Liam Neeson
Moderator: Joan
Liam Neeson
I went up and down areas with a cosh, hoping I’d be approached by somebody – I’m ashamed to say that – and I did it for maybe a week, hoping some "black bastard" would come out of a pub and have a go at me about something, you know? So that I could, kill him.
I love Neeson. I think Taken is a stonking film. I hate to judge someone for their reaction to trauma. But I am really disturbed by this. We all know if his friend had been attacked by a white man, he wouldn't have trawled the streets looking for a white man to attack. His reaction is clearly racist. If one black man does something, deep down Neeson believes that all black men did it.
Also - saying it to a reporter is wrong. If he isn't ostracized for this, what does it say about our society? That setting out to murder someone because they are the same race as someone who has harmed you is ok, is forgivable? The only reason he didn't commit murder, is that he wasn't able to provoke someone to attack him. If Neeson stays a celebrity, then what do to someone in a similar position who does kill, in "self defence" in a situation that was engineered so he had to defend himself?
Ugh. Why couldn't he just get drunk and shout anti-Semitic remarks to the police like a normal movie star?
I love Neeson. I think Taken is a stonking film. I hate to judge someone for their reaction to trauma. But I am really disturbed by this. We all know if his friend had been attacked by a white man, he wouldn't have trawled the streets looking for a white man to attack. His reaction is clearly racist. If one black man does something, deep down Neeson believes that all black men did it.
Also - saying it to a reporter is wrong. If he isn't ostracized for this, what does it say about our society? That setting out to murder someone because they are the same race as someone who has harmed you is ok, is forgivable? The only reason he didn't commit murder, is that he wasn't able to provoke someone to attack him. If Neeson stays a celebrity, then what do to someone in a similar position who does kill, in "self defence" in a situation that was engineered so he had to defend himself?
Ugh. Why couldn't he just get drunk and shout anti-Semitic remarks to the police like a normal movie star?
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Re: Liam Neeson
I was troubled by this story. I've been pretty upset at times but never felt the urge to go out and murder someone.
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Re: Liam Neeson
Neeson is a racist nob...
but the bigger racist nobbers are those trying to excuse his behaviour. What's the bet he gets an invite to the White House in the near future?
but the bigger racist nobbers are those trying to excuse his behaviour. What's the bet he gets an invite to the White House in the near future?
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Re: Liam Neeson
That's frightening; if going out looking to kill someone just because the have the same skin colour as a rapist isn't racism, then what the fuck is??
I can't imagine they would be reacting the same way if Idris Elba said he once wandered the streets with a weapon, looking for an excuse to kill a white man.
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Re: Liam Neeson
It's whitesplaining, isn't it? I thought Gary Younge was on the money: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... tor-racism
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Re: Liam Neeson
Pretty sure its a publicity stunt. I also think his intention was 'revenge is such a strong emotion it can temporally turn even me into a racist twonk'.
I think its horribly back fired though.
I think its horribly back fired though.
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Re: Liam Neeson
He was incredibly stupid, twice, and some believe it will do for his career. Tant pis.
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Re: Liam Neeson
There's an awful lot of present tense in this thread and in Younge's article. The incident, whatever actually happened, was at some date in the past - and from the internal evidence in the Indy interview it could well have been quite a long time in the past.
Treating a past event as precisely reflective of someone's current attitude is unfair at best.
Treating a past event as precisely reflective of someone's current attitude is unfair at best.
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Re: Liam Neeson
I think @Rutabaga nailed it. Neeson's has been stupid twice - once forty years ago and once now, in using his past racist actions as an illustration as to how he got into character (which is the context in which he made the comments).Iris wrote: ↑5 years agoThere's an awful lot of present tense in this thread and in Younge's article. The incident, whatever actually happened, was at some date in the past - and from the internal evidence in the Indy interview it could well have been quite a long time in the past.
Treating a past event as precisely reflective of someone's current attitude is unfair at best.
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Re: Liam Neeson
The way he tells the story, he was serious. He spent a week looking for the opportunity to kill someone. I believe him that if the opportunity had presented itself, he would have done it. The only reason that he didn't kill a black man is that he was lucky. That's way different from "I used to be racist, but now I am not". That's a whole new level. Most racists would not kill. Murder is not in most people's DNA. Even if it is, under the circumstances described, even a racist would seek out the rapist, or the rapists family, not someone with the same level of melanin, who is completely unconnected with the crime. Even the horrible murder of Emmett Hill, the racists who killed him believed (or pretended to believe) that he was actually guilty of an offence.Iris wrote: ↑5 years agoThere's an awful lot of present tense in this thread and in Younge's article. The incident, whatever actually happened, was at some date in the past - and from the internal evidence in the Indy interview it could well have been quite a long time in the past.
Treating a past event as precisely reflective of someone's current attitude is unfair at best.
What is the statute of limitations on attempted murder?
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Re: Liam Neeson
I don't read that into the interview. But that's not the point. Yes he's been stupid twice - really stupid. The story would be better told in therapy than to a journalist, and I wouldn't be surprised to discover that it was something he'd been exploring in therapy (but that's between him and his therapist).
My point is that an awful lot of the commentary is responding to Neeson's story as if going out with a baseball bat in search of a black man to assault were something he did last week, or as if it were something he knows he'd do now. I may be being excessively charitable, but I think that by telling the story he is demonstrating that he knows that his younger self had unconscious biases, that that is wrong, and that his response to them was entirely inappropriate.
And for the record, I don't actually know who Liam Neeson is - other than someone with a film to promote.
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