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Let's Talk About Liam Neeson

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Seems like an over-reaction to something that happened 40 years ago. And actually, nothing really happened. As far as we can tell, he didnt go out and actually harm anyone. If he had, that would have been a totally different situation of course. Seems really stupid of him to bring it up though. Robin Roberts comments did not make sense to me either. She commented about how a black person would be hurt by those words. To me it is just the opposite: he admitted those feeling were wrong and claims he has changed.
 
“One night, my mates and I were out. We were hungry. We stopped at a place called Burger King. I had what was known as a ‘Whopper.’ I consumed the sandwich like a man who had not eaten in weeks. It was filling. On the way out, and I still carry the memory to this shameful day, I put my hands in the bin of the packets of catsup and took two large handfuls of them and jammed them deep into my pockets. I can’t say or explain why I did this foul act. But there it is and it is a mark - a big red catsup stain of the t-shirt of my life.”

Liam’s agent must want to kill him about now.
 
UberNeuman said:
“One night, my mates and I were out. We were hungry. We stopped at a place called Burger King. I had what was known as a ‘Whopper.’ I consumed the sandwich like a man who had not eaten in weeks. It was filling. On the way out, and I still carry the memory to this shameful day, I put my hands in the bin of the packets of catsup and took two large handfuls of them and jammed them deep into my pockets. I can’t say or explain why I did this foul act. But there it is and it is a mark - a big red catsup stain of the t-shirt of my life.”

Liam’s agent must want to kill him about now.
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Yeah. I can't for the life of me understand why he felt he needed to tell that story in public.
 
I am almost certain he's told this story before, like a few years ago. Was this drudging that back up or was it like he felt it didn't get enough attention the first time?

dank69 said:
It's a common reaction. A feeling of helplessness that you weren't there to help when you were needed.
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But its also exactly an issue that is common. Some guys only care about sexual misconduct when they hear a woman they know/care about claim it and its like a full blown assault/rape. I've known guys that I am fairly sure have committed sexual assault (forced themselves on a woman, kept going when the woman didn't want to after they might have started, other situations where it wasn't the brutal rape that those types of guys seem to view as the only "legitimate rape"), that have no self introspection on how they've acted, that go insane when someone "disrespects" a woman they know.
 
Being close to people who go thru sexual assault certainly triggers powerful emotions, which goes along with irrational thinking.
 
Victorian Gray said:
Yeah. I can't for the life of me understand why he felt he needed to tell that story in public.
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That is simple to my mind .. Cause he wanted to share that we are all human and the pit falls are out there for all of us to step in. Also, he is an old dude that has that fuck-you-money, he is going to speak his mind and be damned about the contracts. I like this honesty.
 
This is why these incidents need to be evaluated individually.

He didn't have to tell this story at all. IMO he probably thought he was doing a good thing. The obvious followup if his friends attacker had been white what would have been his reaction?

That show without enough time to expand on this story was not the time to bring this up and it left him no time to expound on those feelings. For example why was his revenge anger seeming aimed only towards black people? Has he had thee kinds of feeling towards blacks all his life?

He needs to do a long formal interview and if this was a one time thing he felt during his youth he should get a pass.
 
HomerJS said:
This is why these incidents need to be evaluated individually.

He didn't have to tell this story at all. IMO he probably thought he was doing a good thing. The obvious followup if his friends attacker had been white what would have been his reaction?

That show without enough time to expand on this story was not the time to bring this up and it left him no time to expound on those feelings. For example why was his revenge anger seeming aimed only towards black people? Has he had thee kinds of feeling towards blacks all his life?

He needs to do a long formal interview and if this was a one time thing he felt during his youth he should get a pass.
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Really?

Like you can only reflect on how stupid you were in the past only if it's a formal sit down that is 2 hours long with a black interviewer? Get the fuck out of here.

There is no set dialogue that needs to be had to reflect on your stupid past. Quit with the outrage culture.
 
frozentundra123456 said:
Seems like an over-reaction to something that happened 40 years ago. And actually, nothing really happened. As far as we can tell, he didnt go out and actually harm anyone. If he had, that would have been a totally different situation of course. Seems really stupid of him to bring it up though. Robin Roberts comments did not make sense to me either. She commented about how a black person would be hurt by those words. To me it is just the opposite: he admitted those feeling were wrong and claims he has changed.
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I'd repeat what I said earlier in the thread - his (initial) acknowledgement of the wrongness of his feelings only focussed on the issue of vengeance, and barely touched on the second (and arguably greater) problem that he was engaging in a particularly scary form of collective blame.

He didn't, in the interview, express sufficient regret or remorse about that part of his behaviour. He didn't show much sign he was aware it was an important and sensitive issue, as distinct from the general topic of vengeance-seeking. If he'd talked about that part of it more at the time his comments might have been much easier to defend.

The best defense I can think of for him is that the events he described are being interpreted in a different context to that in which they occurred. Especially in the US they seem to be seen in a context where race is the primary issue. In NI at that time black people were few in number and collective blame was part of the culture, and it predominantly involved groups of white people.

But one would have thought he'd have had enough experience of life and the world outside that context in the years since to have recontextualised that past, and hence concluded that he ought to be very careful how he tells that story, if at all. Someone ought to have pointed out the huge problem in how he thinks about his past to him in the intervening years, saving him from his own misjudgement.

Edit - I entirely agree with this article


https://www.theguardian.com/comment...-liam-neeson-primal-urge-tell-us-about-racism
 
UberNeuman said:
“One night, my mates and I were out. We were hungry. We stopped at a place called Burger King. I had what was known as a ‘Whopper.’ I consumed the sandwich like a man who had not eaten in weeks. It was filling. On the way out, and I still carry the memory to this shameful day, I put my hands in the bin of the packets of catsup and took two large handfuls of them and jammed them deep into my pockets. I can’t say or explain why I did this foul act. But there it is and it is a mark - a big red catsup stain of the t-shirt of my life.”
Click to expand...

Now that's the upside of public confession. I now know I'm not alone in having engaged in condiment-theft (for me it was sachets of mustard from the pub). Makes me feel much better.
 
According to Michelle Rodriguez he’s not racist because he stuck his tongue down Viola Davis’s throat In a movie.

"It's all f----- bull----. Liam Neeson is not a racist," Rodriguez told Vanity Fair at the amfAR gala in New York. "Dude, have you watched 'Widows'? His tongue was so far down Viola Davis' throat. You can't call him a racist ever. Racists don't make out with the race that they hate, especially in the way he does with his tongue — so deep down her throat. I don't care how good of an actor you are. It's all bull----. Ignore it. He's not a racist. He's a loving man. It's all lies."
Click to expand...



Wait. Update. Nevermind. Michelle apologized for her remarks defending him.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino...gizes-her-remarks-defense-liam-neeson-n969846
 
s0me0nesmind1 said:
Really?

Like you can only reflect on how stupid you were in the past only if it's a formal sit down that is 2 hours long with a black interviewer? Get the fuck out of here.

There is no set dialogue that needs to be had to reflect on your stupid past. Quit with the outrage culture.
Click to expand...
Who the fuck said all that you asswipe? If you bothered to listen to his interview he dropped that bombshell and the show ran out of time. What he said warranted followup but the show was over.

Get you head out of your ass and drop the political tourette's
 
sportage said:
Talk? Why?

Why do people treat these celebrities, sports figures, and politicians as if they were the pillars of wisdom, moral expertise, and worth listening to outside of the theater or stadium or statehouse?
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One of these three are elected by the public to represent them and directly affect the public through their legislative and executive actions while in office, so they are expected to be pillars of wisdom, moral expertise, and worth listening to,

the other two are a proven mass marketing tool that is courted by big business and politicians alike because of the effectiveness of swaying public opinion since we are continuously told they are some sort of role model to be aspired to.

f2d33cb7-7766-4107-85b3-3ad4af6068aa-AP_Kaepernick_Nike.jpg


AP00052002697_size.jpg
 
1prophet said:
One of these three are elected by the public to represent them and directly affect the public through their legislative and executive actions while in office, so they are expected to be pillars of wisdom, moral expertise, and worth listening to,

the other two are a proven mass marketing tool that is courted by big business and politicians alike because of the effectiveness of swaying public opinion since we are continuously told they are some sort of role model to be aspired to.

f2d33cb7-7766-4107-85b3-3ad4af6068aa-AP_Kaepernick_Nike.jpg


AP00052002697_size.jpg
Click to expand...
"pillars of wisdom, moral expertise, and worth listening to". Well, about 90% (charitably estimated) of modern politicians miss that on all 3 counts.
 
I watched a Liam Neeson movie last night instead of the Grammys. I feel like such a horrible person right now, but it's in my past. The movie was on FX or one of those stations where they have 10 minutes of commercials for every 10 minutes of movie. I don't know why I sat through the entire thing, drinking beer and snuggling with the dog no less. I guess I felt guilty of my white privilege, and wanted to somehow punish myself.

I feel better already having gotten that off my chest.
 
dank69 said:
It makes a lot more sense when a celebrity says something you agree with.
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LOL, No 🙂 I'm not into the cult of celebrity. But I have no patience with people that are paid handsomely to put on a persona telling me how to live my life. I watch them because they're good at putting on a persona and don't care about their personal beliefs or their lifestyle.
 
jackstar7 said:
Weird how he made his friend's trauma about him.
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Men are basically hard-coded and, especially those from past generations like Liam Neeson's, taught it's our duty to fix any problem a woman we care about has. We feel responsible and as if we have failed her when we can't kick someone's ass or break something to make everything better.

Reality is that most of the time all you can do is offer quiet support while the person grieves and recovers. Neeson explained that he's basically gown and learned this lesson, but it sounds like folks are shitting on him for admitting such in their fervor to feel morally superior.

I wish we would save our outrage for actual bad behavior.
 
Paladin3 said:
Men are basically hard-coded and, especially those from past generations like Liam Neeson's, taught it's our duty to fix any problem a woman we care about has. We feel responsible and as if we have failed her when we can't kick someone's ass or break something to make everything better.

Reality is that most of the time all you can do is offer quiet support while the person grieves and recovers. Neeson explained that he's basically gown and learned this lesson, but it sounds like folks are shitting on him for admitting such in their fervor to feel morally superior.

I wish we would save our outrage for actual bad behavior.
Click to expand...

Weirdly confused comment. If it is dependent on generation, then it isn't 'hard-coding', is it? It's socialisation. And clearly he didn't (at least in the interview itself) demonstrate that he's learned this lesson, that's kind of the whole problem. He showed little sign of having grasped the problem with collective-blame.

That you find racism so easy to forgive tells me something.
 
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1prophet said:
One of these three are elected by the public to represent them and directly affect the public through their legislative and executive actions while in office, so they are expected to be pillars of wisdom, moral expertise, and worth listening to,

the other two are a proven mass marketing tool that is courted by big business and politicians alike because of the effectiveness of swaying public opinion since we are continuously told they are some sort of role model to be aspired to.

f2d33cb7-7766-4107-85b3-3ad4af6068aa-AP_Kaepernick_Nike.jpg


AP00052002697_size.jpg
Click to expand...
Did Moses know his little playgroup was being bankrolled by the Russians??
 
Homerboy said:
Most people have been giving him a pass on this for the specific reasons you've outlined. It's basically him saying "Yeah, there was a moment/time where I was not thinking straight and was being racist in my thoughts and actions. I've changed. I've grown. And I'm not longer that person"

Isn't this pretty much what we want all current racists to do? Change their mindset and own up to their racism and leave it behind?
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So much this.
 
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