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Originally Posted by nfotiu
He could have easily told the story without saying he wanted to kill any black bastard he could find just because a black guy raped his friend. My understanding is the movie was about a guy seeking vengeance not about a guy blaming a whole race for one person's act.
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But it would miss the point of being true and his upbringing. Remember, he's not American. It was different in Northern Ireland at the time.
I think what a lot of people are missing about Neeson’s comments is the social context of where and when he grew up. The man went through this experience in a place (Ulster) where violent sectarian killings based on the crimes of your ‘group’ had become normalized. From the 70s right through to the late 90s the concept of revenge killings based on immutable characteristics was accepted and endorsed by large sections of his society.
I’m not saying that it makes what he was feeling okay, and Neeson clearly isn’t either, but it does help to explain why his reaction was so violent against Blacks as a group.