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Original poster

Top Gear - has there been a thread on the comments made about SN on here?

137 replies

oliveoil · 30/01/2007 10:10

Only I can't find one on Search, so sorry if repeating.

Jeremy Clarkson and the man with the ridicuous hair asking Richard Hammond if he "was now mental" and giving him a tissue "in case he dribbles".

And in the interview with Jamie Oliver they said somehting about him having a "special needs face".

I mean, this is the BBC ffs not some crappy channel.

OP posts:
DumbledoresGirl · 30/01/2007 21:57

PMSL Spidermama, some people do that to us all at some time or another.

BTW, is it OK to call JG a fuckwit? I have no idea of ettiquette!

Spidermama · 30/01/2007 21:57

DG you said the 'F' word.

quadrophenia · 30/01/2007 21:58

But people who aren't on tv don't have a responsibility to their viewers, of course i accept it goes on and of course we aren't going to change evryones views but tv makers do have a responsibility and C4 have been slated for this whilst with Clarkson its deemed ok. We know people are rascist behind closed doors and openly it doesn't mean its ok to see it on our televisions.

Jimjams2 · 30/01/2007 21:58

I find the whole alan Partridge "mentalist" stuff hilarious as well. When discussing our disabled children (brain damaged) with friends we talk about our "whacky kids". One of the most wonderful things about ds1 is that he make me laugh because he can be so off the wall. I'd hate it if we had to be oh so terribly serious when talking about him. In fact I think I've dropped any friends who had to be oh so terribly serious and tragic.

Just can't get offenede about this. If he pointed at ds1 and said "mental" or "special needs" then I would be (and it wouldn't be funy), but using it in this way, nope sorry not offended.

DumbledoresGirl · 30/01/2007 21:59

Spidermama - yes, every day, about 100 times......but not with "wit" on the end. Is that a MN word or can I add it to my vocabulary?

Why does everyone think I am Mother Teresa reincarnated?

quadrophenia · 30/01/2007 21:59
Jimjams2 · 30/01/2007 22:00

But where's the offence? It wasn't aimed at anyone who couldn't defend themselves. It wasn't bitching behind someone's back (as in the Shilpa stuff).

quadrophenia · 30/01/2007 22:02

But if he said he was pulling a joey it would have been offensive, is it not the same?
Honestly I don't get why its okay, i wasn't personally hugely offended or anything just wondering really why its not on the same level.

quadrophenia · 30/01/2007 22:05

BTW I hope I'm not coming accross as ignorant because I do understand the meaning behind all of that but i really did think this would provoke outrage.

DumbledoresGirl · 30/01/2007 22:09

Can't really answer your question Quadrophenia because I don't know about other stuff, but do you no think that there is a place for this kind of male joshing on tv? Just because some people don't like it, does it really mean it shouldn't be shown on tv? I know his comments aren't pc or nice, but he is not advocating anything illegal or immoral. I wish a lot of other tv shows could say the same thing (re the immoral bit).

mummytosteven · 30/01/2007 22:09

I think the difference between the JC situation and the Jade situation is that the JC situation was effectively a discussion amongst friends, without any real power differential, whereas the Jade situation was not between friends, and Shilpa was the more vulnerable in terms of being outnumbered in the house, and the comments made behind her back.

Jimjams2 · 30/01/2007 22:10

Joey is offensive (to me) because it is aimed at one person- Joey Deacon himself. I don't think it would have been offensive to JO to have said that- but it would have been offensive to Joey Deacon (who was a remarkable man).

When s afamily member (with a pregnant wife) said to me " we know we don't want an

quadrophenia · 30/01/2007 22:14

pmsl at being compared to JO being seen as offensive, cracked me up when they were talking about dieting when JO is visibly getting fatter!

TBH I understand wht you guys are saying and can certainly see things from your point of view. I guess just with the whole BB thing i thought that perhaps other TV would come under the same scrutiny, but like MTS said it isn't the same thing and yes there is definately a place for banter on TV.

NotAnOtter · 30/01/2007 22:19

see clarkson fundraising on helen house??????? ironic

Jimjams2 · 30/01/2007 22:21

ha- we were having the same conversation in this house re the dieting.

satine · 30/01/2007 22:26

NotanOtter - JC and his wife have raised over £500,000 for Helen and Douglas House, a children's hospice and nursing home. Not to be lightly dismissed, I don't think.

Fillyjonk · 31/01/2007 07:37

well i dunno

could he not have just donated a small percentage of his rather large earnings to the charity instead? Sold a car or part of his family fortune or something?

celebrities raising money for charity always makes me . so instead of putting their hands in their rather large pockets themselves, wayhey, they get us to do it! genuis

he is a racist , homophobic anti welsh, puerile prick.

but because he is a middle aged public school man, everyone is "oooh a national treasure"

no, he's a dickhead

Original poster
oliveoil · 31/01/2007 09:15

re Jamie Oliver and his weight gain and his Sainsbury's ad "try something new today" dh heard a presenter say it should be "fry something new today" as he becoming rather lardy

OP posts:
Jimjams2 · 31/01/2007 09:21

I've been pondering this- what is a special needs face????

I think its interesting as I've observed that lots of people underestimate ds1's disability because he's good looking (not really just my view- lots comment on it). Then there was the woman in Sainsbury's who asked about him (to my helper) said "oh he's just mild then is he" (despite him yelping and being generally odd at the time), so we said no he was severe. So then she started repeatedly saying "such a shame as he;'s so beautiful, such a shame he;s so good looking, such a beautiful child" and I was desperate to ask if it would be less of a shame if he was pig ugly.

I was genuinely interested as it something I've noticed a lot- people comment on ds1's looks as if they don't fit with the rest of him.

There's a theory re society's view of disability in there somewhere.

Cappuccino · 31/01/2007 09:53

jimjams we had a lot of that with dd when she started walking with her frame

'oh but she's so pretty'

'but she has such lovely curly hair'

I've been thinking about this a lot overnight and was reminded of an interview with Neil Morrissey in a woman's magazine I once read. It was going on about how he was such a catch and what was he looking for in a girl, and he said the usual thing about someone gorgeous and funny and clever and then said 'And who doesn't dribble'

I was livid. So you're saying, Neil, are you, that my beautiful daughter with the curly hair, who is in the top half of her class and is funny and caring and lovely, can't grow up into a girlfriend worthy of an bloke like yourself who shags another woman while he's living with one girlfriend and then splits a totally different woman's marriage up?

But he only said 'dribble', which is what Clarkson said. I'm like you in that I can't understand sometimes why I am offended by one thing and not another. But I wasn't offended by Clarkson because, like DG and many others have said, it was in a context of blokey humour by people who obviously did care about each other, and because it wasn't aimed at a disabled person. It was, to my mind, a pisstake of what others were wondering and the stereotypes that his audience might have.

Furball · 31/01/2007 10:01

in my day at school 25 years ago special needs was a class for people needing extra help, which I think is obviously what jamie meant by saying he spent most of his time in special needs.

Also - I don't get how come Jeremy Clarkson is responsible for deaths on the roads by speeding kids?

Cappuccino · 31/01/2007 10:06

I watch Top Gear on and off, I do enjoy it

And I don't see much of this speed-freakery that everyone is going on about

I don't watch it all the time so I don't see everything, but while they do do pieces on speed they always seem to be on racetracks: there's never any suggestion of that when they're driving on the roads

They're usually doing something like ridiculously slow races where they buy clapped out old boats on wheels and see if they can get them as far as the water without breaking down or sinking

Original poster
oliveoil · 31/01/2007 10:08

yes, I agree

dh watches it, and I half watch rolling my eyes at the childish behaviour, but they race v expensive cars on race tracks

or on empty roads

what is the man called with the wig like hair?

OP posts:
Furball · 31/01/2007 10:16

James May

Pruni · 31/01/2007 10:17

Message withdrawn