Clarkson - More Twitter Faux-Outrage

I was going to blog about what I felt was motivating the massive over reaction on Twitter to Jeremy Clarkson's One Show comments on the strikers, but felt I'd rather added to the whole over reaction myself by spouting out several tweets, one of which was re-tweeted over 70 times (although thanks for those that did RT - much appreciated).

However, the main point I wanted to make has been made very succinctly by Toby Young on the Today programme so I'll just link to it here.

Basically, most of the "outrage" was affected by those on the left, not because what he said (about the strikers at least) was offensive, but because, taken out of context of the broader joke, the comment offended their political sensitivities on a big day for them. Arguably, what he said about suicides was more offensive given the recent Gary Speed news story.

The broader joke being that his first comment was supportive of the strike because it meant London was empty and he could "whiz around" but, this being the BBC and them having a (mostly totally ignored) requirement for political balance, he added a totally over the top counter point that actually he'd have them all shot. You may or may not find it funny but it's not offensive and it is certainly not illegal. So Unison can stop spending their members' (and no doubt indirectly tax payers') money on legal advice.