(no subject)

[dreamer_easy]

"I can tell you from my own experience, living in the US, Mexicans work themselves to the bone doing all the dirty thankless jobs that the white middle-class natives won't do."
- Steve Coogan puts the boot into Top Gear for that oddly harsh and random slagging off of Mexicans. (I will also pay the comment "He's not even a real hamster.") There may not be many Mexicans in the UK, lads, but millions of Americans watch you. So please don't. Especially not you, Rich. Don't spoil my dirty thoughts involving those jeans and the bonnet of your Porsche 911 by reminding me that IRL I'd probably be inching away from you as from the drunk at a barbie.

ETA: Hammond via his Web site: "Look, I was talking about the cartoon characters in western movies we all watched as kids and I am really sorry if I've offended anyone. Yes, we were stereotyping on Top Gear and yes, that can go wrong - as it rather has - but it can also be quite funny and that's what we were hoping to do."

You and your jeans are excused, mate. Now stick to taking the piss out of folks like the Germans and Australians: nations made up mostly of white people on a comparable social and economic footing to yourselves. That is funny - especially when they've got the chance to give some of their own back, Nigel.

Comments

[qthewetsprocket.livejournal.com]

Sadly, like all racial stereotypes, the comments on last week's show only serve to reveal the speaker's ignorance. The Top Gear hosts are very well-traveled men of the world, but judging from that one exchange, you'd never know it...remarks like that sound like they were uttered by someone who's had no more experience of Mexico than watching an old Speedy Gonzales cartoon.

And yes, speaking as someone who lives in an area with a lot of Mexican immigrants, what I see is them absolutely working their asses off in menial jobs every day of their lives. Thus the boys' comments (which seemed to come totally out of the blue) were a very WTF?? moment for me.

(As a side note, I think it's worth wondering why Clarkson could probably have gotten away with a stereotypical remark like that - yes, there'd be letters, but we'd all just collectively roll our eyes and sigh 'oh Jeremy' and move on - but when Hammond and May try it, then we get upset. Coogan's metaphor of the weaker kids hiding behind the school bully sadly begins to ring a bit true here, I'm afraid.)

Don't spoil my dirty thoughts involving those jeans and the bonnet of your Porsche 911

...You fantasize about Richard washing his dirty car with his jeans?

[purrdence.livejournal.com]

...You fantasize about Richard washing his dirty car with his jeans?

*whimpers*

Is he wearing anything else?

[qthewetsprocket.livejournal.com]

Soap suds. :)

[dreamer-easy.livejournal.com]

A gag.

[dreamer-easy.livejournal.com]

...You fantasize about Richard washing his dirty car with his jeans?

Doesn't everyone?

[murasaki-1966.livejournal.com]

Personally, I'm for Captain Slow.

[tysolna]

I'd rather have Mr May - brain wins over looks every day.

[dreamer-easy.livejournal.com]

Not enough brains to keep his mouth shut, alas!

[tysolna]

I think it was scripted. I hope it was scripted. Even then, not good.