was a preety good accent and I'm half half Irish. LOL! it was brilliant!