Cronus wrote:And what would be the point? If he's said the 'N' word, he's deliberately mumbled it so as to be almost unintelligible.
If he said the N word then we'd hear it. If he mumbled something that possibly sounds like the N word but could equally apply to 'Begger' then HE DIDN'T SAY THE N WORD.
The "audio expert" has provided a transcript that concludes that he has said the N word. If he has been caught saying that word then IMO he's getting sacked from Top Gear and virtually all of his media work. He's going to get another job as easily as Ron Atkinson has.
So yes, I think hearing what he actually said is pretty important.
Quote:Are we now lynching people for recognising an offensive word and not uttering it out loud? Granted, perhaps not the wisest choice of rhyme in the first place but again he recognised that and changed the word to 'teacher'.
I honestly wouldn't know if I knew the N word version of eni meeni when I was a kid. I might have done, but I could have easily known a less offensive version.
I do recognise that eni meeni as a way of deciding between different cars is a very Top Gear thing to do. He might have been trying to get away with a racist jibe or he could have just been mumbling a rhyme from when he was a kid that he couldn't even remember the words to.
Quote:If I were to sing the version of the old nursery rhyme '10 Little N*gger Boys' and mumble over the 'N' word every time am I a racist? If I sing a rap song containing the 'N' word am I racist or should I mumble that bit? If I wrote a blacklist on a blackboard am I racist?
It would depend on the context of you doing it. Given these things are difficult to fit into a normal life I'd say unless you had a good excuse you probably were being racist.
I think Clarkson was acting like Clarkson and I'm not sure what he was doing.
Quote:People choose to take offence though I accept Clarkson isn't to everyone's taste (certainly most of the mob on here). Personally I like that way he sticks two fingers up to a sorry, lilly-livered society which declares 'offence' at the drop of a hat and screams for a faux apology and/or resignation, plus he's a fantastic wind-up merchant and everyone (including on here) bites every time.
If he wants to be the new British version of George Carlin and shocking the world while saying things on the borders of acceptability I have no problem with that. But he can't really do it while fronting a massive BBC show on a few million quid a year.
If he actually said the N word then he's pretty much done. If he hasn't actually said it and this is just a Mirror smear campaign then the Mirror needs to follow the NotW out of existence.