I think that’s bullshit. He was just going to up and murder the first white guy he saw… does he really think that would be his first reaction? I doubt it. Sounds like he will need to struggle with this for a little longer.
It isn’t bullshit at all. Being ‘protestant’ or ‘catholic’ was enough to get you a beating simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time in many parts of Northern Ireland during the troubles. Most people who died or were seriously injured were guilty of nothing more than being a certain religion (or being in a place associated with a certain religion). That was the culture he grew up in, a culture that to some extent said all were guilty of an individual’s actions and justice was indiscriminate.
He’s not talking about beating. He’s talking about murder. He’s suggesting that if she’d been raped by a white man, all he would have done is look to the left and killed that guy. I don’t believe that. You can if you want, but there is no way he would have left her and killed literally the first guy he saw.
That’s not what I am doing, but okay. I’m not the one that asked the question, and he didn’t respond with yes he’d kill just any white man, he said he’d done the same thing if she said Irish and Brit and Lithuanian… for some reason he felt the need to break it down more than just any ole white man. His response itself made it already clear it would be different since he felt the need to break it down to more than just color. I’m sure you know that though since you watched the interview.
Had the rapist been a Catholic/Protestant (whichever Neeson isn’t) in that area at that time, then I can see him going out gunning for a Protestant/Catholic, or a Brit ( mainland) for that matter.
This has nothing to do with what he is saying or anyone who backs up what he is saying.
In order for him to react the same as when she told him it was a black man, she would need to be able to say, he was a white man, AND THAT’S IT. If he asked for more, it’s not the same. If she gave more, like religion or nationality. It’s literally not the same.
The man himself has admitted he is ashamed of it, and is viewing his past actions through his current lense.
I mean, this is what we should be asking from people in positions of influence.
Instead he’s going to get massively pilloried because he isn’t perfect and because he had a racist thought during a racist time in a racist location, in reaction to a friend getting raped.
Also, if a friend of mine got raped, i’d have a very similar, visceral reaction and would also go looking for revenge. Not nice to say but it’s true.
Difference is I wouldn’t go looking for any general person of that ethnic or whatever group, I’d go looking for the particular person in question.
This is due to his second interview, not his first.
I already stated I support what he did. I don’t feel the need to have to say it again. I wish he had considered his second interview on Good Morning America a bit longer.
I have no intention of contributing to any backlash against Neeson.
Since you’re looking for the right person, perhaps your initial reactions, should this happen, won’t haunt you in the same way as it has him.
My reaction was, Liam, WTF? Why are you saying this? This isn’t going to go over well.
I think he was trying to say, look, I’ve changed. I felt this way and I know it was wrong. He was being honest. I’m just surprised he felt a compulsion to talk about this.
Pretty much all his movies recent seem to be about correcting wrongs and then revenge, but not at random ass people, very specific bad people. I don’t know what his next one is though. I assume this was the first go around to really push the marketing for it, his first interview.
Like reveal his past history for marketing purposes, no that is not what I meant. I meant he was giving interviews for his newest movie when he revealed this. Most his action type movies have revenge in them. It’s a common theme, not just for him though, in action movies in general.
Yeah, that’s exactly what it was… a formulaic press junket interview. I admire the fact that he took a chance and went ‘off-script’ to talk about something meaningful.
I think it sheds some light on why he’s so good at acting like a man consumed by hatred and revenge. He’s been one before.
It’s very typical for stars to have a big personal “reveal” for interviews during their press junkets in order to make news. There’s only so much you can say about a movie and interviewers want exclusives.
But it’s not supposed to be like this. It’s possible his PR person said “if you can come up with a personal anecdote that relates to the theme of the movie, that would be great to bring up during the interview,” but that one was not a good one.
I didn’t watch the interview, but I skimmed that AV Club link I posted earlier… I got the impression that it was clear to everyone watching that he made a spur-of-the-moment decision and admitted it was delicate subject matter.
hopefully that guy would be smaller and weaker than you. I wonder, how comes that everybody thinks of being actually physically superior to “the enemy” … lots of testosterone going around here, pooh, it smells…
