Liam Neeson Good Morning America Interview

[Driggonny]

I'm just recognizing the fact that since Trump is in office, we have people spew hate and bigotry on the national stage and it has become some what acceptable.

And here we have a 66 year old IRSH male, admitting shame to a thought he had when his friend got hurt, and who also has worked himself into the ground since his wife died. I mean we have people on this forum that don't talk to family members anymore because they hold certain views. This elderly guy is admitting shame in his original interview. And when I say elderly, is that they usually die holding their view points without changing.

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So much of his story centered on the race of the alleged perpetrator. How he was gonna kill the next black person he saw. Using racially charged language. It would have been very simple, if with all this other terrible stuff he mentioned, he had addressed the racial component at all. Instead he spends the whole story fixated on the guy's race and then acts like it has nothing to do with whatever lesson he learned.

 

[Deleted member 1248]

I'm just recognizing the fact that since Trump is in office, we have people spew hate and bigotry on the national stage and it has become some what acceptable.

And here we have a 66 year old IRSH male, admitting shame to a thought he had when his friend got hurt, and who also has worked himself into the ground since his wife died. I mean we have people on this forum that don't talk to family members anymore because they hold certain views. This elderly guy is admitting shame in his original interview. And when I say elderly, is that they usually die holding their view points without changing.

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He doesn't get a pat on the back for not committing a hate crime because it took too long to find someone to do it to. His shame means jack shit.

 

[Deleted member 52988]

This is some pretty heavy shit and it's interesting that he chose to be this introspective.

You can only assume (hope?) it was cause for reflection and he did some thinking about why he felt the way he did, hopefully changing his perspective. It isn't promising that he can't acknowledge that it was racially charged though.

It's good that he recognises it as a moment of lunacy. I think I can empathise with his thought process at the time. I've definitely been in situations where i've been wronged by a white dude and had that "I wish a motherfucker WOULD start something" rage. I'd like to think for him it was less "I just want to kill any black person" and more "I need to take this out on someone fitting the description so if they start it, imma go crazy". I've been in situations where i've taken out my resentment of one particular whitefella on another in the absence of rational thought. Obviously not to the extent of physically harming anyone but I can understand the thought process which leads to that point.

I think... I mean the fact he asked the question at all is suspect.

 

[-JD-]

Time to retire, Liam.

 

[Mona]

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this is great

 

[Slayven]

I'm just recognizing the fact that since Trump is in office, we have people spew hate and bigotry on the national stage and it has become some what acceptable.

And here we have a 66 year old IRSH male, admitting shame to a thought he had when his friend got hurt, and who also has worked himself into the ground since his wife died. I mean we have people on this forum that don't talk to family members anymore because they hold certain views. This elderly guy is admitting shame in his original interview. And when I say elderly, is that they usually die holding their view points without changing.

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Nope they done this since day one, revisionist history is one of the backflips folks do to excuse racism. It's always been acceptble people are just no longer sweeting the words

 

[toastyToast]

I'm good on Liam Neeson. That shit is crazy

 

[Gotdatmoney]

I just don't understand why people think the dude is being held to some crazy standard. The entire time the only thing I have said in regards to this whole ordeal is that this dude is seemingly unaware of how fucking racist his story is. Like tye severity of what he was saying was seemingly lost on him.

I dont give a shit if people watch his movies. I dont want him stripped out of show business. I don't really care whether he does or doesn't unpack his internal issues. Pretty much all I want is for this dude to address the extent of how crazy and racist it is to associate your pain with all black people and then hope you get into some with one so you can kill them. This is fucked. This is dehumanizing. This is literally insane.

In the interview he back peddles it to he would have reacted the same if it was any ethnicity. But bruh, it wasn't any ethnicity, it was a color and that color was black. These people who have been marginalized in society to severe degrees. I don't want to hear anecdotes. I just want you to owm it and apoplogize and confront how poisoning racism is and how we need to be better.

That's it. That's all dude needed to do for me to go, aight, this will never not be fucked but at least this seems like a dude who really understands how dangerous this shit is. People are making it sound like the moon is required. It's just disingenuous bull.

 

[mutantmagnet]

Mobile phones are annoying with clicks registered because the display turns on. The saved drafts previously posted are all incomplete thoughts.

 

[Akira86]

We forgive you Qui-Gon.

 

[darz1]

Ok for everyone here who is "understanding" him, would you also be as understanding if someone was wronged and searched the streets wanting:

- to kill the first woman who bothered them?
- to kill the first LGBTQI person who bothered them?
- to kill the first immigrant who bothered them?
-to kill the first asian person who bothered them?

This dickhead wasnt just angry, he was rolling around looking to make someone a victim of a hate crime. Thats fucked up.

 

[TheWraith]

Ok for everyone here who is "understanding" him, would you also be as understanding if someone was wronged and searched the streets wanting:

- to kill the first woman who bothered them?
- to kill the first LGBTQI person who bothered them?
- to kill the first immigrant who bothered them?
-to kill the first asian person who bothered them?

This dickhead wasnt just angry, he was rolling around looking to make someone a victim of a hate crime. Thats fucked up.

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Yes, and he aknowledged that and was sorry and disgusted himself for such a stupid primal reaction. What more is there to say? No reason for any commotion whatsoever.

 

[ArtVandelay]

"I'm not...racist."

Hm, that's a dead giveaway.

 

[mgagagokayo]

i like liam neeson as an actor - i think he's a solid person.

i don't blame him for what he wanted to do. people who have experienced bad things in their lives, especially their loved ones are emotionally just in doing whatever they want to do in acts of vengeance. i would know that, because i feel that too. there are times when, randomly, i remember a wrong doing by someone and then i get my second wind. it gives me fuel to the fire because of this hate and wrong that was done to me.

it was 30 years ago, so it can be said he is forgiven. but if that was his 'inspiration', then objectively, it is aged old racism. why? well, its because his thought process is the same way when white men in the 60s and 70s would justify the beating/killing of a black man that damaged the 'purity' of a white woman.

regardless, his thoughts may be malevolent, but he did not commit a hate crime.

 

[Skux]

I was almost assaulted once, by a homeless man. I was a teenager, and it was early morning and I'd finished busking, and the guy tried to start some shit about looking at him funny. He grabbed me by the collar and got one or two glancing punches on me until I wrested free and ran across the street.

I got back home and crumbled in front of parents when telling them what had happened. I had never felt so powerless in my whole life.

For the next week I carried a large screwdriver in my bag, and clenched my fists whenever I walked past a homeless person, thinking to myself, "Make one wrong move and I'll fuck you up".

Of course it was irrational. But it was my coping mechanism. And I felt completely justified in doing it at the time.

Eventually the feelings passed. But I can see how that kind of emotional response can turn into hatred if left unchecked. I can see how people can end up blaming a whole group of people for the wrongs done by one person.

So yeah, I understand.

 

[dean_rcg]

What's funny is that people probably think he's some super hero from his revenge films. I'd kneecap that lanky racist fuck before he got to make threats.

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You'd kneecap the Irish guy - classy.

 

[Chie Satonaka]

I was almost assaulted once, by a homeless man. I was a teenager, and it was early morning and I'd finished busking, and the guy tried to start some shit about looking at him funny. He grabbed me by the collar and got one or two glancing punches on me until I wrested free and ran across the street.

I got back home and crumbled in front of parents when telling them what had happened. I had never felt so powerless in my whole life.

For the next week I carried a large screwdriver in my bag, and clenched my fists whenever I walked past a homeless person, thinking to myself, "Make one wrong move and I'll fuck you up".

Of course it was irrational. But it was my coping mechanism. And I felt completely justified in doing it at the time.

Eventually the feelings passed. But I can see how that kind of emotional response can turn into hatred if left unchecked. I can see how people can end up blaming a whole group of people for the wrongs done by one person.

So yeah, I understand.

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Homeless people aren't a race.

This happened to you directly, not to someone you were close to.

Why can't Neeson just be a piece of shit without people trying to fucking rationalize him?

Oh, wait. I know why.

 

[Ichthyosaurus]

I was almost assaulted once, by a homeless man. I was a teenager, and it was early morning and I'd finished busking, and the guy tried to start some shit about looking at him funny. He grabbed me by the collar and got one or two glancing punches on me until I wrested free and ran across the street.

I got back home and crumbled in front of parents when telling them what had happened. I had never felt so powerless in my whole life.

For the next week I carried a large screwdriver in my bag, and clenched my fists whenever I walked past a homeless person, thinking to myself, "Make one wrong move and I'll fuck you up".

Of course it was irrational. But it was my coping mechanism. And I felt completely justified in doing it at the time.

Eventually the feelings passed. But I can see how that kind of emotional response can turn into hatred if left unchecked. I can see how people can end up blaming a whole group of people for the wrongs done by one person.

So yeah, I understand.

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Unlike Neesan you weren't thinking about deliberately finding any random homeless person and hurting or killing them in revenge for nothing they had any part of.

The dude went full racist after the incident and never grasped what racism means. Bet he thinks only Nazis and KKK can be racist, it's a real bad look. What was galling was his speech about pretending to be PC, which says more about him than people doing that. Really disappointing. He needs to retire and may have torched torched own legacy.

 

[EdibleKnife]

Yes, and he aknowledged that and was sorry and disgusted himself for such a stupid primal reaction. What more is there to say? No reason for any commotion whatsoever.

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People have said over and over again what the issue is. He acknowledges his anger but not his racism. In the GMA interview he literally tries to dodge it with tired rhetoric about how he's not a racist and how it would be the same way if he heard it was a white person. Like I've said before, not killing us or desiring to is simple baseline empathy.

 

[Laserdisk]

They cancelled the red carpet.
Turns out this is not how to advertise a movie

 

[Annoying Old Party Man]

I think there is inherent racism when you isolate a specific group of people and make them a target, even if it's a personal one. For Neeson, the real problem wasn't the racist aspect of his behaviour but the psychotic aspect... that he was ready to funnel his anger and desperation to some unknown person in hope of handling it. Of course he wanted to choose something specific to funnel his anger to - that meant that since the perpetrator was black, it was easy for him to include all blacks into his rage quest.

It is weird that he decided to open up now, I wonder what's wrong with him. I really liked this extract from his interview though.

We all pretend we're all politically correct in this country... in mine, too. You sometimes just scratch the surface and you discover this racism and bigotry and it's there.

Unfortunately this is my impression as well... it's a little bit fucked up but that's humanity for you I guess.

 

[Ronnie Poncho]

Edit: I've removed this post because loads of users have already posted it and I don't think my post wasn't really helping the discussion.

 

[darz1]

I think there is inherent racism when you isolate a specific group of people and make them a target, even if it's a personal one. For Neeson, the real problem wasn't the racist aspect of his behaviour but the psychotic aspect... that he was ready to funnel his anger and desperation to some unknown person in hope of handling it. Of course he wanted to choose something specific to funnel his anger to - that meant that since the perpetrator was black, it was easy for him to include all blacks into his rage quest.

It is weird that he decided to open up now, I wonder what's wrong with him. I really liked this extract from his interview though.

We all pretend we're all politically correct in this country... in mine, too. You sometimes just scratch the surface and you discover this racism and bigotry and it's there.

Unfortunately this is my impression as well... it's a little bit fucked up but that's humanity for you I guess.

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I hate that quote. I hate the rhetoric that "we are all pretending to be PC" is the problem. No. The problem is allowing yourself to get to the point that you would hate a whole race of people for the crimes of an invidual.

People always take issue with "being too PC" or "pretending to be PC" and they use themselves as an arguement against anyone being PC. But just because you're a piece of shit pretending and some others are aswell it doesnt mean we are all pretending

 

[plié]

"After that there were some nights I went out deliberately into black areas in the city looking to be set upon so that I could unleash physical violence," he said. "And I did it for, I'd say, maybe four or five times until I caught myself on, and it really shocked me, this primal urge I had. It shocked me, and it hurt me. I did seek help."

Neeson said he turned to a priest, two good friends and power walking to work through his issues. "I'm not racist," he said. "This was nearly 40 years ago."

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I can't see why there is any kind of outrage, his feelings were very extreme and he knows and admits how harmful that was.

This is spot on, I think.

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Exactly

 

[Deleted member 1248]

This is spot on, I think.

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This video gets dumber every time it gets reposted and I judge anybody who agrees with it negatively.

 

[Annoying Old Party Man]

I hate that quote. I hate the rhetoric that "we are all pretending to be PC" is the problem. No. The problem is allowing yourself to get to the point that you would hate a whole race of people for the crimes of an invidual.

People always take issue with "being too PC" or "pretending to be PC" and they use themselves as an arguement against anyone being PC. But just because you're a piece of shit pretending and some others are aswell it doesnt mean we are all pretending

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My personal opinion is that the U.S. has been pushing this really hard... but people haven't changed. They just had to pretend for a while and now they are getting angrier for that. So yes, I think that a big portion of society is really racist, and political correctness has just created a facade. I've never seen a country that is so open in its expression - even of extreme viewpoints - so I guess something like this was needed or bound to happen. But I also see the "forum mentality" expanding like an echo into society - Liam Neeson's issue is something really complicated, and here we are being absolutists, while a movie premiere is being cancelled because the guy just revealed how fucked up he was some decades ago.

 

[DeltaRed]

This video gets dumber every time it gets reposted and I judge anybody who agrees with it negatively.

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His point that the media and press influences how certain minorities are judged as a collective is spot on.

 

[darz1]

My personal opinion is that the U.S. has been pushing this really hard... but people haven't changed. They just had to pretend for a while and now they are getting angrier for that. So yes, I think that a big portion of society is really racist, and political correctness has just created a facade. I've never seen a country that is so open in its expression - even of extreme viewpoints - so I guess something like this was needed or bound to happen. But I also see the "forum mentality" expanding like an echo into society - Liam Neeson's issue is something really complicated, and here we are being absolutists, while a movie premiere is being cancelled because the guy just revealed how fucked up he was some decades ago.

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Yes there has been a push to be PC, but there has also been a push against being PC for just as long. I think alot of people dont get that being PC is simply asking people to be respectful of others. Its really not hard

 

[astro]

I can't see why there is any kind of outrage, his feelings were very extreme and he knows and admits how harmful that was.

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Because he wanted to murder a person based on the colour of their skin, and he literally went out looking for it.

We're normalizing this as "he made a mistake" and it's sickening.

Time passed doesn't change what he did, not doing it again doesn't change what he did. He let this out, he should find a way to make up for it beyond words.

 

[Mcjmetroid]

This video gets dumber every time it gets reposted and I judge anybody who agrees with it negatively.

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Well I think it's important to talk about racist feelings you may have had in the past and how things have changed.
It's a learning exercise more than anything else. I know it sounds strange hearing this as a say American but in Ireland we're at least 30 years behind you in this regard.
I saw my first black man when I was about 14-15 in this country.

Anyway I'm not sure what anyone wants from Liam at this point.
It was said, it wasn't right... time to move on.

 

[Deleted member 1248]

His point that the media and press influences how certain minorities are judged as a collective is spot on.

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Is that what happened to Liam Neeson 40 years ago though? Irish media sent him trawling through his own neighborhood looking for a hate crime to commit?

 

[astro]

Well I think it's important to talk about racist feelings you may have had in the past and how things have changed.
It's a learning exercise more than anything else. I know it sounds strange hearing this as a say American but in Ireland we're at least 30 years behind you in this regard.
I saw my first black man when I was about 14-15 in this country.

Anyway I'm not sure what anyone wants from Liam at this point.
It was said, it wasn't right... time to move on.

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He didn't just have racist feelings.

He didn't just make a mistake.

He went out looking to murder a black person.

He should take ACTION to make amends for this, not words.

 

[Laserdisk]

This is spot on, I think.

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John Barnes....
Yeah he would be my go to news booking on this.
Was every one else busy?

 

[Deleted member 2809]

i like liam neeson as an actor - i think he's a solid person.

i don't blame him for what he wanted to do. people who have experienced bad things in their lives, especially their loved ones are emotionally just in doing whatever they want to do in acts of vengeance. i would know that, because i feel that too. there are times when, randomly, i remember a wrong doing by someone and then i get my second wind. it gives me fuel to the fire because of this hate and wrong that was done to me.

it was 30 years ago, so it can be said he is forgiven. but if that was his 'inspiration', then objectively, it is aged old racism. why? well, its because his thought process is the same way when white men in the 60s and 70s would justify the beating/killing of a black man that damaged the 'purity' of a white woman.

regardless, his thoughts may be malevolent, but he did not commit a hate crime.

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Interesting post, interesting post history too.

 

[Annoying Old Party Man]

He didn't just have racist feelings.

He didn't just make a mistake.

He went out looking to murder a black person.

He should take ACTION to make amends for this, not words.

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Let me ask you... who are you to say what he has or hasn't done, and what he should or should not do? Do you really know who this guy is apart from him admitting to have hit a rock bottom through acting like a psychopath 40 years ago? Should he provide receipts to satisfy every twitter persona or forum dweller to be amended for something he didn't do, probably years before you were even born?

 

[Ichthyosaurus]

My personal opinion is that the U.S. has been pushing this really hard... but people haven't changed. They just had to pretend for a while and now they are getting angrier for that. So yes, I think that a big portion of society is really racist, and political correctness has just created a facade. I've never seen a country that is so open in its expression - even of extreme viewpoints - so I guess something like this was needed or bound to happen. But I also see the "forum mentality" expanding like an echo into society - Liam Neeson's issue is something really complicated, and here we are being absolutists, while a movie premiere is being cancelled because the guy just revealed how fucked up he was some decades ago.

Click to shrink...

It feels like Liam understood what he was doing was wrong, but didn't go further into why he developed those feelings or trying to make amends and he certainly didn't think about how he would be viewed by the public by saying this to the press. He could have seriously hurt somebody from how he was talking and he was like this for a week. These are serious matters which are to dealt with, not simply admit he fucked up to the press then forget about it. He needs to see therapists for this, it's something he should have done for years - not just going to a priest and some friends.

 

[Window]

Yeah I think his career probably ends here.

 

[MrBadger]

regardless, his thoughts may be malevolent, but he did not commit a hate crime.

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Because he failed at accomplishing what he set out to do.

 

[Annoying Old Party Man]

It feels like Liam understood what he was doing was wrong, but didn't go further into why he developed those feelings or trying to make amends and he certainly didn't think about how he would be viewed by the public by saying this to the press. He could have seriously hurt somebody from how he was talking and he was like this for a week. These are serious matters which are to dealt with, not simply admit he fucked up to the press then forget about it. He needs to see therapists for this, it's something he should have done for years - not just going to a priest and some friends.

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One thing to take out from this is that the guy may be fucked up, or this thing is still really eating him. I don't care enough to judge him - he didn't commit a crime and every person carries their personal cross. This seems like a reaaaally horrible state to put yourself in, but I don't know what happened since it's been 4 fucking decades. Anyway, opening up a discussion about rape victims and racism might be a good thing to come out of this, who knows.

 

[astro]

Let me ask you... who are you to say what he has or hasn't done, and what he should or should not do? Do you really know who this guy is apart from him admitting to have hit a rock bottom through acting like a psychopath 40 years ago? Should he provide receipts to satisfy every twitter persona or forum dweller to be amended for something he didn't do, probably years before you were even born?

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If he is going to drop a story like this about how he was prowling the streets looking to murder a black person, then he could easily follow up with the work and actions he took later on to make amends.

He has a responsibility as someone with the world's spotlight on him to not just normalize this and show that ACTIONS matter when making amends, not words.

 

[Acorn]

Yeah I think his career probably ends here.

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Nah, I think he's good aslong as his agents don't drop him. That's usually the kiss of death.

 

[Mcjmetroid]

He didn't just have racist feelings.

He didn't just make a mistake.

He went out looking to murder a black person.

He should take ACTION to make amends for this, not words.

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Lol what action?

 

[Annoying Old Party Man]

If he is going to drop a story like this about how he was prowling the streets looking to murder a black person, then he could easily follow up with the work and actions he took later on to make amends.

He has a responsibility as someone with the world's spotlight on him to not just normalize this and show that ACTIONS matter when making amends, not words.

Click to shrink...

Make amends for what? For not doing something? The guy said it was a horrible time, and he really fucked up but in the end was able to snap out of it. And you are coming into a forum to demand prove for his amends for an action that didn't happen? How did he normalise it? By admitting how fucked up he was 40 years ago?

 

[mutantmagnet]

I was almost assaulted once, by a homeless man. I was a teenager, and it was early morning and I'd finished busking, and the guy tried to start some shit about looking at him funny. He grabbed me by the collar and got one or two glancing punches on me until I wrested free and ran across the street.

I got back home and crumbled in front of parents when telling them what had happened. I had never felt so powerless in my whole life.

For the next week I carried a large screwdriver in my bag, and clenched my fists whenever I walked past a homeless person, thinking to myself, "Make one wrong move and I'll fuck you up".

Of course it was irrational. But it was my coping mechanism. And I felt completely justified in doing it at the time.

Eventually the feelings passed. But I can see how that kind of emotional response can turn into hatred if left unchecked. I can see how people can end up blaming a whole group of people for the wrongs done by one person.

So yeah, I understand.

Click to shrink...

I guarantee there are people in this thread who were in Liam's exact situation and even among those who got angry they didn't use that anger to attempt lashing out at people not directly implicated in raping or sexually molesting another person close to them.

 

[CloudWolf]

There's a time and a place to confess heavy stuff like this, an interview on Good Morning America during your press tour for your new film ain't it.

 

[Ichthyosaurus]

Make amends for what? For not doing something? The guy said it was a horrible time, and he really fucked up but in the end was able to snap out of it. And you are coming into a forum to demand prove for his amends for an action that didn't happen? How did he normalise it? By admitting how fucked up he was 40 years ago?

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The dude's a celebrity and this isn't the 80's. Celebrities do charities and things like that all the time for causes to redeem their reputation, it's celebrity ass covering 101.

 

[astro]

Make amends for what? For not doing something? The guy said it was a horrible time, and he really fucked up but in the end was able to snap out of it. And you are coming into a forum to demand prove for his amends for an action that didn't happen? How did he normalise it? By admitting how fucked up he was 40 years ago?

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He did do something... he picked upa cosh and prowled the street actively looking to murder a black person.

 

[Elynn]

Most people have been influenced by living in a largely racist society. However there's a difference between admitting to holding stereotypical views or something and like... full on prowling the streets with a weapon looking to murder a random black person.

It's baffling to see people try to reduce it to "oh he had a feeling once".

 

[astro]

I guarantee there are people in this thread who were in Liam's exact situation and even among those who got angry they didn't use that anger to attempt lashing out at people not directly implicated in raping or sexually molesting another person close to them.

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I was almost assaulted once, by a homeless man. I was a teenager, and it was early morning and I'd finished busking, and the guy tried to start some shit about looking at him funny. He grabbed me by the collar and got one or two glancing punches on me until I wrested free and ran across the street.

I got back home and crumbled in front of parents when telling them what had happened. I had never felt so powerless in my whole life.

For the next week I carried a large screwdriver in my bag, and clenched my fists whenever I walked past a homeless person, thinking to myself, "Make one wrong move and I'll fuck you up".

Of course it was irrational. But it was my coping mechanism. And I felt completely justified in doing it at the time.

Eventually the feelings passed. But I can see how that kind of emotional response can turn into hatred if left unchecked. I can see how people can end up blaming a whole group of people for the wrongs done by one person.

So yeah, I understand.

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This is not even close to the same thing.

You were fearful for your life due to someone attacking you, Liam was angry someone he knew was hurt and went out looking to murder ANY black person he could find.

 

[blakeseven]

Yeah I think his career probably ends here.

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Let's fucking hope so, but judging by even some of the posts on era I highly doubt it. People are falling over each other to forgive and understand this guy. What a fucking shame.