What do you think about Liam Neeson admitting he once wanted to kill a black man?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:It is 100% racist. I can’t believe everyone doesn’t agree to that. If she said she was raped by a white guy, no way he would have gone out looking for any white guy to kill. And most likely, she wouldn’t have just said a white guy. She would have said a blonde with an accent from Manchester or something like that, and he would have gone out to a pub after a Manchester game and looked for a blonde guy to pick a fight. The fact is that he saw only the race. That is racist.

He’s said or done other icky things before, I think. At the beginning off his career, I really liked him but I feel like as the years go on, he’s less impressive.

This confession would have been much more sincere if he’d expressed it as “growing up in Northern Ireland, I didn’t meet many black people. And I know I have prejudices I need to overcome ....”

Thank goodness. The past pages of rationalizations and normalization are a nice explanation of how racism has lasted this long.

+1. When you generalize to an entire group based on one person's actions, that is racist.

I'm a multiracial black person, and have a distant non-black relative who was apparently raped by a black man. Years later, she now apparently hates all black people. That is also racist. You don't see black women who are raped by black men hating all black men, white women who are raped by white men hating all white men, etc. The idea of picking out the color of their skin as the most prominent feature and then extrapolating negative associations to all people with the same color skin is racist.

I think this is a poor and short-sighted example. I was sexually assaulted by an Indian man and would experience PTSD symptoms for a very long time at the sound of a male Indian accent. Twenty years out I am still leery of Indian men. This is not racist, this is a result of being traumatized by a certain type of person.

+1 And actually, some white women who are raped by white men, do become fearful of men in general, including white men.

OK, but Liam Neeson wasn't raped. He can't, and doesn't, claim to be suffering PTSD from his friend's rape. He just wanted revenge, and was ready to attack someone from the same racial group as the rapist.

Conspiracy theory: maybe Liam Neeson was raped?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This topic is funny to me, whenever it comes up. White people LOVE to say things like “Black people should get over this or that terrible awful thing that happened to them and move on!” Or “It wasn’t MY family that owned slaves, why should I have to feel badly?”

But whenever someone black does something, it’s acceptable to react to other black people based upon that incident. PP upthread was raped by black guys so her family hates black guys. Hey, no problem! Black people have been treated like crap by other races in many situations but...don’t dwell on it! Move on!

How can people stomach the complete hypocrisy? It really boggles the mind but doesn’t surprise me.

This...so much this.

[Anonymous]

Eh......I’m ambivalent. He shared a personal story and he was obviously ashamed of his past actions. People crave authenticity......well, there you have it. And I certainly believe in people’s ability to evolve. Frankly, he has more self awareness than 99% of you people on this odious board.

[Anonymous]

I think ALL actors, including Liam Neeson should stick to the script and not tell anyone anything about themselves unless its an amusing anecdote they've had help writing.

Regardless of what he said or meant, or changed or didn't mean, I think he's blown a hole in his career the size of Texas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This topic is funny to me, whenever it comes up. White people LOVE to say things like “Black people should get over this or that terrible awful thing that happened to them and move on!” Or “It wasn’t MY family that owned slaves, why should I have to feel badly?”

But whenever someone black does something, it’s acceptable to react to other black people based upon that incident. PP upthread was raped by black guys so her family hates black guys. Hey, no problem! Black people have been treated like crap by other races in many situations but...don’t dwell on it! Move on!

How can people stomach the complete hypocrisy? It really boggles the mind but doesn’t surprise me.

This...so much this.

Wow! This

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:America punished every brown person after 9/11. It was a group of crazies who happened to be brown/Arab/Muslim, and all of a sudden, everyone they assumed was related to anything that Arab, Muslim, Brown was vilified. TV show after TV show, movie after movie, hate crime after hate crime. And the response to that? Well, they are terrorists. Well, they hate us. Over a BILLION Muslims. Millions of Arab Christians, Millions of Sikhs suffer the racism on a day to day, and now we're all SHOCKED that a white man felt a similar thing after an attack on a loved one? Oh, the hypocrisy.

Was he stupid to have admitted this? Yes. Is he any different than those who sit and watch NCIS or label Arabs, Muslims, Palestinians, etc. terrorist just because? NO, those people are actually worse because they don't see how wrong they are, and he did.

This too!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Eh......I’m ambivalent. He shared a personal story and he was obviously ashamed of his past actions. People crave authenticity......well, there you have it. And I certainly believe in people’s ability to evolve. Frankly, he has more self awareness than 99% of you people on this odious board.

This times a million. I think he felt comfortable sharing it because he truly does not have any racist feelings in his heart.

[Anonymous]

I think he means well.

[Anonymous]

First, don't know why he decided to share that. Beyond that, we have all had racial tendencies, whether we admit it or not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t have a problem with that. I think if she had said it was a tall man with blond hair he would’ve done the same thing. Love and learn.

Very doubtful.

He basically said that. He grew up during the Troubles.

Yep. In this country we see everything in terms of race, but in a place like Northern Ireland the distinction was catholic vs Protestant. It’s tribalism really, who you belong to and who is “other”. We just have a shallow understanding here in this country, and only see one type of distinction.

I think he was being honest, but our current level of discourse does not allow for any nuance at all. I love him, but I think talking about this publicly was a mistake.

This. You're not obligated to talk about your dark thoughts on TV. He had a natural reaction, which is not permitted these days. He didn't do ANYTHING, and should have kept his mouth shut. If he felt guilty, confessing to the priest and being sorry was enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:America punished every brown person after 9/11. It was a group of crazies who happened to be brown/Arab/Muslim, and all of a sudden, everyone they assumed was related to anything that Arab, Muslim, Brown was vilified. TV show after TV show, movie after movie, hate crime after hate crime. And the response to that? Well, they are terrorists. Well, they hate us. Over a BILLION Muslims. Millions of Arab Christians, Millions of Sikhs suffer the racism on a day to day, and now we're all SHOCKED that a white man felt a similar thing after an attack on a loved one? Oh, the hypocrisy.

Was he stupid to have admitted this? Yes. Is he any different than those who sit and watch NCIS or label Arabs, Muslims, Palestinians, etc. terrorist just because? NO, those people are actually worse because they don't see how wrong they are, and he did.

Sorry, is NCIS racist too?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:America punished every brown person after 9/11. It was a group of crazies who happened to be brown/Arab/Muslim, and all of a sudden, everyone they assumed was related to anything that Arab, Muslim, Brown was vilified. TV show after TV show, movie after movie, hate crime after hate crime. And the response to that? Well, they are terrorists. Well, they hate us. Over a BILLION Muslims. Millions of Arab Christians, Millions of Sikhs suffer the racism on a day to day, and now we're all SHOCKED that a white man felt a similar thing after an attack on a loved one? Oh, the hypocrisy.

Was he stupid to have admitted this? Yes. Is he any different than those who sit and watch NCIS or label Arabs, Muslims, Palestinians, etc. terrorist just because? NO, those people are actually worse because they don't see how wrong they are, and he did.

Sorry, is NCIS racist too?

Yes. One episode in particular I’ll never forget. Some white kid was gonna blow up or shoot a school. They stop it. The whole team is like poor white kid, jis mom died or abandoned him or something and this is the result. He wouldn’t have done it otherwise. Everyone feel sad for white kid who about killed everyone but didn’t. In the very same episode, the Mossad agent spends time talking about how Palestinian *children* just like to blow themselves up and kill people. You’re kidding me, right? When the Dylan Roofs happen, it’s mental health, when black or latino or Muslim kids do it, it’s because they enjoy the act of murder? Um, not racist at all.

[Anonymous]

Point is, we say we will never forget when it comes to 9:12 or the Holocaust, but tell black people to get over slavery and years of institutionalizated racism. We are hypocrites. I dunno what Liam Neeson got out of sharing this story, but I bet what he felt and did is much more common than people wearinf blackface in the 80s. Racism has many colors. And yes, we are all a little bit racist. The point isn’t to say white people bad, the point is to check one’s self about one’s perceptions and what media they consume and what it sells. Are some black guys rapists? Yes. There are white rapists, there are Arab rapists, there are Irish rapists. Would I have wanted the guy and hurt him? Very likely. Would I have walked around looking for any black guy? No. Those who think his feelings were fine are wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it's really up to black people if they want to be forgiving of it- white people can cite the generation, the location, his honesty, and the fact that he believes he has changed- but it still must be hurtful in a way that I don't understand first hand.

I'm black and I am not hurt by what Liam mentioned. I am not so fragile. I am amused by Liam, but hurt? No! I have felt that way numerous times over the years because I have had relatives who have been victims of violence from black men. The feeling of rage and vengeance are real. Look he is human. We all are. There is not one person on this board who has never felt a strong hate towards someone that has hurt a person that they care about. That type of hurt and pain doesn't go away overnight. Liam being a white guy was stupid to admit this in public.

Newsflash: We have all said or done racist things in our past. Anyone who doesn't acknowledge this fact is a liar!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This topic is funny to me, whenever it comes up. White people LOVE to say things like “Black people should get over this or that terrible awful thing that happened to them and move on!” Or “It wasn’t MY family that owned slaves, why should I have to feel badly?”

But whenever someone black does something, it’s acceptable to react to other black people based upon that incident. PP upthread was raped by black guys so her family hates black guys. Hey, no problem! Black people have been treated like crap by other races in many situations but...don’t dwell on it! Move on!

How can people stomach the complete hypocrisy? It really boggles the mind but doesn’t surprise me.

This...so much this.

Wow! This

I'm an earlier poster who said I could understand how he felt as he did (the crackhead example). I'd say the exact same thing if Neeson were black and made the comment about white men after one attacked his friend. Some of you have clearly never been through a traumatic incident and therefore don't understand visceral reactions (like PP with the Indian example).