By reserving judgment, you are saying he’s not a racist. You’ve given him the default state of innocence (redeemed in this context) and want to wait for him to have another chance to do his damage control. You only consider him to be racist if he “messes up” again.
For the folks who are being sincere and not just trolling I think the point of contention that's making this argument go in circles is the assumption that Liam acknowledged that what he did was racist or wrong in singling out black men. He clearly acknowledges that vengeance is wrong but I don't see anything in what he said that makes me assume anything beyond that. Perhaps my life experiences have left me in a place where I'm wary to give him the benefit of the doubt about that but other posters life experiences have left them in a place where they do give him that benefit, I don't know. What I do know that these threads are all the same and I'm tired of people telling me how to feel about racism, I don't go into threads dealing with misogyny to tell lady posters that I don't understand why they're upset and that they should get over it so if you're not the target of discrimination why do some folks feel they have the right to do that?
This. I get wanting to hurt the guy who did it, but some random POC who just came out of a pub? Like . . . you're completely sober and you want to murder someone who's drunk just for bumping into you, saying the wrong thing, or eyeball fucking you?
I think he makes it incredibly easy to jump on him and crucify him because his comments are fucking horrific. But then I always try to wonder why someone said the things they did and he seems to be saying this from a perspective of gratitude that he isn't that person anymore.
That's the thing though. I will always empathise with people who are the target of hate crimes. I am not defending his actions. They were fucking terrible. I guess I'm just confused about why he is saying anything in the first place. Like he has just admitted that 40 years ago he was an awful racist piece of shit. In this current climate he must be properly off his rocker to think that's a sensible thing to do. Therefore I think he must have failed to articulate himself correctly otherwise he is clearly a deluded horrible piece of shit.
Yeah in no way will I ever tell people I don't understand why they are pissed off. It's fairly obvious why people are pissed off, and people should be. I just struggle to understand why he said the things he said. My head doesn't understand the point he was trying to make and this is where my want for further clarification comes from.
You say this but you and a bunch of other people have spent the whole thread watering down what he said and did trying to find the flower in his shit hole of a statement and this is way more left leaning than most places on the net. His statements aren't as crucifying as you are thinking they are to most people, yourself included clearly.
Sometimes method actors like to talk about their inspiration for a character, and how they're able to pull off a role so convincingly. Here Liam was discussing a hate-filled character who's motivated by a desire for revenge, so I guess (without really thinking it through) he decided to share a personal experience that helps him relate to the character. Only problem is that this isn't a fun little anecdote . . . it's him admitting he walked around for a week and a half hoping he could murder a black person in cold blood for saying the wrong thing to him. It doesn't get much more fucked up than that.
He said it because he was promoting a movie and told an anecdote that directly relates to the themes of the movie. That's it. This wasn't some symposium on combating racism or a TED talk, it was a press junket.
But his statements are as crucifying as I think they are and my point is, why make that statement at all? He's not trying to play to the racist pieces of shit on the right because he follows it up with regret. They also stir up the wrong kind of controversy to promote his movie so it isn't an I'll guided publicity stunt. So why the fuck did he say it in the first place?
He's been involved with UNICEF and many charities over the years. Beyond that he is a founding member of Journeys In Film which advocates for civil rights and other causes through film education.
I would agree with you if it weren't for the fact he was physically shaking when telling the story and clearly understands the gravity of what he is admitting to.
This right here.
Isn’t charity directly related to guilt? He’s probably only doing it to make up for all of those people he killed back in the 70s.
Then why is one of the first things he asks is "What color were they?"
Really really good perspective right here. Never thought of it that way. Gonna keep this quote in my pocket.
Where has he been crucified? It sure as hell isn't Era lol.
Everyone seemingly loves a good redemption arc. Because apparently the fact that he "learned" and "has grown" is enough for people to be like, "Good Job Liam"
Are you really surprised by this? Era has a problem with plenty of people immediately forgiving or “ just asking questions “ in regards to racial sins committed by a non-POC , see any cop murder thread, the assault on the actor from Empire thread, the MAGA teens thread, this thread, etc.
Lol the Knockout Game. I was thinking about this dumb racist false flag just last week. A few years ago, when the Constitutionality of the NYPDs racist Stop and Frisk program was in the Courts, NY media went Knockout Game crazy in their reporting. I even recognized an old clip from the UK of a Black dude punching a White lady, and they aired the clip under the false notion that it was filmed in NY.
Black people catch hell for fanfic crimes, but white people are worshiped as heroes for real crimes.
I mean, I'm sure reliving the rape of his friend was upsetting for him, but I'm not sure how him physically shaking when using the anecdote to promote a movie means he should be absolved for his abhorrent actions.
The primary point here is that you and just about everyone's else get reaction in this situation is to find the person who hurt your loved one and make them pay. Liam's first instinct was for whatever reason was to ask the race of the attacker and then find any black man that he could to punish. That shit ain't normal and the fact that he thought that was a good example to present as a revenge anecdote makes me pretty unlikely to accept any further explanations from him about his reasoning.
You could be right and if that's the case then fuck him. I will be very interested to see how he reacts over the next few days. If it's a generic "I'm sorry I said those things in the interview" rather than an admission that the horrible racist views he held 40 years ago have no place in our society and that racial inequality is a social issue we need to address rather than ignore, well then we will know what he really thinks.
That is not what I said. I said that clearly the story wasn't just a press promotion for his new movie. He knew the gravity of what he was saying, he knew it would be controversial. It's the wrong kind of controversy to stir up excitement for his new movie and in fact a bunch of people will def boycott it now, so what was the endgame in saying it at all?
You right, man it is amazing how proganda has spread racial lies. Folks can't agree on borders but they can all agree on black people being hypersexual animals
Were ppl srsly giving a pass to the empire and maga thing?!?!
Yeah some people said that the empire dude clearly made it up cos why would you walk about with rope on your neck for so long or wait so long to call the cops as if shock just isn't a thing. It was pretty bad.
The other thing about this is that the vast majority of rape victims are raped by someone they know, not a random stranger. It's completely possible that Liam's relative told him what she did because she didn't want him to actually find the person who did it and end up in prison.
And none of that shows me he's not racist, tho his opinion on metoo show me got a bit of a sexism problem
The emotional response of wanting to see the rapist/murderer of a loved one suffering or dead isnt toxic masculinity or exclusive to males.
If a random white dude, in conversation, brought up that he once walked up and down the streets of his town with a cudgel hoping to kill the first black person he came across in revenge but that he'd changed since then, I- a black woman- would nod and then never talk to that person again.
He wanted to kill any black person over it. Walking up and down streets with a cudgel and hoping to beat down anyone in retroactive defense of someone, to make a point. At that point it wasn't about helping anyone but himself by expressing his emotions through violence. That is, in fact, an example of toxic masculinity.
Hard to say. We didn't know about this until he just admitted it out of nowhere out of this. That being the case, who knows what other skeletons he could have in his closet? Considering he was willing to kill someone for simply having the same skin color as a rapist, not caring if they actually were that person or not, just going guilt by skin color, and no one knew about that 'til now, who even knows? Given this, not exactly inclined to give him benefit of the doubt there, considering if he's willing to go that far, well, that doesn't exactly tend to be a good sign because of how beyond the pale that is, y'know what I mean?
