I thought I acknowledged the context pretty well to be fair and I don't agree that everybody is focusing on the word black,they're focusing mainly on his intent to murder somebody for being black although I'm sure using the term black bastard would have generated plenty of outrage on its own without the intent to kill somebody part. I also don't agree for a second that if you changed black for middle eastern immigrant they're wouldn't be similar uproar,it wouldn't all come from the same place but its the exact same principle. I think anybody saying Liam Neeson doesn't believe black lives matter is wrong but tell people you wanted to kill somebody purely for being black,then you're leaving yourself open to that accusation. Expecting everybody to take his life experiences into account before judging him is fair enough,but it still shouldn't absolve him from a backlash and to be consistent you'd have to do the same for many of those claiming black lives don't matter to him.
Would agree with all that right up to the point he says we can't put any blame on Liam Neeson because of society. Mitigation is one thing but you can't absolve somebody completely of personal responsibility because of what our society is. He's an incredibly articulate man by the way,really enjoy listening to him.
Not been offered the best deals with gas,electricity and broadband until I switch provider and then watch my phone explode with call backs ...wankers the lot of them
John Barnes getting a lot of praise for his comments on Sky News. On calls to boycott Liam Neeson’s films and strip… https://t.co/XK3j8mRTvT More from Barnes and spot on again.
That actually reminds me of a bizzare argument David Baddiel made last week.He said even if Churchill was a white supremacist and mass murderer,it was unconscious anti-Semitism to refer to him as such because it gives you nowhere to go when describing Hitler.
Can't believe Liam Neeson came out with that guff. Seems a sensible enough guy however surely he would know this would cause uproar regardless of context. Perhaps that was the aim. Now everyone is talking about him!!
I think you will find Churchill was a complete white supremacist and racist who referred to irish, Egyptians and indians as savages, so baddiel saying "if" he was is ridiculous
Him saying "if" might be ridiculous,but it's not even close to the most ridiculous part of his argument.
Love John Barnes and he is a brilliantly passionate speaker who is never afraid to stick his neck out and speak up for minorities. I’ll bet Sky will not be in a rush to invite him on again though after he went off script by firstly attacking the media and then Churchill’s racism and war crimes. Was a great interview.
Disagree. Disagree Disagree Agree, hence my point about there not being as much of a backlash if it was not about a black person. Same principle but less reaction. He says that within 30 seconds of the above clip. My original point was that I was annoyed at the outcry over the issue of colour. People are not talking about the repercussions of such a vile crime as rape and the effect it can have on those close to the victim....evil breeding evil as Neeson said. People are not even talking about the fact that he admitted for a brief time, he wanted to take the life of another human being. Instead it's all about "Liam Neeson is a racist" That's what grinds my gears...as soon as colour is mentioned, everything else takes a back seat.
Who are these "people" you're talking about? Because we obviously consume different media and social media,the intent to kill part is overwhelmingly what I'm seeing people talk about,because it's a huge deal that a movie star would admit to that. Of course theres people taking different takes but you get that with every huge news story.And your initial point was soon you won't be able to say the B word which would be a nonsense point on it's own,but in the context of this situation was a massive strawman. I said I don't think Liam Neeson is a racist,just a flawed human being like the rest of us who reacted poorly to his friends traumatic experience.I also said we should take that into account before judging him. If that's not addressing the context pretty well,tell me what did I miss? What does it matter when John Barnes said the one thing I disagreed with? And I'm basically on the same page as him with the exception of that point.You seem to be on a different page to him because while he's pointing out how deep rooted racism is in society and it's only natural that people react to what society teaches them,you seem to be saying people are too sensitive to what they regard as racism against black people.
BBC and RTE websites are where I get the bulk of the news and they've posted tweets and comments from various people...some who would be in the public eye and others I assume, from the general public. The overriding sense I got from those comments was that people were focused on the issue of colour, not the intent to take someones life or any other issues raised. In the past year or so, I have seen people in interviews, stuttering or hesitating before saying the word black when referencing someones colour. It seems they are uncomfortable saying the word and unsure if it is the correct term to use. This doesn't apply to the vast majority but it is something becoming more frequent. After this 'Neeson race row' I'm sure even more people will be reluctant to reference someones colour, even when apt., when engaged in conversation. I missed that. You previously said you agreed with him up until the point he said you can't blame Liam because it's societys fault. He pretty much said that straight away so you were implying you didn't agree with him. Obviously this is not what you meant but your wording created confusion. No problem. This is not what I'm saying, so I'm done with going round in circles on the topic. I will just add that I think it's sad reflection of a large part of modern society, that the knives are out for him. What he said, has raised some important issues, but unfortunately that is lost on a lot of people and they just want to see him castigated for how he felt, for a week, 40 fucking years ago. Peace out Babbs. P.S. I'm still annoyed about World Nutella Day too.
We obviously do consume different media,sound. I can't fathom why anybody is afraid to use the word black. Apologies for my poor use of the term up until this point,I see the confusion. I still think your initial post misses the point of this situation but we probably are going around in circles on it. It is a sad state of affairs that theres a lot of people not willing to take all the context into account when judging him,but we also have to take context like what John Barnes says about what society is teaching people when judging a lot of the same people for their reaction. It has to be a two way street. I'm 100% behind World Nutella day and I'm angry with Liam Neeson for talking attention away from a very important day in the calendar.
Two things that are grinding my provarbials at the moment : The lack of transparent, objective news media, anywhere.
Second one: People's gullibility in believing or accepting something, solely based on that they heard or read about it.
I like the Guardian myself for objective media but they will always have a liberal leaning opinion on everything which isn't necessarily a bad thing as it errs on the side of humanity but I do think it can sometimes cloud their opinions a little bit. But yeah most of the stuff in the press these days is promoting an agenda for one side or another.
One look at even previously respectable media outlets home pages, just shows that everything is geared towards clicks. Things that previously would not have even appeared in traditional red top rags are now top stories on 'news' section of the likes of the Indo, Times and Guardian websites. It's what the public is addicted to these days so you can see why it's the case. You do wonder where is will all end though. Race to the bottom. Can imagine the day WW3 is about to start, the headlines on news sites will be about some Z list celebrity accidentally tweeting a picture of their willy and fall out from that.
Dog Shit. Stood in some the other day for the third time in about 4 weeks without realising it,and long story short I ended up putting my hand in it. Didn't even clean the runners this time,fucked them straight in the bin.