Someone posted this on another forum. I couldn't have put it better if I tried:
The problem with Clarkson is his comedy. If you agree with him then you are the butt of his jokes. His comedy persona is of someone with selfish and reactionary views for gets everything wrong and has everything go wrong for him. So his 'Clarkson for PM' followers are actually his comedy subject matter. If you're offended by his views then you've also missed the joke because his intention is to make his offensive views ridiculous.
Sadly if you get that its a joke that gets boring pretty quickly because its his only joke and he's been telling it for a quarter of a century. So the people who get him aren't listening.
But he does make a good point here, and he does make a valid point now and again amongst all the gooning. We - keen, nerdy, forum-dwelling, n+1, spoke-sniffing enthusiasts are cyclings worst enemy - if the goal is that cycling is something that more people should do. We make cycling look difficult, expert and complex and expensive. We won't encourage a driver to get out of their car and onto a bike because we make cycling look like something that they can't do.
We're deeply uncool. Commuting on a cross bike, getting sweaty, wearing special clothes. We're ridiculous. We're having enormous fun but we don't do any good. Someone on a supermarket bike, cycling in their civvys, just going somewhere and not thinking about their bike or how the ride it - thats cool. They are the game changers, they make more difference individually than all of us put together.
