I am so bored by all this talk about Jeremy Clarkson. I really am. Every time I see somebody defending or criticising him I die a little and it makes me wonder what sort of people it would take to do either. And yet, here I am talking about it too. I have become a part of this process and I have become boring too. I'm going to get my money's worth while I'm here though so hopefully I can stop rolling my eyes quite so much every time I hear about it.
On the one hand, there are a lot of people upset with Jeremy Clarkson, but for me it comes down to a simple question: does Clarkson matter? I think the answer is an obvious no. I wouldn't seek him out for guidance or wisdom on any matter including cars, which appears to be his main area of expertise but which seems worthless to me in any case.
The fact is that he isn't important. At all. He isn't a political scientist, he isn't a respected social commentator and he isn't funny by intention or accident. He isn't a respected anything and what he says is meaningless. This is why I find it staggering that 20,000 people have complained about him. This kind of response is disproportionate to how many people ought to care what he thinks in the first place.
I think what he said was that people who are striking about pension disputes should be shot in front of their families. I gather he was joking when he said it—although it would be difficult to tell because the statement is intrinsically not funny and neither is he—but it doesn't matter to me either way. Even if he was genuinely sincere, in that he thought execution was a fitting response to protest, I still wouldn't expect so many people to complain because his opinion is worthless.
To complain about Jeremy Clarkson is like getting upset with your spouse because you dreamed that she cheated on you. It might not be pleasant but it has no bearing at all on reality. Nothing is different about the world today than it was before Clarkson made his fatuous comment and that's because his ideas and thoughts aren't enlightened or worthy of respect. That is the first thing I have to say about this.
The second is aimed at the other group of people, those who seek to defend him. What they are essentially doing is acting as Jeremy Clarkson's mouth-piece. Their continued support of his comments—I think there was also something about how people that commit suicide on public railway lines are selfish—is what is allowing this debate to roar on and fill up the news sites I try to read. These people need to shut up too because without them, this debate would end.
The 20,000 people that are giving Clarkson more credit than he deserves (by caring what he says) would have nobody to argue with, they would go away and so would all this nonsense. I hope this happens soon because it's embarrassing to see how many people think it's worth arguing about.
