When To Keep Things To Yourself

So Liam Neeson wanted to kill a ‘black man’, any black man -

Was he brave for admitting it or should he have kept his gob shut?

I read once that everybody is inherently racist even if they don’t think they are. Not sure if that’s true but i do think life experiences can affect the way we think and behave. I was lucky because my parents were totally inclusive. They had Irish friends and knew how hard their lives were. We were brought up to treat everybody the same.
I expect Liam Neeson wishes he had kept quiet but considering how long ago this happened and the fact that he regrets the way he felt I think people like Lily Allen should remember that those who cast the first stone etc.

I think he was a bit foolish to come out with it.
I totally understand that his motives were to show that the hatred he felt towards one person for the terrible crime that they had committed against a person he cared about was so overwhelming for a period of time.
I don’t think that he is much different from other folk.
He didn’t do anything about and when his first deep hurt had passed he realised that his first response was not the way to go about it.
Unfortunately, there is such a strong movement of censure at the moment against anything said a long time ago that, even if you have changed your mind, it is better to keep quiet.
I wonder sometimes how far we are from the thought police.

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I have listened to his interview and read all the bumpf… and have given it deep thought…

I’ve tried putting myself in his shoes…

I reckon that however the victim described the attacker… (eg…skinhead, punk, old man, teenager, black, asian, white…) whatever the “category”… he would have aimed his fury at that named “category”… and I can understand his anger, need to do something… because he was not there to help his friend at the time…(however irrational such a thought might be).

I think he was brave to tell what happened… we are all capable of terrible behaviour… he admits that he was/is ashamed of how he behaved and sought help.

Perhaps his disclosure will encourage others to seek help… if, on reflection, they can identify their actions with his… :thinking:

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Yup!

It was also brave to do so, as Stella says; but any message or honest self-analysis that might have been intended seems to have been lost in the furore.

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I also think his problem was he admitted looking for revenge against anyone rather than the one

When one is in a blind rage… it is just that… blind…rational thought goes out of the window.

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Rage, Anger, Violence… surely this should be discussed openly, not hidden away, pretending it does not exist.

Folk need to know how they can overcome/manage such negative thoughts/behaviour… how to become a better person.

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Yes, there’s just no point to it unless you get the one.

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I think his mistake was to rush to deny that he is a racist. Becoming aware of one’s unconscious racism is not to rid oneself of a long-entrenched prejudice.

What it is, looking at it positively, is the first but vital step in overcoming the power of the bias in daily life, and this is a life-long and day-by-day challenge, similar to managing addiction to alcohol or drugs.

I know this because, although married to a woman of colour, and being the father of three adult children of colour, I too am “a recovering racist”.

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I was saying it from what I have read as comments , not that I agree

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If he wanted to be all PC about it he should’ve kept his mouth shut. On the other hand it seems to be one of those things said when the brain-to-mouth filter is absent, doesn’t necessarily make him a racist, but try convincing anyone of that in the current PC climate :man_shrugging:

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Hi Peter… it is so difficult to know what to say… when one is accused… it’s a bit like… when did you stop beating your wife??

He is being accused of being Racist because he targeted “black” people… as he was told it was a “black” person who was the rapist…

Had he been told the rapist was “whatever”… he would have targeted “whatever”… so, in my book that is not being racist… but being blind with rage and wanting to hurt “whatever” as much as his friend was hurting… wanting to hit out wildly is nothing to be proud of… and, thankfully, he was not able to inflict bodily harm on anyone at all, before he came to his senses… he tells us how he had felt deep shame and had sought help .

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Do we all have entrenched racism in us… :thinking: not sure racism is the correct wording… there is only one Race… the Human Race…

Prejudice is the correct word IMO… and I reckon we are all guilty of that… in one way or another… and in various degrees…

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This is so bizarre. Why is he revealing this some 40 years after the incident? He must have realised how it would appear and that it would cause enormous controversy. I’m a bit baffled as to why he would volunteer this… unless, of course, someone else threatened to reveal it.

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I respect his honesty, there doesn’t seem too much of that around nowadays…

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He was trying to explain how he “got into the character” for playing a man who seeks vengeamce…

he had thought back to how he had felt, so many years ago, how he had wanted vengeance…

Thus, when the interviewer asked the question… he was honest enough not to say something bland like “Oh I read up a bit about it…”

He was doing an interview to promote his new film!! Well he won’t be making any more, he’s killed his career. Serious lack of judgement in my opinion.

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This is interesting was one of the questions I used in my Marketing Courses was on the subject ‘Country of Origin Effect’ Usual responses were German - Quality Engineering etc.,
But very often replies were of the ‘Italians- Thieves’ variety, Black countries -lazy etc.
When I queried these replies, usually on the basis of how would these affect your buying decision, it invariably came out that someone had a bad experience with a National or ‘type’ at some point.
It takes very little to provoke a racial prejudice, as we are all pre-programmed to distrust ‘foreigners’ no matter how hard we like to think otherwise.
Good Grief there are even people who distrust and dislike the English!

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Most likely because he didn’t think it was a big deal - after all, he did say that if the rapist had been white he would’ve gone after a white guy - and I think what he was trying to bring across is that the underlying anger was an issue for him that he wanted to fix.

On that note I’ll add that you should take what I say with a grain of salt because I’m one of those people who absolutely hates that the current mode of life for many people seems to be “take offense first, then don’t ask questions after, but stay offended”.

:man_shrugging:

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