I am an avid viewer of the most fabulous TV show Top Gear. I am also familiar with the American Born Again Christians, and that almost half the population voted for George W. Bush. However, my first hand experiences with America have been quite liberal areas like New England and California, so I was left completely speechless when I saw Top Gear Sunday night.
In the episode in question (as always available on YouTube) Jeremy, Richard, and James travel to Miami where they each have to buy a car for 1000 USD. Then they take a road trip to New Orleans where they would attempt to sell the cars again. Along the way they would perform different tasks.
It was one of these tasks that went so horribly wrong. They stopped before the state border of Alabama and got the following challenge: “You must not be shot or arrested as you drive across the proud state of Alabama, but you will get bonus points if you can get one of the others shot or arrested. You will therefore decorate one another’s cars in such a way to draw maximum attention to yourself in this Bible-bashing Redneck deeply Christian part of the Union.”
If you watch the episode you will see their slogans, and associated comments as they make their way into Alabama. They do not get into trouble until they pull off the highway and stop at a gas station to fill up the cars. One of the patrons and the owner were not amused. Now, if I was offended by someone I would ask them to leave and refuse to serve them. I would not call up my Redneck friends so that they could come and beat up the offenders.
However, that was exactly what happened. Shortly a pick-up full of burly Rednecks pulled up, making Jeremy, Richard, and James bail. Unfortunately, James’ Cadillac had a starter problem, and Richard had to do the World’s fast jump-start. As the Top Gear presenters were taking off the Rednecks turned on the film crew and started to throw rocks at them. I don’t know about you, but I thought stoning was frowned upon in the Western World.
The images reminded me of what we saw from Afghanistan while the Taliban were in power where things that were deemed offensive were destroyed, and those responsible were killed. I am still in shock that someone would use violence to viciously attack someone because they had offensive slogans written on their cars. I would probably have told Top Gear that it was a bad idea if I had the chance, but I did not in my wildest fantasies imagine it would turn as ugly as it did.
Fortunately, no one from the Top Gear crew were harmed, and as they were well away they quickly, although a bit frantically, removed the slogans. However, this has opened my eyes to a part of the US population I was blissfully, if a bit naïvely, unaware of, and has served to explain more about US foreign policy than a full year of American history classes could.
Bonus fact: After the Top Gear crew arrived in New Orleans they were so shocked at the level of destruction still present, a full year after Katrina, that they decided to give away the cars instead of selling them. Jeremy managed to give away his Camaro although it smelled lightly of cow, Richard gave away his old Dodge Ram, but no one wanted James’ Cadillac. After the cameras stopped rolling, however, a lawyer from the Church that they donated the cars through, came up to Jeremy and said that they had been promised a ’91 Camaro by the Top Gear researcher, not the ’89 model that Jeremy actually had. The threatened to sue, but 20,000 USD could make the lawsuit go away… Says a lot about the mentality of some people, doesn’t it?
Tags: Just Thoughts
Stereotypes make for good ratings. I hope you enjoyed the show. They gave you what you wanted. Is this reality? Of course not. They found what they wanted, because that is what they were looking for. Light foder for the general public trying to escape their humdrum lives. I am a native New Orleanian. I have seen how stereotypes are just as bad as racism. The purpose is to feel superior by putting others down, while in reality the only person you are putting down is yourself. Enjoy the TV, but be sure not to be fooled that it is the real world.