Dave Gorman's Blog, page 26
December 2, 2011
Ctrl C, Ctrl V
I was surprised this morning to find a couple of messages saying, "I liked what you wrote in The Mirror, well done."I was surprised because I hadn't written anything for the Mirror. It seems you don't have to these days. I did a bit of googling... and found this. If the words are familiar to you, that'll be because you read my last blog.
As did someone at The Mirror. Who then cut and pasted it into the paper. Odd.
Apparently someone on the Radio 2 breakfast show was talking about how I'd written a piece for The Mirror on the whole Clarkson thing too. I don't imagine many of those who read it thought that it wasn't written specifically for the paper.
Which is a bit cheeky of them to say the least. Oh well. As if we needed a lesson in not believing what we read in the papers at the minute.
Or maybe this is how things work these days and this blog is automatically being fed into the Mirror. I hope so. I can't wait to see this one!
December 1, 2011
Jeremy Clarkson Should Be Lined Up And Shot*
So November 30th was a day of industrial action. And it was also a day when the professional contrarian, Jeremy Clarkson, was a guest on The One Show.
They, perhaps unwisely, asked him what he thought of the strikes. He, unsurprisingly, said something contrary. He suggested that the strikers should be lined up and shot. In front of their families. (By the way, his Mum was a teacher).
It was an oafish, insensitive, unfunny remark... from a man whose trademark is his oafish insensitivity. It was offensive. I don't think he should have said it. I think the BBC was right to apologise.
But I was still surprised to see hundreds of people suddenly baying for his blood on twitter. The mob was reaching for their pitchforks. A campaign to get him sacked was suddenly started. It all seemed a bit out of order to me. Yes, I thought it was offensive and no, I didn't find it funny... but I don't remember arriving at a place where we decided we had a right to not be offended. I don't like the sound of that place. I don't like it at all.
I said something about it on twitter. It was obvious from my tweets that I didn't like the man and didn't approve of what he'd said. I just suggested that starting a campaign to get someone sacked because of a joke you didn't like was what they do. You know, them. Not us. That's their territory, not ours. That's that thing they do and we don't like.
From the way many people reacted, you'd think I'd tweeted "Ha ha ha... Jezza Clarkson's ace isn't he. LOL #LineThemUpAndShootThem"
"But he's an odious pr*ck" someone frothed. Yes. I agreed.
"Why are you apologising for Clarkson?"asked another. Um. I'm not.
"He's suggesting people be lined up and shot, we're suggesting he should be sacked. Who most deserves your criticism?" He does. And he's received it.
A few years ago Charlie Brooker wrote a glib line about wishing George Bush dead in his Guardian column. Some Americans thought his joke was offensive (see the comments here). How dare he call for Bush to be assassinated! That is an outrage!
You might have heard of a man called Paul Chambers and how he tweeted "Crap! Robin Hood airport is closed. You've got a week and a bit to get your shit together otherwise I'm blowing the airport sky high!!" it was understood by all who follow him on twitter to be exactly what it was: a hyperbolic venting of frustration upon discovering that he couldn't visit the woman he loves. Nobody took it seriously. But he was prosecuted for menace or somesuch. The case - the twitter joke trial - was a cause celebre, with many of the liberal twitterati rallying to his support.
I'm pretty sure that many who spartacussed their support for Paul a year ago, were calling for Clarkson to be sacked earlier today. Which seems to me to miss the point completely.
I know which of the jokes I liked and which I didn't. I know which one offended me. But it's not about which jokes you find funny and it's got nothing to do with whether the joke targets the strong or the weak. You have to defend the jokes you don't like as well as those that do. Be offended. Register your upset. Change the channel. But don't go assuming you have a right not to be offended.
Because if you really think that you and I are entitled to live in a world without offence, then you have to concede that everyone else is equally entitled to the same. And that means that all the jokes you like but they don't will have to go too.
A world that stops Jeremy Clarkson doing that is also a world that would have stopped Bill Hicks doing this:
Be offended by Clarkson - and by Hicks too, if you like. But you should defend your right to be offended, because it's also your right to offend.
*Not really. D'you see?
They, perhaps unwisely, asked him what he thought of the strikes. He, unsurprisingly, said something contrary. He suggested that the strikers should be lined up and shot. In front of their families. (By the way, his Mum was a teacher).
It was an oafish, insensitive, unfunny remark... from a man whose trademark is his oafish insensitivity. It was offensive. I don't think he should have said it. I think the BBC was right to apologise.
But I was still surprised to see hundreds of people suddenly baying for his blood on twitter. The mob was reaching for their pitchforks. A campaign to get him sacked was suddenly started. It all seemed a bit out of order to me. Yes, I thought it was offensive and no, I didn't find it funny... but I don't remember arriving at a place where we decided we had a right to not be offended. I don't like the sound of that place. I don't like it at all.
I said something about it on twitter. It was obvious from my tweets that I didn't like the man and didn't approve of what he'd said. I just suggested that starting a campaign to get someone sacked because of a joke you didn't like was what they do. You know, them. Not us. That's their territory, not ours. That's that thing they do and we don't like.
From the way many people reacted, you'd think I'd tweeted "Ha ha ha... Jezza Clarkson's ace isn't he. LOL #LineThemUpAndShootThem"
"But he's an odious pr*ck" someone frothed. Yes. I agreed.
"Why are you apologising for Clarkson?"asked another. Um. I'm not.
"He's suggesting people be lined up and shot, we're suggesting he should be sacked. Who most deserves your criticism?" He does. And he's received it.
A few years ago Charlie Brooker wrote a glib line about wishing George Bush dead in his Guardian column. Some Americans thought his joke was offensive (see the comments here). How dare he call for Bush to be assassinated! That is an outrage!
You might have heard of a man called Paul Chambers and how he tweeted "Crap! Robin Hood airport is closed. You've got a week and a bit to get your shit together otherwise I'm blowing the airport sky high!!" it was understood by all who follow him on twitter to be exactly what it was: a hyperbolic venting of frustration upon discovering that he couldn't visit the woman he loves. Nobody took it seriously. But he was prosecuted for menace or somesuch. The case - the twitter joke trial - was a cause celebre, with many of the liberal twitterati rallying to his support.
I'm pretty sure that many who spartacussed their support for Paul a year ago, were calling for Clarkson to be sacked earlier today. Which seems to me to miss the point completely.
I know which of the jokes I liked and which I didn't. I know which one offended me. But it's not about which jokes you find funny and it's got nothing to do with whether the joke targets the strong or the weak. You have to defend the jokes you don't like as well as those that do. Be offended. Register your upset. Change the channel. But don't go assuming you have a right not to be offended.
Because if you really think that you and I are entitled to live in a world without offence, then you have to concede that everyone else is equally entitled to the same. And that means that all the jokes you like but they don't will have to go too.
A world that stops Jeremy Clarkson doing that is also a world that would have stopped Bill Hicks doing this:
Be offended by Clarkson - and by Hicks too, if you like. But you should defend your right to be offended, because it's also your right to offend.
*Not really. D'you see?
November 29, 2011
Dermot Draws The Egghead's Curtains...
Does Dermot do this every day or was this a coincidence?
And finally...
Hello Coventry!
Hello Carlisle!
Hello Preston!
Hello Perth!
Goodbye tour. For now.
We're going to extend the tour into next year. I'll have the dates all sorted soon!
Thanks to everyone who's been to see the show. I've bloomin' loved it.
Hello Carlisle!
Hello Preston!
Hello Perth!
Goodbye tour. For now.
We're going to extend the tour into next year. I'll have the dates all sorted soon!
Thanks to everyone who's been to see the show. I've bloomin' loved it.
November 25, 2011
Hello Again. Again.
Hello Cheltenham!
Hello Wolverhampton!
Hello Leicester!
Hello Hammersmith!
Just Coventry, Carlisle, Preston and Perth to go... I'm going to miss this show.
Or maybe I'll just find a way to do it some more.
Hello Wolverhampton!
Hello Leicester!
Hello Hammersmith!
Just Coventry, Carlisle, Preston and Perth to go... I'm going to miss this show.
Or maybe I'll just find a way to do it some more.
November 23, 2011
The Mind Wanders When You're On Tour...
Take a full page ad for Specsavers from a national newspaper. Cut the face in half, removing the nose:
Then see what you'd like with grey hair:
Or a stubbly, silver beard:
Like I say. The mind wanders when you're on tour.
Then see what you'd like with grey hair:
Or a stubbly, silver beard:
Like I say. The mind wanders when you're on tour.
November 21, 2011
I'm Sorry Belfast!
Well this tour was just going a bit too smoothly so something had to come along and upset the apple cart. Bah.Unfortunately there's a day of industrial action planned for November 30th. Which means that the Waterfront Hall in Belfast is unlikely to have any staff. Including stage crew. Which makes putting the show on... well, kind of impossible.
So unfortunately we're left with little choice but to postpone the show to another date. It's a bit far off. June 15th. 2012.
That's literally as much as I know at the moment. If you have a ticket for the show next Wednesday - I can only advise you to contact the agency you bought it from. Of course, I'll try to find out more and update this page as and when I find anything out.
I'm gutted. But there really isn't anything I can do about it. Sorry.
The Wolves Civic
I'd love to have been at the Wolverhampton Civic yesterday because it was home to the final of the Grand Slam of Darts. I like darts.
The tournament was won by Phil Taylor - the finest darts player there's ever been. I like Phil Taylor. I'm a fan of darts.
Unfortunately I wasn't able to watch the final. I was on stage at the time. Having a lovely time in Cheltenham Town Hall as it goes. But I will be at the Wolverhampton Civic later on today as it just happens to be the venue for the next gig on the tour.
I've been hoping that a little bit of darting memorabilia might have been left behind for me.
But I wasn't expecting this:
Here's a close up of the sign:
How bloomin' lovely is that?
Very lovely.
The tournament was won by Phil Taylor - the finest darts player there's ever been. I like Phil Taylor. I'm a fan of darts.
Unfortunately I wasn't able to watch the final. I was on stage at the time. Having a lovely time in Cheltenham Town Hall as it goes. But I will be at the Wolverhampton Civic later on today as it just happens to be the venue for the next gig on the tour.
I've been hoping that a little bit of darting memorabilia might have been left behind for me.
But I wasn't expecting this:
Here's a close up of the sign:
How bloomin' lovely is that?
Very lovely.
November 20, 2011
More Photo Hellos
Hello Bristol!
Hi Wycombe!
Hello Tunbridge Wells!
And Hello Watford!
Just Cheltenham, Wolerhampton, Leicester, London, Coventry, Carlisle, Preston, Perth and Belfast still to come...
Hi Wycombe!
Hello Tunbridge Wells!
And Hello Watford!
Just Cheltenham, Wolerhampton, Leicester, London, Coventry, Carlisle, Preston, Perth and Belfast still to come...
November 15, 2011
Dave Gorman's Blog
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