"I have no idea what they were trying to prove. I'd like to see the equivalent done in the UK- perhaps merrily painted cars depicting the Brits' army shooting Republicans? Or Sinn Fein assaulting bobbies in downtown London? An irony deficiency?"

Excellent - exactly the reaction Clarkson et al wanted to provoke. Talk about showing your arse. The above quote (comparing jokes about Nascar and Hilary Clinton to the deaths of people in the North of Ireland isn't very funny - Jesus H. Christ on a bike) and calling them paeodophiles is just as fucking pathetic - is that the only thing you know about 'the Brits'? Get out there and throw them stones Ebbie!

I didn't mean to offend - my post was meant as a demonstration of the "There are dickheads like this in every country" in my post but perhaps I didn't make that obvious enough. Clarkson is a reprehensible boorish oik to say the least but judging by the reaction above, he understands some people can't laugh at themselves as a nation - do Americans have a problem with self-deprecation? I honestly thought that Americans would understand why this is funny - exposing the bigotry and intolerence of some of their own population (a national sport here, and not confined to rednecks either, but pretty much everyone).

Thank god not everyone is so easily offended.