Is there a little bit of racism in all of us? Like the old birds of a feather flock together even humans are conscience of being different from one another. We may all bleed red but that often insidious feeling of superiority does manifest itself. British television series Top Gear’s producer has apologized for broadcasting a “light-hearted” joke by its host Jeremy Clarkson who used the word slope, a derogatory term for people of Asian descent, while referring to a man who crossed a makeshift bridge built over a river.
“That is a proud moment, but there’s a slope on it,” Clarkson said in the show.
An Indian-origin actress, Somi Guha, 36, last month sued the BBC for up to one million pounds ($1.6 million) for the racist remark.
The BBC says they did not know that the word “slope” was derogatory for people from a region where eyes tend to slant a bit as opposed to the Caucasian cut.
Sure. That is like saying the US troops in Vietnam did not know what a gook was or the Brits had never heard of a kraut.
Good for Somi Guha, whoever she is. The pun was steeped in racism and it is incredibly naïve to imagine that Top gear is only about motoring. Under the “honesty” umbrella the show pans the nations it films in and then uses slippery clever rhetoric and scripting to make it all look like good, clean fun.
If someone is offended you just shrug, smile and say, oh be a sport. No, it is not, it is often just rude and unthinking.
See how producer Andy Wilman explained the usage in a statement, “It was a light-hearted wordplay joke referencing both the build quality of the bridge and the local Asian man who was crossing.”
The remark left viewers outraged with Twitter users describing it as “not big, not clever, not funny” and “a gag too far”. Absolutely spot on. Racial humor can be funny and only funny when it is done without conceit or hurtfulness. We are racist because it makes us feel better about ourselves. Also, stereotyping is ugly and there is just too much of it on TV and radio. Much of it is cringe worthy. Using accents that are stretched out of context and caricatured are insulting and demean whole populations. It has become far too facile to see laughter of the happy sort in poking crude fun at others unless you are prepared to first place yourself as a target.
