Liam Neeson: Rape, Revenge, and Race Relations

[The Grand Nudger]

I'm glad I could bring you some deep south americana, Benny, lol.  Splitting the dark oak is a phrase that some racists use to refer to the sort of fetishism that the taboo of racism creates.  If you're a racist, screwing a black girl is dirty, therefore hot-as-fuck.   

In any case, there aren't enough cookies in the world to bribe a racist into not being a racist.  Incentive is a canard.  Neeson, as an example..required none, and it's unlikely that any damage his having stepped into shit causes to his career will turn him into a racist.  That's just not how this works..or there would be no racists, and no frothing rightwing in america to maintain it or complain about a lack of incentive.

[bennyboy]

I don't really think there are any non-racists. Or, if they are, it's just because someone has applied their chimpanzee tribalist instincts along some other axis: for example, expressions of political or group membership.

For me, the PC left extremists (I refer to the most intolerant and belligerent) and the right-wing nutjobs are quite similar-- they've descended into a meme-based tribalism so absolute that they are unlikely even to care about each other, or the fact that they are members of a common society which they are harming with their absolutism.

But I think descriptions of sincere feelings should be to some degree exempt because of their value. Neeson wasn't trying to justify his state of mind at the time of his story-- I think he assumed we'd get the subtext: "I'm a basically decent guy, but even I have seen that darker side of the human psychology where anger or prejudices get dangerous."

[Yonadav]

I don't really think there are any non-racists.  Or, if they are, it's just because someone has applied their chimpanzee tribalist instincts along some other axis: for example, expressions of political or group membership.

For me, the PC left extremists (I refer to the most intolerant and belligerent) and the right-wing nutjobs are quite similar-- they've descended into a meme-based tribalism so absolute that they are unlikely even to care about each other, or the fact that they are members of a common society which they are harming with their absolutism.

But I think descriptions of sincere feelings should be to some degree exempt because of their value.  Neeson wasn't trying to justify his state of mind at the time of his story-- I think he assumed we'd get the subtext: "I'm a basically decent guy, but even I have seen that darker side of the human psychology where anger or prejudices get dangerous."

Yeah, racism aside, most of us have felt homicidal urges at times. Some of us more than others. I feeling like killing people on a semi regular basis. Sometimes I felt that way strong enough to move into sort of a planning stage. It is a little bit surprising that we don't do the murder thing a little more often than we do, considering how frequently we just want to kill other people. So Neeson spent a week wanting to kill some black guy, any black guy? And then it sunk in how crazy that was? Yeah, OK. Most of us have been there. Maybe not a black guy. Maybe a Muslim, any Muslim. Or a priest, any priest. A bible belt redneck. Or some white guy in a MAGA hat, any white guy in a MAGA hat.  Realizing that's crazy and feeling bad about it is what's important.

[The Grand Nudger]

I don't really think there are any non-racists.  Or, if they are, it's just because someone has applied their chimpanzee tribalist instincts along some other axis: for example, expressions of political or group membership.

For me, the PC left extremists (I refer to the most intolerant and belligerent) and the right-wing nutjobs are quite similar-- they've descended into a meme-based tribalism so absolute that they are unlikely even to care about each other, or the fact that they are members of a common society which they are harming with their absolutism.

But I think descriptions of sincere feelings should be to some degree exempt because of their value.  Neeson wasn't trying to justify his state of mind at the time of his story-- I think he assumed we'd get the subtext: "I'm a basically decent guy, but even I have seen that darker side of the human psychology where anger or prejudices get dangerous."

Yeah, it was a super frank discussion of a touchy subject.   He must have known he was stepping into a pile, as he mentions..he's a smart guy. The chips are going to fall wherever they do, but if recent history is an indicator, even commited assholes get their comeback moments.

[EgoDeath]

There's still no evidence that Neeson is a racist. Racists don't usually admit that having racist thoughts is a terrible, despicable thing.

Having some prejudice thoughts at one point in your life in response to an extreme stressor does not mean you are a racist. If you've never had any hint of a prejudicial thought in your lifetime, you're either extremely sheltered or not human.

I can remember having some prejudiced thoughts when I was younger, implanted in me, undoubtedly, by my parents. In my early teen years, I learned to challenge thoughts like that and have since dismissed any sort of collectivist doctrine that tries to tell me I can judge someone's individual merit by looking at the color of their skin.

That being said, did those thoughts occur in my brain at one point in my life? Yes. And if you can't admit you've never had prejudiced thoughts in some way shape or form, I very much suspect your motives.

[The Grand Nudger]

Looking for a black bastard to kill is a bit more than just having prejudicial thoughts - but..yeah..sure...whatever Neeson may have been back in the day doesn't mean that he'll forever and always be that.  Not that it matters in the context of whatever damage this revelation has done to his image. That's just the business he's in. People are consuming fantasies that he produces for them, if he's ruined the fantasy, he's ruined the fantasy.

Hell, plenty of actors do this with roles they never recover from. Far from being indicative of some new and sinister trend in pc politics, it's business as usual in show business. Some people, when they turn out the tv to see Liam stalking through the shadows in search of whomever steals his daughter next, won't be able to avoid seeing some unsuspecting black person just around the next corner. Some studios, with plenty of other more marketable choices, will go for the cheaper talent with less baggage.

[Fireball]

I'll ask. How do we even know he's telling the truth? For all we know he was trying to hype up his bad boy image.

[The Grand Nudger]

That would be a fantastically bad marketing decision..but anything's possible, lol.

[Fireball]

That would be a fantastically bad marketing decision..but anything's possible, lol.

Oh, I agree. But to take another example. The Rampart Division scandal with the LAPD, about 30 YA. Cops were making shit up and sending perps to prison with the false information. Then they admit to falsifying evidence (got caught at it), and perps get out of prison. If they lied on the stand under oath many times already to get the perps incarcerated, why should anyone believe their sworn testimony when they admit to the shit? At that point the only way to prove anything is with untainted evidence. It gets to the point that one doesn't know whom to believe.

Like I said before upthread, many of us in society harbor thoughts that would get is in big trouble if we actually voiced them, or have actually committed crimes and just didn't get caught. Hell, I even mentioned that the chump could have his cosmetologists even out his complexion with a blowtorch instead of spending all that time on makeup. Would I actually do that? No, it was tongue in cheek. In the US one can get away with saying that, but in other countries, one could end up in a gulag.

[GrandizerII]

Liam's past urge to target black people was indeed racist. I just wonder what he's remorseful about exactly, because I don't think he gets what's really bad about the urge itself. And no, we don't all have these urges. I've never had the urge to go kill a random anyone, black or white or other. The few murderous fantasies I've had have been specific to certain individuals I despise, and it wasn't so strong as to want to act upon them.