So to you anything other than absolving or praising Neeson for what he did is not worth discussing?
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Liam Neeson Good Morning America Interview
- Thread starter mutantmagnet
- Start date
I still hold out occasional hope that people are capable of more than what they routinely exhibit. But this is progress for me. Previously I'd hold out but now I understand people aren't interested in entertaining different ideas once their mind is set.
I did not say that. This is the shit I don't want to deal with.
Your phrasing made it sound like you were saying black people get too much of a pass for being "racist" against like white people.
But Neeson is even less deserving of redemption than he was in the original thread! At least beforehand, there was nuance and people could pretend that he was telling this story to speak out against racism but now he's outright denying that his actions were ever racist.
I agree. Not my intention. But there is a normalizing due to White supremacy of racism against people of African descent. This is rather well documented.
That was my point. Check my other post in the thread as well. Otherwise, the quote you replied to would not be consistent with my previous one.
No harm no foul though.
Fantastic choice of words given Liam is the one who was literally walking the streets looking for a random black person to kill.
You said people were out to get their pound of flesh after two people corrected you that Neeson was talking about a person's skin color not their ethnicity.
How is that even remotely close to people looking to get their pound of flesh? They corrected you.
When you look at how POC have been portrayed in media for that past several centuries, and how society has reinforced those negative stereotypes it's not really that far fetched.
Racism isn't genetic, it's learned behavior that reinforced by media, community and society.
Because he thinks it makes him sound enlightened now. He's fucking stupid.
You'll get no argument from me on that. I've said as much myself millions of times.
Agreed no harm no foul, cheers.
Here's what you have to understand:
He's now doing an apology tour - he's casually guarded, and will not truly expound on what he said - because it will dig him deeper.
Which is funny, because what ISN'T said, is what will be the topic on everyone's lips.
What he isn't going to be allowed to say, is that yeah, he was specifically looking for black people, and he had preconceptions of what they'd do if he started shit with them. That probably didn't happen, and he realized that he was being a dumb ass. He also isn't going to be able to say that if his friend said that they were white, he'd then start going after specifics. REAL specifics. Were they Protestant? What neighborhood? What accent? Because NOW you're getting religion and nationalism into it, and that's REALLY not a good look. You can beat up a black dude, and well, that's it. Poor black guy was in the wrong place, wrong time. You go after a white Protestant? He said it himself - a Catholic bar gets bombed? A Protestant bar is gonna get bombed. You better make sure you aren't seen or heard when you beat the crap out of a white dude - because they'll hear what he sounds like, and a whole damn neighborhood will be up in arms.
That's real war shit, though. And he can't talk about that. He has a comedy (!!!) to promote.
dude its time to put the mic down if youre not going to actually address the racist part of your story. good on you for realizing killing random people is bad (lol) but theres still an elephant in the room
Where did he say this? He suggested his past motivations WERE motivated by race but asserts they aren't today.
I think it's telling is how hung up he is on his actions and not the conseqeunces. That is something he needs to work out.
And for god sake people need to stop " I hope to start a discussion", no you don't you just want pat on the back or something. You don't actually want to talk about marginalization, cause if you did you would just talk about it.
Really? Pound of flesh? What exactly do you think is happening here other than people rightfully telling Neeson he's got more work to do than a simple apology for his bigotry? Neeson isn't being jailed. He isn't going to the guillotine. The worst that comes from this is that black people like myself and other minorities and allies won't see his movies anymore which is something they're entitled to do after this revelation and something we're free to do anyway.
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Damn, are you a carpenter? Because you just hit that nail right on the head.
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You have put into better words my last thoughts on the matter in the OP. Dude seriously has issues to make you wary of him especially if he can be instigated again. Slayven's off the cuff remark about his movie career and they way he buries himself to avoid dealing with his wife's death feels more illuminating into his character than it should be.
It's sad this interview didn't have the time to really broach the wider issues around rape, racial violence and toxic masculinity. I hope it does start a wider discussion without focusing solely on Liam because the replies in threads like this and elsewhere in social media only highlights there are some people who can relate way more with that anger of the patroller instead of the victim and potential victims.
it's like these people have no conception of the words they use. Heads really be stuck up asses
Yeah. :(
Gotta go start doing research so I can contribute to the BHM thread. Lets get that back to the top of the threads, instead of this bullshit.
Yes. Please go away. Between this thread and last thread all you have done is try to explain away the severity of this situation. This dude is not getting a pound of flesh taken out of him because black people are literally going what the fuck at his total cluelessness at the situation he described.
Kindly fuck off with your victimization bullshit.
Most notably the governor of Virginia getting outted for doing blackface multiple times and giving a flippant press conference about the whole thing where he refuses to step down.
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He did acknowledge that his behavior was racist. The way Robin followed up on his actual answer though encouraged him to equivocate but he still comes across as racist once you scrutinize the merits and details of that followup.
That's an unconventional way to read that statement. I doubt anyone else came across with the same misinterpretation you made.
That is essentially what John Barnes (major England & Liverpool football / soccer star of the 80s and 90s who routinely experienced racism to the point that he had bananas thrown at him) said about the Neeson situation.
I think that's a bit unfair tbh. Your girlfriend being raped is more than just a stressful situation. I wouldn't kill a man who did that but I would absolutely cripple them. I would be wrong in doing it, but I know that in my rage I would do it, and I don't think I'm unusual for feeling that way.
When he says he would've had the same reaction if he was told the rapist was white, he's denying that his motivations were racist. See, when you say that, being a black man just becomes a meaningless descriptor. His friend could've said her rapist was anything and he would've had the same reaction. That dismisses that his actions could have been based on any specific hatred for black people and black people just had the unlucky draw of his anger.
He needs to acknowledge the specific hate he had towards black people in that story and what he's done to address it and fix it since then. He's instead spun it as a general anger problem thing that randomly was directed at black people merely by chance.
What would you do to someone unrelated who happened to have as much melanin? That is what makes this story different than just a hothead taking matters into their own hands. This guy wanted to beat any black man to death, whether he was the perpetrator or not. That level of rage is beyond what many people can understand.
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I'm wary of Neeson because of how indiscriminate he was in his specifics. I know about situations like this and I'm ok with people going after a specific person. Neeson though was ok with just lashing out anyone that fit a very vague profile and that deserves more scrutiny.
Jessie's Attack was a few days before Feb
21 Savage getting deported after making a positive change in his career
This Liam Neeson and people trying to spin it as a positive thing
There was even a black woman on Twitter trying to raise funds for a Black owned prison.... Like wtf?
That's a great idea, gonna start looking for more positive shit to recall and learn about. Keep focused on that.
yeah he's all over the place and doesn't know how to frame any of this nor pick it apart to come to a deeper understanding of how much shit he has been swimming in. he later goes back to admitting being a racist by asserting power walking helped him 'to get rid of this'.
this is just all so fucking surreal.
Already on the apology tour but apologizing for the wrong thing. Yeah okay, this will go well.
Edit: Oh yeah also what DigitalOP said. Fucking hell, we're only 5 days in!
The Ralph Northam blackface/kkk photo and continuing scandal is probably what they are referencing. And yeah didn't even think about it but great Black History Month we're having so far.
Edit: Oh yeah also what DigitalOP said. Fucking hell, we're only 5 days in!
The "discussion" they're looking for is zero disagreement with whatever "brilliant" argument they're attempting to make.
Dude bounced because people corrected him when he attempted to absolve Neeson of his racism.
yeah what an insane start to BHM, this is what happens when you have a white supremacist in power, the nazis just grow bolder
I feel like any self reflection on racism he may have done is cancelled out by the fact that he believes he would have done the same if the assailant was white or any other race.
I tend to agree, he needs to separate the issue entirely in his mind and examine why he wandered around looking for a black dude to fuck up rather than wondering around looking for a specific person.
I get it, the Troubles and retribution and all, but he framed the story as outside the context of the Troubles and as an incident that took place entirely within his own circle of influence.
Well to be fair we're 5 days in and no one's started a "WHAT ABOUT WHITE HISTORY MONTH???" debate yet. We have to take these small victories where we can find them.
Not really fam. I understand dude fine, which is why I'm not trippin. His youth is rougher than a lot of other people, and so his experiences aren't gonna be typical. It would be like asking you "what do you think of when you are sad?" And you answering "I think of my car being in the shop, and how the hell am I going to pay for it. I think of my best friend who moved to another state."
Then you ask him and he says "I think of my friend who's been raped. I think of my buddy who was killed when he was stupid enough to go to Dungannon after dark. I think of my favorite pub me and my dad went to being burned down by rioters."
You're like man, that's morbid as fuck. Well, that's his experience. He doesn't even realize that in that moment he was in a dark place. To him, it was just an answer to a question.
The wider discussion we really should be having. This idea that this event is just "bad" is such a lowering of the baseline empathy society at large seems to believe black people are allowed. Suddenly, don't hunt us down like playthings you can take your rage out on is a great step in a person's journey to leave behind their bigotry. I'm just not sure why so many people think it's some sort of sympathetic position or why people can't see that someone who thinks like that probably has a wealth of bigoted issues that don't manifest openly and violently. All I can think about is what bigoted things does Neeson do regularly that he justifies because at least it's "not as bad as wanting to kill blacks".
It shows you how non-black folks on any side of the aisle really view us.