Video: BBC Looks for Savages in the Southern USA

[Wiley50]

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3679664434988646531&q=top+gear+rednecks&hl=en

BBC's Top Gear crew films a ha-ha funny tv show about savages in the scary southern part of scary America . .

Well, at least the poor and uneducated part of these Dis-United States of America are providing entertainment to the rest of the world. I suppose that's some kind of relief from fear of America.

What they're saying about the USA:

"I honesty believe that in certain parts of America, people have started to mate with vegetables."

Top Gear:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/topgear/show/episodes/series9episode3.shtml

Attacked by Rednecks while filming in the Deep South

"On land-of-the-free Top Gear, we spent the whole show in the good ole US of A, as we sent Jeremy, Richard and James across the pond on a massive interstate road-trip. . ."

"The next morning the presenters faced their final challenge: to drive their cars across Alabama without getting shot. This might sound relatively easy, but before they set off they were allowed to paint slogans on each other's cars. James ended up with 'Hilary for president' scrawled along the side of his Caddy, Jeremy's Camaro had the words 'Country and western is rubbish', and Richard's pick-up bore the legend 'Man love rules OK'. These sentiments didn't go down too well with some of the locals and, to cut a long story short, we were lucky to make it to New Orleans with our lives."

[boobooday]

1. "Country and Western is Rubbish"

:rofl:

I can just hear the locals now: "yer not from aroun' heah, are ya?"

[yurbud]

4. "It is rubbish. I start rubbing muhsef w'never I hear it. or I rub earl."

[Neshanic]

55. "Rubbish, that some kinda vegetable?"

[fla nocount]

129. It grows wild in ditches, you make pie with it.

Needs a lot of sugar

[yurbud]

2. do they think they can read the word "rubbish"?

[Clark2008]

3. Oh - just what DU needs. Another South-bashing thread.

:eyes:

I'm Southern. I can read the word "rubbish," thank you very much.

And, the South is much LESS scary than parts of NYC. Sorry you're so bigoted.

[yurbud]

6. hear come the League of the South patrol car to defend our heritage (pic)

My family is Southern on both sides and both races.

[Clark2008]

11. At least I know how to use "here" and "hear" properly.

Do they teach you those things out in California?

[yurbud]

31. you mist the inproper conjugation of "come," what shoulda been "comes"

[Le Taz Hot]

69. Hey, I'm in Fresno, CA

You know, home of FR. We get exactly the same crap. And to answer your question, no they don't -- it's called "whole language learning" -- an abortion of an idea whose time came and went and left an entire generation of California school children functionally illiterate.

[Wiley50]

7. I Posted It 'cause I Can Laugh At myself : A TN Resident n/t

[Clark2008]

12. I'm a Tennessean, too.

But, on this board, this kind of "humor" is taken far to seriously by far too many anti-South bigots. We need to represent ourselves well - not play into their stereotyping.

[Wiley50]

14. I Got The Link From Tennessee Guerrilla Women blog

So a lot of Tennesseans think it's funny
esp. because it's about Alabama natives

[Clark2008]

20. I can understand that - and I'm not saying it's NOT funny.

It's just that some (too many) folks on this board REALLY believe we act this way.

We know we don't and; therefore, it's funny.

Have you SEEN some of the attitudes toward Southerners here? Many people on this board honestly believe we run around with no shoes, wear coveralls all the time, drink moonshine from jugs and don't have any education.

I would suspect that on the Tennessee Guerrilla Women's blog, it's taken with the grain of humor for which it's meant. Over here, it's taken as gospel.

[hyphenate]

96. I'm sorry if you're offended

about this, and there probably some people on the board who are Southaphobic or worse, but I don't think you need to make generalizations about it to the point where the overall sense of humor here is bashed whenever such an item pops up at DU.

I'm not from the south, but I have had friends who are through the years, and I understand your point. However, I find it odd that you are ready to chastise some of the people who find humor in this, especially those who are from the south, and have no problem with it.

I have found that if we can't laugh at ourselves, we can't have much of a sense of humor about a great many other things. While many of us would admit that there isn't a whole helluva lot to laugh about during the idiot's administration, if we don't find humor at all, we're only harming ourselves.

As someone who is in a clinical depression since 2003, I have found that joy is a commodity in short supply--I would love to be able to say that I can be easily amused, but I can't. Most of the time, I find jokes just not funny at all--not because they're not amusing, but because my own sense of humor has been compromised. If I can even chuckle, I give credit to whatever "joke" or situation gave that momentary respite to me, regardless of what kind of a joke it was. Over time, however, I have noticed that some DUers are very sensitive and get very defensive way too often, even by the most innocent of jokes. This article reminded me of a Daily Show type skit, and that is what amused me. The Daily Show makes fun of everyone, so noone escapes their brand of wit, and I would really feel someone has a major problem if they can't enjoy TDS. (Unless they're in that small percentage that still supports the idiot-in-chief.)

It can be difficult to figure out whether someone is engaging in self-deprecating humor or picking on another group of people, and that's okay; it just requires a little patience to see which way a post goes.

In real life, people will often feel uncomfortable around someone who is different than themselves, such as someone who has a physical handicap. When that handicapped person can empathize with the non-handicapped person and make a joke out of their own situation, both parties are able to talk with less awkwardness. My best friend Marje was tied to an oxygen tank and a scooter for the last 6 years of her life, and she was the first one to make others comfortable around her by joking and laughing. She was wise enough to understand that laughter is a way to lessen tension and utilizing it took some of the pain away from her circumstances.

Whether you believe it or not, there is an appropriate comment here--"We're not laughing AT you, we're laughing WITH you." I just wish you well and hope that you can understand that.

[5X]

18. If the shoe fits?

[Clark2008]

21. Well, at least you admit we wear shoes.

That's more than a lot of folks on this board will.

Look, if this were the only South-bashing thread - ever - it would be funny. But far too many people here really believe all of the South is that backward. We're not.

[5X]

28. That wasn't very nice of me, and I am sorry.

I am from oklahoma tho, and we have coburn and inhoffe, the most
bass ackards of them all.

[Selatius]

19. Jesus, lighten up with the self-righteous outrage.

I'm here in Mississippi, and even I laughed at the OP.

[Clark2008]

22. OK - then tell the gay or women bashers to "lighten up."

Bigotry is bigotry and I'm tired of it on this fucking board.

Have some pride.

[Hosnon]

33. It's a different ox.

And I bet more than a few of the DUers who have partaken in the craziness of the last few weeks see nothing wrong with bashing the South.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

88. Yeah, regional jokes are the same as gay and sexist jokes.

:eyes: Jesus Christ, do you ENJOY being offended or something? I'm from Oklahoma, and I laughed. There are backwards places in the South. Deal with it.
Duckie

[alfredo]

30. Here's a site about Mississippi

http://www.drbukk.com/gmhom/gmindex.html

Some of them look like parts of my home state Kentucky.

[yurbud]

35. wow--they had a pic of the Space Needle of the South

But how do you get up there to see the view over the fence?

[alfredo]

39. From the roof of your monster truck.

[yurbud]

40. it needs a confederate flag

[alfredo]

54. The horn plays Dixie.

[yurbud]

60. I guess that counts--but you have to wear the Col. Sanders beard just to be sure.

[alfredo]

61. I was thinking more on the lines of Joe Dirt

Actually, Col Sanders was a very smart individual. He had a very progressive attitude about race, and was very open and giving to all.


One thing he was known to do was while on his way to a function he'd swap places and roles with his limo driver. Here was the Col. driving his white Rolls, his African American driver sitting where the Col. usually sat. The Col. would get out of the car and open the door for his driver.

It was his way of thumbing his nose at the class and race traditions of the south.

[yurbud]

62. I didn't say any of it was bad, just funny

[alfredo]

75. Your mention of Sanders brought back many memories.

Joe Dirt-- David Spade

[yurbud]

78. I remember when they used to have a fiberglass statue of him in the restaurant

[alfredo]

80. He dissassociated himself from the business after John Y Brown

took over. He felt they changed the recipe for the worst.


There is a dish named after the Brown family hotel, the Hot Brown. It is the ultimate comfort food.

http://www.brownhotel.com/hotbrown.php3 This is the original recipe, but many restaurants use cheddar cheese instead. They should make you sign a release before eating it.



The Brown Hotel (Louisville) was where GI's from Fort Knox stayed on weekend pass. Booze, hookers, and hot browns, life couldn't be better.

[yurbud]

82. they changed the recipe?! Does anyone have the old one?

[alfredo]

83. They changed the breading to make it "crunchy."

The last time I ate at a KFC, it seemed the pieces were smaller than what one gets from other sources.

Popeye's is much better in my opinion. It's been a long time since I've eaten fast food, so things may have changed.

[yurbud]

87. the extra crispy recipe (glued on corn flakes) but they still had original

they went through a couple of variations of barbecue too.

The worst thing they made once was "popcorn chicken" I didn't realize what it was until after I ate an order--battered skin.

[alfredo]

89. Reminds me of Long John Silver- fish flavored deep fried batter.

BTW, the first Long John Silver was in Lexington Ky. I apologize for all of us here.

Chicken nuggets are probably what they call "sweepin's."

[yurbud]

90. probably the last bits of meat they blow off the bone with a high pressure hose

I worked in a butcher shop as a kid, so I saw how they make sausage and hot dogs.

And I still ate it.

[alfredo]

98. I was a vegetarian for seven years. It was the healthiest

years of my life. I married a meat eater so I have to indulge every now and then.

[yurbud]

100. I'm pretty sure I'd die if I did that. As a kid, I ate meat almost exclusively.

[alfredo]

109. I was a meat and potato kind of guy, but when I dropped out

after the Army, I fell in with the hippies, yippies, and other denizens of the underground. There was where I learned to appreciate vegetarian foods. Also, I was very poor and couldn't afford meat. I adapted and thrived. I was what one would call a lacto ovo. I ate milk and eggs. I still try to eat low on the food chain, though a good steak for my wife and I does taste good.

I'm the cook at home so most of our meals are vegetarian.

Go over to the cooking forum and look for my Iraqi Chickpea soup. It's the one that uses dry mustard and Cilantro. It will knock your socks off.

[yurbud]

32. Do you have any idea what it's like to be a white man wrongly deprived of his slaves and mocked fur

a century and a half?

Oh wait, you said you was Missippissi, so nevermind.

[BlackVelvet04]

73. Southerners are fair game.....

didn't you know? And if you happen to like NASCAR you must be a beer drinking, knuckle dragging Neanderthal.

Quite frankly I'm getting pretty sick of the south bashing,too.

[Syrinx]

5. too bad they survived

I'd have kicked their ass myself.

[Clark2008]

9. And they call us bigots, eh Syrinx?

Last time I checked, stereotyping an entire group of people is the height of bigotry.

[Syrinx]

10. that's what I always thought

Maybe I should reconsider. :shrug:

[rockymountaindem]

8. They weren't going to kill them

Even those peeps in the back of the pickup weren't so stupid as to kill three guys in front of a camera crew in broad daylight. I mean, who hasn't thrown rocks at foreigners? :sarcasm:

[Homer Wells]

43. Remember "Bull" Connor

and the Alabama cops?
They certainly WERE stupid enough to brutalize the segregation protesters, (both black and white) right there on national television.

Regardless of geographical location, many bigots have no sense whatsoever.

They are so convinced of their own self-righteousness, that others opinions have no relevance whatsoever.

[T_i_B]

66. Actually,

they chased off the camera crew first!

[Wiley50]

13. BTW I Got This Courtesy Of Tennessee Guerrilla Women blog n/t

[Little Wing]

15. The whole episode is good. They bought cars to drive to New Orleans

to sell, but when they arrived they found out that NOTHING has been done to really rebuild the place, and had footage of driving 15 miles down a road without seeing a single intact building. They ripped America to shreds in this episode, and I agreed with everything they said.

"This country's idea of food is nothing but meat in bread, and someone asking if you want cheese with it"

[Syrinx]

17. a British film crew criticizing New Orleans food?

Now, THAT'S funny.

:rofl:

[Little Wing]

25. No, critizing the food everywhere, not NO

[Syrinx]

27. They're British?

Care for some blood pudding, or bubble and squeak? Yum!

[zanne]

42. Really.

I spent two months in England and lost ten pounds.

[Clark2008]

24. But that's a problem with the federal government - and Bush.

Not with the South.

The whole country's fucked up because of him.

[Little Wing]

26. Like I said, they ripped America

[theboss]

104. A Brit is actually criticizing Southern food?

That takes balls.

Let's boil some sausages for 18 hours and call it dinner....

[muriel_volestrangler]

111. No, they actually criticised cheeseburgers

and the tendency to put cheese on everything, and think it must be better. The punchline came when they bought something prepared in a wrapper with ingredients, and one was "imitation American cheese". That is, indeed, a culinary low.

[theboss]

114. A Brit has the balls to criticize Cheeseburgers?

A. They eat them like crazy.
B. They still cook them in lard, I believe.
C. Do you have any idea how much cholestoral is in fish n chips?

[UnyieldingHierophant]

16. This whole country was "country" and "redneck" at one time...

some folks and areas certainly have become cosmopolitan and elitist...there are idiots everywhere, not just in the south and in Appalachia.

[dkofos]

23. Still laughing

[AnnInLa]

29. I'm in Louisiana, and think it is hilarious;

not offended at all. Quite a bit of truth in the story. Not total truth, but just enough to make it funny!

[Goat or Panic]

34. Hmmmm.....

Wonder what would happen if they drove through San Fran. with "Gays are Wicked", "Pat Robertson for President", and "Mellisa Etheridge Sucks" painted on their cars?

Just Sayin.

[NuttyFluffers]

64. we'd yawn, ask if gay marriage is being done at city hall again, and go back to our lattes

it's a delightful thing about living here, even when we had the weird influx of 'warriors for christ' or whatever protesting our gay marriages while panhandling so they could still eat (apparently quite a few were shipped from churches across the country and just left to fend for themselves by protesting and panhandling -- very odd organization strategy. and they didn't bring extra portapotties! :wow:), we'd just yawn and walk right past them. you might even find a few people laughing and giving a toast for "Melissa Etheridge Sucks" just to be silly -- some people are just die hard metal fans to the core y'know? ;)

[WritersBlock]

36. Jeremy Clarkson loves nothing more than slagging off Americans.

This is the asshole who described the older models of the Mercedes ML320 as "built in Alabama by people more used to picking cotton than making complicated machinery..." and said of the new model, "Obviously Mercedes wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice, so plainly the people making the new one have been told to stop singing Swing Low Sweet Chariot and get on with some work, and the designers were told it was 2005, not 1956."


A right real charmer, he is.


http://driving.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/driving/jeremy_clarkson/article721192.ece

[Elwood P Dowd]

47. Now that is racism

Prior to cotton picking being mechanized in the 1970s, cotton was picked by poor African-Americans making 10 cents a pound. They also sang gospel songs as they picked. On a good day, a family of four could make $8.00.

[WritersBlock]

59. Ayup. Blatant racism. But that seems to be okay here, because he was speaking of Americans.

If he'd written an equivalent statement about someone from Wales, India, or Pakistan, the police would have been all over him for making racist statements. It happened to Anne Robinson of "The Weakest Link" when she said something derogatory about Welsh people.

But Americans have long been fair game for ridicule on television, radio, and in print here. I can't remember ever hearing the phrase "Only in Pakistan." On the other hand, I hear "Only in America," or something similar, pretty much on a weekly basis. And that's not just since the Iraq invasion, either.

I've tried giving Clarkson the benefit of the doubt -- maybe he wasn't singling out African-Americans intentionally. Maybe he's just too stupid to know about the circumstances you pointed out in your post.

Maybe to him all Americans are simply Americans, and that although he obviously intended a slur based upon nationality, he didn't actually intend to make one based on race.

I wish I could give him that much credit, but at the end of the day, I can't.

Sometimes an asshole is just an asshole, and this is one of those times.

[mainegreen]

107. Someone should ask him why Jaguar makes such rubbishy cars and

why American automakers have to come in and save British Automakers.
That would turn him red!

[DKRC]

37. "I honesty believe that in certain parts of America, people have started to mate with vegetables."

Well, it's not like the women in Bama have any legal choice about mating with veggies!

Appeals court upholds Alabama's ban on sale of sex toys
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=2733669

:evilgrin:

[Fierce]

38. Poor and uneducated, tee hee hee!

SSDD.

[Woolwich]

41. Hmm

So was it accurate then?

[CrownPrinceBandar]

44. Maybe we should send a film crew to the UK and reciprocate.....

with at least one-quarter of the British population living in poverty, film subjects shouldn't be too difficult to find. Then we can see if the poor, provincial folks there are as entertaining to watch as the American poor.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/apr2001/pov-a02.shtml

[Woolwich]

45. Too late

Jeremy Clarkson has already done it, a number of times.

[CrownPrinceBandar]

49. Sounds like Mr. Clarkson is a man with no shame.......

Exploit anybody for a buck (or quid) and ratings. Sterling example of good television :sarcasm:

Far cry from I, Claudius and Upstairs, Downstairs innit?

[muriel_volestrangler]

51. Why are people talking about 'the poor' and 'poverty'?

They don't say anything about that at all (apart from arguably at the end, where they say that, rather than selling the cars at the end of the trip, which is what they normally do, they decided to donate them to people a New Orleans charity told them had lost their cars in Katrina).

They're not taking the piss out of poor people (after all, those who threw rocks at them had trucks, and a job running, if not owning, a gas station). They're taking the piss out of Republicans, country and western fans, NASCAR fans, and homophobes. Claiming it's about 'the poor' is just plain wrong.

[T_i_B]

67. That's it exactly

It was a stupid idea (write slogans on each others cars as a challenge to see who can get the others shot or arrested in Alabama) but it was hardly anti-poor. If anything it was anti-republican, and it's kinda amusing to see DUer's complaining about someone writing Hilary for President on the side of a Cadillac.

Plus, it kinda says something about DUer's that it gets assumed that people who get pissed off but Country & Western is Rubbish, Man Love Rules OK and NASCAR sucks must be poor.

[JVS]

57. Better yet, go to Scotland and blame the dire poverty on the English-dominated UK society

[DBoon]

79. Yes, maybe they could tell us about Chavs sometime

nt

[spoony]

123. hehe :)

What do you call a chavette in a white jogging suit?

The bride.

:)

[dogday]

46. Ok. let me get this straight... These guys purposely

painted their cars with statements meant to inflame, and are surprised when they do... Who are the stupid people here? The ones who take offense to the statements, or the ones who make the statements... They asked for it and they got it....

[Jonathan50]

48. Do you know why all the trees in Georgia lean West?

Alabama sucks!

Hint: I'm from Georgia.

[BreweryYardRat]

50. You get idiots in every part of the country.

Bashing idiots who happen to be rednecks is fine. In some parts of the South, redneck is an accepted derogatory term for the people who give us a bad public image. Bashing an entire chunk of the country just because of those same idiots, however, is unacceptable.

And, yes, I'm aware of the OP's location.

[Odin2005]

52. This Yankee is sick of south-bashing.

[rman]

68. I think the Southerners in that clip did a good job of bashing themselves

All this flick did was expose the behavior of a certain brand of Southerners.

[Minstrel Boy]

53. Here's what they found when they got to New Orleans:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=djCwLBJHr5E

"How can the rest of America sleep at night knowing that this is here?"

[Neshanic]

56. Wow. Nothing like another view not sanatized.

[Swamp Rat]

63. "How can the rest of America sleep at night knowing that this is here?"

... it still is 'here.'

[gravity]

71. I liked how they gave their cars away to charity

instead of selling them

[annabanana]

72. This deserves it's own thread.. . . . n/t

[donco]

58. Hmm it says BBC Looks for Savage

in the Southern USA, well I do believe they were looking in the wrong place, I think that Michael Savage is in the city by the bay isn’t he? :evilgrin:

[ProdigalJunkMail]

65. I was in the UK and saw this...

made me laugh my ass off and at the same time frightened me a little bit. Granted, while what they discovered is not true in much of the south, it is truly a scary thing that a situation like that could occur.

While I love the show Top Gear (it's good TV) it IS a little off putting that they focused on the worst of the South all the while rejecting much of the good here.

sP

[William Bloode]

70. Dumb ass instigators.

Served them right if someone woulda busted their head. You incite, and go looking for trouble you'll find it. Dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

92. What constitutes inciting? If a man wears a gay pride shirt, is that inciting?

Does he deserve whatever he gets? Yes they went looking for trouble, but that doesn't excuse the ignorant responses that they received.

If someone has something obnoxious on their car, and believe me I see this every day, you say, "what a fucking asshole" to yourself and move on.

Words, no matter what words, NEVER give someone the right to do violence against the speaker. Those people threw ROCKS.

[William Bloode]

97. Who cares if someone wears a gay pride t-shirt?

You might get a awkward glance, but thats about it.Wearing a gay pride shirt is personal expression of who you are and what you are about.

Inciting in this case is using things they know would be inflammatory. You even acknowledge they went looking for trouble. So hence, they went looking for it, they got it. Now don't whine about what you asked for.

If you go looking for trouble, you deserve all the trouble you get. I woulda done more than throw rocks.

[muriel_volestrangler]

99. What did you think was inflammatory?

Presumably not "Man Love Rules OK", because that comes in the same category as the Gay Pride T shirt.

So what would you have "done more than throw rocks" about? And what action would that have been?

[William Bloode]

101. I am not going to argue semantics.

Especially since you know, and admit they were trying to incite. Your own quote of admission.---->

Yes they went looking for trouble, but that doesn't excuse the ignorant responses that they received.

Oh and if they had personally offended me. I would have had no problem smacking one, or more of them around. I am by no means a pacifist.

[muriel_volestrangler]

102. You're confusing me with another poster; and it's not 'semantics'

If anything, it's "vocabulary". I seriously want to know which of the phrases you think justifies throwing rocks, or worse. And is "smacking them around" (I presume with your fists or feet) what you meant by 'something worse than rocks'?

They didn't 'personally offend' anyone. They criticised a couple of pass-times, and advocated 2 things - both of which would get significant support here on DU. So, musical or sports criticism deserves violence, does it?

[William Bloode]

108. Ah, sorry musta got confused.

You tried to bring in a nice canard. Music criticism, and sports are not the same as a mean spirited foolish attempt to insult. Such critique is commonly accepted, and not even the same class.

On a personal level i could care less about whats on a car. However they did go out looking for trouble, they got it, and deserved it. Becareful what you ask for, you just may get it.

My remark on what i would do personally has to do with what i would have done in a more person to person setting.

[muriel_volestrangler]

110. There is no insult there - and why is that a canard?

I'll say that again, in nice bold letters: There is no insult. You've now said yourself NASCAR is a bore; so I assume what you're taking exception to is "Country and Western sucks". It's not an insult, it's an opinion, widely held, about one style of music. I happen to agree, but that's not really important.

You say "On a personal level i could care less about whats on a car" - so why are you talking about personal insults?

And what is your moral system that says they deserved to have rocks thrown at them? Are you saying you'd have joined in, if told that Country and Western music sucks?

[William Bloode]

113. I really care less about any of it.

It's water off my back. My point is they intended to incite and inflame. The remarks made were directly aimed at a certain demographic. Yes to many remarks about man on man love are found offensive. However backward, or misinformed those folks might be. The Country statement is the same attempt to rile up a certain section of the populous.

What i find in my morales that makes rock throwing alright is they asked for it. They chummed the waters looking for just that response. The title of the article states they were looking for savages(their term).

The personal part is because you asked before.

[muriel_volestrangler]

115. No, "savages" was Wiley50's term

Top Gear said "redneck".

You said: "I woulda done more than throw rocks"; then "Oh and if they had personally offended me. I would have had no problem smacking one, or more of them around. " You brought up the subject of personal offence. It is an interesting response to a slogan on a car - violence. I'm amazed to find a DUer advocating it. We're even more of a broad church than I realised. :shrug:

[William Bloode]

119. Ah, but you still misconstrue my meaning.

I have never said i was offended by anything on the cars(go back and read my posts). I have just pointed out that it was not the smartest thing, and they got what they were after.

My personal remark really has nothing specific to do with what was written. It pertains to what i would have done if anything had offended me. Say if someone got in my face and tried to incite me, and was successful.A hypothetical ya know.

[muriel_volestrangler]

122. A hypothetical for which you offered no condition?

Just the action of "I woulda done more than throw rocks", after your opinion of what happened in the video. Since no-one in the video got in anyone's face, it's hardly surprising your meaning didn't come across to me - or to anyone, I'd think. It reads like you would have done something worse than throw rocks, if you'd been there.

So what you meant was "if something different had happened, and I'd been involved, I would have hit them". Wow, that's a useful remark. Maybe you should stick to discussing the subject, rather than making up your own situations (and expecting us to guess what you're talking about).

[William Bloode]

127. I reserve the right to be as muddled as my medication makes me.

Lets see you do 150mg of Morphine a day and see how coherent you are. Even drugged i have the right to speak my mind. or maybe pain managment folks like myself should be quiet?

[Lance_Boyle]

105. How did they personally offend anyone?

They had words painted on their cars.

With your "Ida dun me summor than throw rocks" you sound like a genuine credit to my home state of NC. :eyes: Go watch some NASCAR and simmer down there, bubba.

[William Bloode]

106. Oh wow, you are a bright one are you not?

Nice attack me, try and make me look like a stereotypical southerner.

#1 I speak a clear concise English, thank you.

#2 Nascar is a bore.

#3 My names not bubba, it is Will. You could at least have had that much respect.

#4 You made yourself look weak, and pathetic with your urge to personally attack me.

Nice try, better luck next time.

WillyB (not bubba)

[BlackVelvet04]

74. It's bad enough that liberal southerners are surrounded by

conservatives that we take shit from for being liberal. But it seems we get as much shit from fellow liberals.

We're just uneducated, stupid rednecks to a lot of liberals until they need our money or our vote.

It's really NOT funny any more.

[Jonathan50]

76. I live in quasi rural Georgia and I think it's hilarious

I mean this is the state where triple amputee disabled war vet Max Cleland was ousted from the Senate in 2002 by a chickenhawk Republic who ran tv ads showing Senator Cleland morphing into Osama bin Forgotten.

We absolutely deserve any ridicule we get.

[BlackVelvet04]

77. I disagree.....

if you think it's funny that's your right. Some of the rest of us who live as outsiders in the red south are tired of it.

Southern liberals aren't responsible for what the conservatives do and don't appreciate being lumped in with them.

We support liberal candidates, we support D.U. and we really shouldn't have to accept being the subject of ridicule and contempt.

[Jonathan50]

81. I was born and raised in the South and have lived here all my life.

Anyone with a functioning brain knows that not *every* Southerner is a redneck fool.

But there are more than enough to make the stereotype fit quite well.

I've noticed though that driving out US 278 toward Alabama, as soon as you get over the state line into Alabama the number of Confederate Battle Flags flying in people's front yards rises dramatically.

You may not have voted for Bush but he and those who voted for him are making you look like an idiot to the rest of the world, just like they are me.

I just roll with the punches and take everything with a grain of salt.

My wife and I both laugh the loudest at ourselves.

[BlackVelvet04]

84. I was born and raised in the south as well.....

So? I've always rolled with the punches as well....now it's getting old.

What's progressive about bashing people because of where they live? Where's the big tent?

If liberals feel they have to put everyone else down to build themselves up then they don't have much going for them.

[Jonathan50]

85. Self deprecating humor is the most honest kind.

If you don't fit the stereotype why does it even bother you?

I think of myself as a citizen of the universe and don't have much connection at all to town, state, nation or even world. I guess that's why I don't get upset about someone bashing a particular state, region or even country.

From orbit all the artificial state and national boundaries disappear and you can see that the earth is truly one. From what I've read seeing earth from space is a life changing experience for many astronauts who are priveleged to experience it.

[piedmont]

120. What part of this video is self-deprecating?

[Rex]

86. They're lucky they didn't do that around where I live.

Maw, get the shotgun!

[Nikki Stone1]

91. Yeah, but did anyone actually shoot at the Brits? (THAT would have been a story!)

:)

[Tsiyu]

93. I live in TN and having studied the history

of the South, I hate to inform the Brits that the most obnoxious, racist and backwards residents of this area are of Scotch-Irish and English descent, having been the primary colonists and breeders for generations.

The guys that chased them are probably related to them.

And I have to ask: Next will they drive through the projects in Atlanta with "Malcolm X Sux" and "Racism Rules" spray-painted on their rides? Or maybe cruise the Hispanic sections of LA broadcasting "Latino Music is Rubbish" or "Deport all Immigrants?"

Whatever.

[mitchum]

124. Absolutely! Limeyland is the ancestral home of cracker white trash

[mitchum]

125. delete

[k_jerome]

94. the south. bwahahaha. nt.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

95. Randy Newman explains rednecks here:

Git yer Randy Newman here!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7I1wtPUOtM

[theboss]

103. They should have to walk through Harlem with "Get a job, n....r" on placards next

And hilarity ensues.

[Zodiak]

112. OK...saw the video

1. The part about going down the highway and being honked at is hype to make it look as if the responses were universal. In all instances, the other drivers seemed to be responding to someone driving very slow down the road. There wasn't even enough time to make out what was written in that low-contrast paint.

2. What happened at that gas station in that little town was far from funny....it was dangerous. Being a North Texan, I can tell you that there are some places where you do not want to piss off the locals. They will "call the boys out" and let the wild hogs get rid of the evidence. These places are more prevalent in the South, but certainly not limited to there...or even the U.S. for that matter. It comes from sparse population, few families, and a lot of corruption, isolation, lack of education, and entrenchment.

Those people should be arrested for assault.

And the Brits learned that in some places, being offensive can really get you killed.

[BreweryYardRat]

116. Mind telling me WHAT places those are in North Texas?

On the off chance I'm ever out there, I'd like to know where to avoid.

[Jonathan50]

117. Uneasy Rider

I was takin a trip out to L.A.
Toolin along in my cheverolet
Tokin on a number and diggin on the radio

Just as I crossed the Mississippi line
I heard that highway start to whine
And I knew that left rear tire was about to blow

Well the spare was flat and I got uptight
Cause there wasn't a filling station in sight
So I just limped on down the shoulder on the rim

I went as far as I could and when I stopped the car
It was right in front of this little bar
Kind of a red-neck lookin joint called the Dew Drop Inn

I stuffed my hair up under my hat
And told the bartender that I had a flat
And ywould he be kind enough to give me change for a one

There was one thing I was sure proud to see
There wasn't a soul in the place except for him and me
He just looked disgusted and pointed toward the telephone

I called up the station down the road a ways
He said he wasn't very busy today
And he could have somone out there in just about 10 minutes or so

He said," Now, you just stay right where yer at!"
And I didn't bother to tell the darn fool
That I sure as hell didn't have anyplace else to go

So I ordered up a beer and sat down at the bar
When some guy walked in and said, "Who owns this car
With the peace sign, the mag wheels and the four on the floor?"

He looked at me and I damn near died
And I decided that I'd just wait outside
So I laid a dollar on the bar and headed for the door

Just when I wthought I'd get outta there with my skin
These 3 big dudes come strollin in
With one old drunk chick and some fella with green teeth

Now the last thing I wanted was to get into a fight
In Jackson Mississippi on a Saturday night
Especially when there was three of them and only one of me

I was almost to the door when the biggest one
Said, "You tip your hat to this lady, son!"
And when I did, all that hair fell out from underneath

They all started laughin and I felt kinda sick
And I knew I better think of something pretty quick
So I just reached out and kicked old green teeth right in the knee

Now he let out a yell that'd curl yer hair
But before he could move I grabbed me a chair
And said "Now watch him Folks cause he's a fairly dangerous man!"

"You may not know it but this man is a spy.
He's a undercover agent for the FBI
And he's been sent down here to infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan!"

He was still bent over holdin on to his knee
But everybody else was looking and listening to me
And I laid it on thicker hand heavier as I went

"He's a friend of them long haired, hippy-type, pinko fags!
I betchya he's even got a commie flag
tacked up on the wall inside of his garage."

"He's a snake in the grass, I tell ya guys.
He may look dumb but that's just a disguise,
He's a mastermind in the ways of espionage"

"Would you believe this man has gone as far
As tearing Wallace stickers off the bumpers of cars.
And he voted for George McGovern for President."

They started lookin real suspicious at him
He jumped up and said "Now just wait a minute Jim!
You know he's lying I been living here all of my life!"

"I'm a faithful follower of Brother John Birch
And I belong to the Antioch Baptist Church.
And I aint even got a garage, you can call home and ask my wife!"

Then he started saying somethin bout the way I was dressed
But I didn't wait around to hear the rest
I was too busy moving and hoping I didn't run outta luck

When I hit the door I was making tracks
And they were just taking my car down off the jacks
So I threw the man a twenty and jumped in and fired that mother up

Mario Andretti wouldda sure been proud
Of the way I was movin when I passed that crowd
Coming out the door and headed toward me at a trott

Now I guess I should of gone ahead and run
But somehow I just couldn't resist the fun
Of chasing them all just once around the parking lot

I had them all out there steppin and fetchin
Like their heads was on fire and their asses was catchin
then I figgered I had better go ahead and split before the cops got there

When I hit the road I was really wheelin
Had gravel flyin and rubber squeelin
And I didn't slow down till I was almost to Arkansas

I think I'm gonna reroute my trip
I wonder if anybody'd think I'd flipped
If I went to L.A., via Omaha

[Zodiak]

118. Well...there are a few dinky towns

south of my hometown, Wichita Falls....that are not places to be after hours unless you clearly look like you are a local and are clearly there for a reason. You can get your butt kicked or worse, depending on the situation. These British guys would qualify for that situation.

A black man after hours in Jasper TX apparently qualified for that situation, too.

Steven Co. Oklahoma I hear is not a good place to get the locals riled. That's in OK, though.

Hell, in my hometown, if you are arrested by certain cops and happen to be black, you may end up in the jailhouse with mysterious broken bones. And that is a town of 100,000.

Let's see...Holiday, TX to the east of us has more than a few incidents of locals and non-locals getting into it. Same with Archer Co. to the South. Henrietta is a place you don't want to mess with cops (especially if you are female). Iowa Park is paranoid of outsiders...they are famous for being the cops who arrested Henry Lee Lucas on a "routine traffic stop".

These little towns can be just nasty to those that do not look like they belong or are offensive. These are just "closed towns"....and there are a lot of them where I come from. The local boys and the cops are often one and the same and watch each other's backs.

Just a fact of life where I come from. I can see that incident at the gas station being played out in lots of places near where I live. Not in the city, but in some of the small towns....

I admit the wild hogs part was said to be colorful, but it is a well-known to the locals that wild hogs clean up "messes". Just sayin'

I love the South...I love the culture....I'm from there. This is just the dirty underbelly of it, and it is not pretty. Like I said...this is not a Southern-only phenomenon, I'm sure. My area just happens to be particularly bad, even my big town of 100,000.

[piedmont]

121. Reality T.V. *isn't* reality

They just drove I-10 from FL to MS-- a distance of maybe 50 miles, and as someone up-thread pointed out, they mainly seemed to be getting honked at for going WAY too slow on the interstate (Mobilians drive fast on the interstate, too). And the owner of the gas station was angry because she thought that they were trying to instigate violence and filming on her property, disrupting her business and making fun of her town for being a hick town. Much of the "drama" afterward is staged (i.e., the crew stopping to wash the paint off the vehicles).

[T_i_B]

130. Too slow? Top Gear?

If they were going slow, it's only cos the cars they were driving were so slow.

You see, all they ever do on Top Gear is try and drive very expensive cars as fast as humanly possible. And to that end the one who had Man Love Rules OK written on the side of his car nearly got killed a few months ago trying to break the UK land speed record.

They did attempt to put those cars round a racetrack, but you lot will get even angrier when you see that clip with "The Stig's American Cousin".

[mitchum]

126. What? Airfare to Australia was too expensive?

cheap ass producers

[Maine-ah]

128. I'd just like to say,

that some people need to lighten up a little bit. If those guys drove through Maine like that (especially the NASCAR) they'd get their asses kicked. Now, maybe not down P-land way, but certainly up my way and futher north.