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Liam Neeson's real-life rape/revenge tale (See Staff Post)
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Exactly. All he says he's learned is that "revenge/violence is wrong". No where in this story does he say or admit that wanting to take out his revenge on any random Black person simply because the criminal was Black, was wrong. And that suggests he still doesn't see any issue with thinking like that about Black people.
Yeah that’s the most fucked up thing about all the people talking about growth and redemption. He’s not even telling this story to apologise for his racism, or to talk about racism at all. It’s all a story about him and how he’s kind of a badass. And how his thoughts made him suffer. Never mind anyone else.
Not a good look. Ashamed he may be but to even think such things tells me your got some real racist tendencies.
Also I don't really see an apology or an admission of being racist.
Also I don't really see an apology or an admission of being racist.
But this is also the one and only interview that reveals this side of him.
One is enough to condemn, apparently.
Show me where he acknowledges that the thoughts were racist? He talks about violence and he says that’s bad, that’s clear in the interview. But he makes no such commentary to his “what colour was he” questioning, nor does he address racism directly.
He acknowledged that revenge is bad, not the fact that it was a virulently racist thing to do and that he needed to have consciously worked on that shit to divorce himself of the savagery that allowed him to even try and commit a lynching in the first place.
Unconvincing!
Personally I don't generally talk in public about the things I'm really ashamed about. So the best you can say is that Neeson has arrived at "I had a murderous lynching period, just like everybody does, and it's so normal I can just bring it up to a reporter asking about my movie." Which is, like, not better.
It's fucking wild because Neeson isn't even out there asking for forgiveness. He told this story and acknowledges his mindset was awful but he isn't begging for forgiveness.
And Trump hasn't built his wall. But it's not from lack of intent.
“Rage is bad” is different from addressing the dehumanization of black people and violent racial bias he expressed in the interview.
And it’s black history month and he dropped this bomb on the black community. Really shitty. And they’ll be pressured by white people to forgive Liam Neeson, because he’s one of the “good ones.”
Yea, I was not pissed at this thread at first, but all the "BUT HE DIDN'T ACT ON IT!" posts are pissing me the fuck off.
Reading comprehension is at an all time low. Wandering the streets with the weapon to kill black people is MOST DEFINITELY acting on your racist impulses. If some poor black guy actually DID walk up to Neeson, he would be a murderer. Point blank.
the fact he admitted to this on his little press tour for his new flop movie is just something else, the timing and place of this is all the way fucked up and not at all a place in which he should be forgiven for it. The context is just to make himself look better.
he admitted this shit himself. this isn't some goddamn third-hand account of someone that knew him in the 70s-- this is from his own fucking mouth.
that quote is not directly attributed to him, that is from the writer.
He's being sincere. I like that. I had to live through hate some time after a trauma and had disturbing thoughts for a while. Talking about it is the best way to let it go and realize how fucking stupid the brain can be.
I don't know about you, but I'm going to condemn going out to kill a black person because some other black person raped someone.
I have yet to see the self-reflection apply to race, just to his own violent impulses.
That’s the author’s words. That’s the author of the article describing what Liam Neeson recounted to them. That’s not Neeson acknowledging it.
His response would have been to go after the individual who committed the crime. Black people don't get the benefit of individuality.
That's fair. I am convinced.
But now you all must let me grow, too.
One rape condemned the entire black male population to a potential ambush by a racist with a metal bar.
i'm sorry but when did movie promoting become 'confess to your deepest, darkest racist secret' time.
what a strange man.
what a strange man.
"I once spent a week attempting to lynch black people" is a huge fucking thing to reveal about himself. Espeically out of nowhere
Talking about it... with a therapist. Not as a marketing technique.
And his trauma didn’t make him a racist. His racism did.
He tells it like it is! It's horrible and racist, but he tells it like it is!
In the context of where he grew up in NI and during what time period it's not surprising his view of race and violence was warped. Dude was living in an area where the bombings and attacks were happening on a near daily basis.
Hearing that someone you love (wife? sister?) was raped does some crazy things to the mind.
Hearing that someone you love (wife? sister?) was raped does some crazy things to the mind.
There's just something about the sincerity of a white man admitting he was going to tag and bag a black person that just makes the heart go all aflutter.
I sometimes wonder, though, if he isn't trying to use his anecdote to stop other people from doing the same. People here are saying he shouldn't have even brought this up but is that not worth something?
And would people really prefer they remain ignorant of the dark hearts that surround us? Don't you want to know this dude is fucked up before going to see more of his movies?
So 50 years ago, a relative of his was raped..and out of anger, he walked around town wanting to kill someone of the same color, but after a week, he found he was misguided, irrational and ashamed. Seems like he carried around that guilt for years and basically dropped it in some random press junket.
That is a ton of shit to work through, I'd like a follow up interview, because it feels like there needs more.
That is a ton of shit to work through, I'd like a follow up interview, because it feels like there needs more.
Like seriously I know this forum is heavily American centric but finding out a white man in 1970's Ireland was racist shouldn't be this surprising, again you'd be hard pushed to find a person who wasn't like that in that era, we're talking about a country that covered up killing babies, refusing women's rights, killing gay people, etc, and you're surprised the average white man was also racist?
Nobody is saying what he did/thought was right, even himself, but let's not try and pretend it was a surprising thing.
Nobody is saying what he did/thought was right, even himself, but let's not try and pretend it was a surprising thing.
You could just simply say "I'll keep watching his movies" instead.
Well he is constantly in movies about revenge. For someone who says that he doesn't have these impulses, it sure is weird to constantly be in movies about them.
Not sure where anyone remarked this is surprising. What's surprising is that he admits to it in an interview and reveals, from his own mouth, how virulently racist he is.
An aspect not really being covered here is the spectacular lack of consideration (on Neeson's behalf) for the actual victim, who has had potentially their experience shared with the world without their consent. How many rumors and innuendos will now be circulating among women are are or were previously in Neeson's life?
If his friend was raped by a white male would he have been walking the street looking for a white man to kill.
No chance!!!
No chance!!!
I respect his honesty but that was an extremely racist reaction. There's no proof either that he's not racist today. It's hard enough opening the eyes of less racist people, how much progress can really be made from someone who was down to kill innocent Black men? Especially since due to society and his wealth, there's a chance he's never had a deep substantive relationship with a Black person?
I don't believe "once a racist/always a racist" in all cases but this is a pretty extreme case, don't you think? This isn't your average case of diet racism or racist thoughts like "Oh I used to cross the street when a black person was walking towards me on the sidewalk but I realized my own racism and stopped doing it." This is someone who went out for an extended period of time fully intending to target and kill a random black man. That IS abhorrently racist.
The fact is that Neeson did not bother to address this racism of his. I don't see why we should give him the benefit of the doubt by default and wait to see his next statement which will almost most assuredly be damage control. Why do white people always get that default confidence when they say or do racist things? Let him prove he's changed and grown instead of rationalizing his actions and giving him the benefit of the doubt. Just look at the people in this thread who are closing gaps in the story themselves to excuse or forgive Neeson instead of taking what he said at face value.
When white people say or do racist things, we're always waiting for more answers to see if it truly was racist or if they are still the same as they were then. When black people are persecuted for racist reasons, we ask to wait for more answers to see if it was truly racist while we by default try to find some other explanation. Just compare the immediate defenses and forgiveness for Neeson here compared to the doubt surrounding Jussie Smollett's assault and whether or not it was a hate crime or if it even happened as he said it did. Liam Neeson is a white man who's also a famous movie star so of course he's gonna have people forgive him off the bat even with a half-hearted account of what he did and no proof that he's changed. I, however, can't default to "he's changed since then, it's not once-a-racist-always-a-racist" here, especially as a black man. I simply can't afford to.
Are you referring to me? I don't watch Liam Neeson's movies unless he's just an incidental supporting character. I don't really care for him as an actor, I've never bothered to watch a Taken film, etc.
My interests in this matter are more nuanced.
And MLK was murdered in America in 1968.
Black people are never surprised to find out that a white person is/was racist. The time period doesn't excuse anything.
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