Top Gear racist remark (again)

[Professor Yaffle]

Sounds similar to the time a sports commentator said something like, "I think we've found the chink in *chinese gymnast's* armour".

 

[Travis]

US, and I had never heard of it before.

 

[CastorTroyy]

From the U.S. here, and have heard it.

I think the first time was when I saw Pulp Fiction.

"...He'd be damned if any slopes were gonna put their greasy yellow hands on his boy's birthright. So he hid it in the one place he knew he could hide something..."

 

[Ian Osborne]

UK here, and never heard it used as a racist term before the Top Gear controversy.

 

[Dr. Keith]

Hmm, I watched the episode right after it aired, and I can't recall the boys doing or saying anything overtly racist, I guess the joke went over my head. They pretty much had nothing but good things to say about the area, and the people of Burma. I certainly didn't come away from the show thinking that the BBC was "institutionally racist". Watch the show if you think they're racists. Honestly it has almost nothing to do with cars, and you'll see some parts of the world that have rarely, if ever been filmed.

Agreed.

But the non-pology was a bit awkwardly worded. No response would have been better. Wilman needs to stay in the background as much as possible. Surely Jeremy could fit something into his next Stig introduction to address the issue.

 

[Tony]

US and I have not heard it personally. Only on Pulp Fiction (this thread reminded me) and read about it on wikipedia when doing research on different racial slurs.

 

[Rat]

UK and I have heard it, but only from US sources. I think it occurs a couple of times in American Psycho, for example.

Since I am aware of it, however, it never fails to amuse me at a local pub when, just before turning into the corridor to the toilets, there is a sign saying 'Beware of the slope'.

 

[BStrong]

So apparently, Jeremy Clarkson is busy being racist again.

http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-27123434





My husband had not ever heard "slope" as a term towards Asian people, but I have. So my question is (and poll to soon follow) have you heard the term "slope" used as a racial epithet towards East Asian people?

Many times.

 

[zooterkin]

I've only ever heard the term used in American films, and I suspect that's the case for the Top Gear team too. It's not a term used routinely in the UK.

 

[Jack by the hedge]

UK and heard it in (US) movies. Never heard it used in real life.

I saw that episode of Top Gear and remember cringeing when Clarkson said it. I had a moment of wondering if he had meant to make the double entendre and concluded that yes, he had, because that's the only reason the line was in there.

 

[abaddon]

Yep. Not UK, US or Australian, but it is common knowledge that it is a racist epithet.

Oddly, it also has the meaning "mosey" here as in "I am going to slope over to the pub after work".

 

[Rat]

Yep. Not UK, US or Australian, but it is common knowledge that it is a racist epithet.

Oddly, it also has the meaning "mosey" here as in "I am going to slope over to the pub after work".

It has that meaning everywhere, I think. Usually with 'off' and implying that you are attempting to leave inconspicuously.

 

[Lisa Simpson]

I was in elementary school when Saigon fell and Orange County was flooded with Vietnamese refugees. I heard the term a lot. My husband is nine years older than me, so I suspect that slight generational difference is why he never heard it.

I'm not inclined to give Jeremy Clarkson the benefit of the doubt, but then, I can't stand him or Top Gear. I freely admit my bias.

 

[The Central Scrutinizer]

Won't policing language like this put us on a slippery slope?

 

[LondonJohn]

Won't policing language like this put us on a slippery slope?

Oh, very drole...............

And there's a big difference between policing language and combatting racism - especially in the insidious casual form in which it's presented (for "humour", no less....) in this crass adolescent-boy programme.

Would it be fine, for example, if Clarkson had casually used the "n-word" or the "c-word" to make "humorous" reference to a black person in the programme? Would it be called "policing the language" to express disgust and distaste at that?

 

[daredelvis]

I'm from the U.S., I served in Viet-Nam and I heard the term used. Endlessly.

I would be more interested in a breakdown by age. I'm in my 40's, and I also heard this term quite a bit growing up. I figure that for Americans, the further you get away from the those exposed to the Vietnam era, the less it will be recognized.


Daredelvis

 

[Elaedith]

Yes, in Australia as a teenager at a time when there was hostility towards Vietnamese immigrants.

 

[LondonJohn]

I was in elementary school when Saigon fell and Orange County was flooded with Vietnamese refugees. I heard the term a lot. My husband is nine years older than me, so I suspect that slight generational difference is why he never heard it.

I'm not inclined to give Jeremy Clarkson the benefit of the doubt, but then, I can't stand him or Top Gear. I freely admit my bias.

There's no benefit-of-the-doubt to be given here. They've already admitted that they intended it to have the double meaning of the racial slur.

On the one hand it's pleasing to see that they're not trying to weasel their way out with a blanket denial. But on the other hand, it's disturbing and somewhat shocking to hear a senior executive producer making one of the BBC's highest-profile programmes arguing that it was nothing more than a "light-hearted wordplay joke". Diversity training for Mr Wilman please!

 

[HighRiser]

I love Top Gear, and hate Clarkson.

The Midwestern USAian racists I am unfortunately familiar with use slope and gook interchangeably, at least since the early 70's. Some Klan friends of my step father used to babysit me and they got their kicks teaching kids despicable things.

 

[Patchwork Moth]

I'm from the UK and no, I've never heard it.