http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/aug/08/jeremyclarkson.bbc

Next stop- the dictionary!

Tom Paine- if you forgive Clarkson, that makes you a better person than me.

Thanks everyone else for your comments. As always, they are welcome, and make interesting reading.

As for all this I blame the parents of course.

You rightly pointed out that many people are unware of the extremely hurtful impact of remarks and comments made against people with differing abilities . Clarkson made a blunder and apologised for it. It is the last frontier as far as I can see on the equalities front and we should be working hard to challenge negativity and stigma associated with it.

Racism on the other hand isn’t something that the British public is unclear on – and so it is unforgivable coming from a public figure – who has all the priviledge in the world to know the difference and if she doesn’t know the difference – well here’s the door as the BBC rightly said.

Incidently , I found it really interesting during the debacle with the imam of the Finsbury Mosque a few years ago when the media and everyone ridiculed the particular individual and continually attacked his character with recourse to the fact that he also had a number of (dis)abilities. I didn’t see much of a challenge from anyone when his ‘eye’ or his ‘hook’ was the subject of ridicule and laughter – and again, with Nick Griffin, I’m not a fan, but let’s leave the (dis)abilities out.

Sarah, good post – negative attitudes towards (dis)abilities is something that we often just allow in public life without much challenge

However in my books the fact that Clarkson apologised makes a big difference.

You rightly pointed out that many people are unware of the extremely hurtful impact of remarks and comments made against people with differing abilities . Clarkson made a blunder and apologised for it. It is the last frontier as far as I can see on the equalities front and we should be working hard to challenge negativity and stigma associated with it.

Racism on the other hand isn’t something that the British public is unclear on – and so it is unforgivable coming from a public figure – who has all the priviledge in the world to know the difference and if she doesn’t know the difference – well here’s the door as the BBC rightly said.

Incidently , I found it really interesting during the debacle with the imam of the Finsbury Mosque a few years ago when the media and everyone ridiculed the particular individual and continually attacked his character with recourse to the fact that he also had a number of (dis)abilities. I didn’t see much of a challenge from anyone when his ‘eye’ or his ‘hook’ was the subject of ridicule and laughter – and again, with Nick Griffin, I’m not a fan, but let’s leave the (dis)abilities out.

The world needs no more isms, Sarah. The ones that exist are causing social rupture already. It is no exaggeration to say I would rather be falsely accused of murder than racism (and now, though I have seen the word in print precisely once, “disablism”); (a) because I am confident of the procedures I would need to go through to defend myself against a murder charge and (b) because I am confident that my fellow-citizens could stay calm enough to allow a rational evaluation.

If I were accused of some “ism”, many would join in the denunciation immediately, for fear of being tainted with it themselves. Does that remind you of anything?

It’s not about offence or -isms. It’s about getting viewing figures.