OT: Clarkson

spindrift said:

Sara Kirk said:

spindrift <[email hidden]> wrote:

[ ... ]

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

If someone is irritated by criticism of irresponsible drivers to the
extent of taking it out on cyclists, a pretty bizarre notion, then
Clarkson's words are doubly irresponsible and deserve the criticism. I
eat bacon.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I'm a vegetarian cyclist who can, but chooses never to, drive who does
on occasion (i.e. during winter!) wear odd head gear, some of which has
been know to incorporate a bobble or two.
Merely as a data point I'd like to say I find Clarkson extremely funny
and watch Top Gear every week; it has never occurred to me to take him
or any of the rest of the daft banter seriously.
On the other hand I find your desperate spittle-doused fulminations
rather irritating and hope to heaven no one will ever tar me with your
brush.
Anyway. Toodle pip - must get the silly hat on to ride home.
Sara

Quoted message said:

Frothing at the gills AND spittle-flecked, quite a trick.
Once again, I doubt whether you would attack anyone just because a fat
boorish minor celebrity endorses attacking people Sara, I'm just not
sure there isn't at least a few Sun readers who aren't at your irony
detection level.
From The Sun discussion pages, an example of Clarkson's audience:
13/12/2007 15:00:13
Re:Canadian Muslim father kills 16yr old daughter for, guess what?
"She's ugly anyway. At least its one less mussie in the world."
http://www.thesun.co.uk/discussions/posts/list/9/Canadian_Muslim_father_kills_16yr_old_daughter_for~44~_guess_what~63~-46219.page

Unlike me (and, I suspect, others hereabouts), you are another example
of JC's audience, aren't you?

So what makes you think that the majority of his Sun-reading audience
aren't just like you?

Ian Smith said:

You do realise that you increasingly make Paul Smith look measured,
reasonable and coherent, don't you?

He doesn't realise that. Which is the basic problem here. He's had lots
of chances with lots of people pointing it out but it won't sink in, so
now he joins the likes of TrollB in the Bozo Bin. I imagine irony's
probably lost on him too...

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Rob Morley said:

spindrift [email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

I don't think my posts encourage anything at all really,

The way that you express your views does you no favours. If people here
find you irritating then just how seriously do you think you'll be taken
by non-cyclists?

I like spindrift ... so not all folk here are irritated. But how do
you suggest pointing out the serious issues that spindrift raises
should be tackled... presumably not by just ignoring every fatality
till all the cars run out of petrol?

On 13 Dec, 23:36, JNugent <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

spindrift said:

Sara Kirk said:

spindrift <[email hidden]> wrote:

[ ... ]

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

>If someone is irritated by criticism of irresponsible drivers to the
>extent of taking it out on cyclists, a pretty bizarre notion, then
>Clarkson's words are doubly irresponsible and deserve the criticism. I
>eat bacon.
I'm a vegetarian cyclist who can, but chooses never to, drive who does
on occasion (i.e. during winter!) wear odd head gear, some of which has
been know to incorporate a bobble or two.
Merely as a data point I'd like to say I find Clarkson extremely funny
and watch Top Gear every week; it has never occurred to me to take him
or any of the rest of the daft banter seriously.
On the other hand I find your desperate spittle-doused fulminations
rather irritating and hope to heaven no one will ever tar me with your
brush.
Anyway. Toodle pip - must get the silly hat on to ride home.
Sara

Frothing at the gills AND spittle-flecked, quite a trick.
Once again, I doubt whether you would attack anyone just because a fat
boorish minor celebrity endorses attacking people Sara, I'm just not
sure there isn't at least a few Sun readers who aren't at your irony
detection level.
From The Sun discussion pages, an example of Clarkson's audience:
13/12/2007 15:00:13
Re:Canadian Muslim father kills 16yr old daughter for, guess what?
"She's ugly anyway. At least its one less mussie in the world."
http://www.thesun.co.uk/discussions/posts/list/9/Canadian_Muslim_fath...

Unlike me (and, I suspect, others hereabouts), you are another example
of JC's audience, aren't you?

So what makes you think that the majority of his Sun-reading audience
aren't just like you?- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

"So what makes you think that the majority of his Sun-reading
audience
aren't just like you? "

I've never claimed otherwise, I'm asking if the MINORITY , possibly
even just a few Sun readers like the one quoted above are equipped
with the irony detection levels required to recognise that when
Clarkson recommends killing cyclists for fun it may not plant the seed
of an idea.

Dunno about you, I'm uneasy that a Sun reader like nulqh reads
encouragement of attacking cyclists. I'd suggest a man or woman who is
pleased by the murder of a young woman by virtue of her faith may also
hold prejorative, aggressive thoughts about other social sub groups.
Can you think of one?

big_one said:

I like spindrift ... so not all folk here are irritated. But how do
you suggest pointing out the serious issues that spindrift raises
should be tackled... presumably not by just ignoring every fatality
till all the cars run out of petrol?

No, but repeatedly posting and referring back to old news (when did
Clarkson write that article?), and in a forum[*] where most of the
readers already know that it's not OK to run cyclists over for fun,
doesn't seem to be having the required effect either. Even accepting
that "Something must be done", it does not follow inevitably that "this
is something, therefore we must do it".

I find these threads deeply tedious. I usually ignore them, but it
doesn't stop there: they also have a bad effect on the rest of the group
because they suck in non-cyclists who come here for the arguments then
start looking for ways to derail the other threads which are actually
*about cycling* onto whatever their hobby horse is.

-dan

[*] in the general sense of forum as "place (virtual or otherwise) where
discussion happens". Yes, I know it's technically a newsgroup.

In article <[email hidden]>, Sara
Kirk
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

I'm a vegetarian cyclist who can, but chooses never to, drive who does
on occasion (i.e. during winter!) wear odd head gear, some of which has
been know to incorporate a bobble or two.

Only a vegetarian? Not nearly cranky enough. :-)

Peter Clinch said:

Not true, you encourage use of killfiles... Bye!

Hurrah.
That exchange was looking very one-sided to me. Spindrift was KF'd a
long time ago.

--
Mike
Van Tuyl titanium Dura ace 10
Fausto Coppi aluminium Ultegra 10
Raleigh Record sprint mongrel
Huissoon project bike (in bits, natch)