Will His Career Recover?

Well, one would hope Neeson does not feel that way now. What was the point of mentioning it at all?

Just for comparison, though I may have made mistakes as a kid, decades ago, I feel like I am pretty close to the same person I was back then, but having learned a lot more and gained more experience. I would never have considered or condoned this kind of thoughts or behavior, let alone actually taken action on it. I was probably not strong enough to stand up to overt racists I might encounter ... but I did pretty well. I am long time resident of California, and I took a contract job in the deep South for a year in the early 90's. That place disgusted me with its institutional racism. In fact as I get older and see more of what is going on I have only gotten stronger in my opposition to racism. That is not to say I feel warm and cozy with all minorities, but I feel there is a reason they are perceived negatively, and most of it is unfair - but that unfairness throughout life can drive negative behavior. The goal should be to eliminate it.

However, I do know people from various times in my life that were hateful towards certain groups and probably would have engaged in violence. I got them out of my life ASAP. That is not so easy for everyone though.

I think what you say is what Neeson is TYING to do, that is coming across as a wiser more mature man, but why? Seems to me that only reason for a celebrity to do that is because he or she thinks it will gain more audience. Being edgy seems to be the thing these days. Maybe I am too cynical, or maybe Neeson is, but I don't like it.

I feel that people who are put in positions of influencing the public or even making a lot of money need to be good people. I am critical of raw capitalism for the reason that there is no channel to allow people to be put first, before money. We need to put people first, and shun people who do not.

I didn't strictly insult you. My statement was conditional. I said "if you think that Neeson only makes formulaic monotonous movies, you don't know your ass from your elbow." If you don't think that he does, great. There's no reason to take any offence.

Still, by saying "I certainly hope [his career doesn't recover]", you're basically saying you hope Neeson doesn't get more opportunities to make the more intelligent and complex films I listed. In fact, it's more likely he'll end up stuck in b-movie hell making the type of formulaic pap you've understandably derided (since the types of people who watch those films are the least likely to care whether or not Neeson tried to beat up a black man forty years ago).

As for Elizabeth Warren, I've got to disagree with you. I think her recent behaviour is more damaging than Neeson's confession.

Neeson is a white man who admitted his guilt and culpability in systemic racism. Warren is a white woman who is seeking to exonerate herself entirely of guilt and culpability by clinging onto very distant Native American blood. It's a typical game rich white liberals play in order to absolve themselves of white privilege. If you can claim to belong to a non-white racial group (no matter how tiny a percentage, or how disputable, that non-white blood my be), you no longer have to take personal responsibility for white privilege, or so the reasoning goes.

If all white people were as honest as Neeson, and were less self-deluded than Warren, white people might take the first steps to actually challenging systemic racism. But in order to do so, white people need to acknowledge their own privileges and failings.

True, but that was years before the internet, and decades before the explosion of the social media.

Plus, the argument in Broderick's case is that it was an accident, and the sad truth is, manslaughter is probably seen as less of an issue for the self-appointed keyboard judges on social media than an admission that one had a racist, sexist or homophobic thought forty years ago. Kill a couple of white people, and you're fine; use the 'n' word, and your career is over.*

*And no, I'm not defending the 'n' word or anyone who uses it. It's disgusting. I'm just making an observation.