Wow, I knew that Samuel L. was addicted to crack once, but this I never knew. I shouldn't be surprised, but I am.

Oh, not over the whole "armed revolution thing"-- that, I expected.

I'm just surprised he didn't work in the word "motherfucker" into his interview; that's pretty shocking.

Cheers,
Dave at Garfield Ridge

This makes me sad because he's a damn fine actor.

Did he hope they'd die and that they'd burn in hell? Because that'd be pretty damned eery.
-=Mike

Wow. He's almost as dense as Windu.

Sigh. Yes every actor in Hollywood is a member of the Film Actor's Guild and they are all evil Communist and/or Nazi pieces of shit and deserve to die.

I think you really stretched for this one.

Are you equating his remark about "the way people do now", to him thinking that people should be committing more crimes now in order to make themselves heard? That's a big stretch, I think. Occam's Razor, combined with that other saying about stupidity and malice, leads me to blame stupidity (and/or ignorance) for that remark.

Back then, young black men were being fed the idea that they would someday rise up against their white oppressors and have a revolution. Some of them believed it. If the part of the interview where he mentions the FBI is true, then he's lucky the feds came to his mom's house, and he's damn lucky she listened to them.

I think it says a lot about him that he is now a successful actor, who doesn't feel that his own life is so cheap as he did as a youth.

I would say, that if he were still that kind of person, i.e. willing to commit a crime in order to make himself heard, or otherwise using ends-justifies-the-means thinking and rhetoric, then I'd be inclined to agree that his views are still stupid and dangerous.

But he says himself, "it was part of my formative years". He knows that it was youthful indiscretion. He also says, in a line you chose not to emphasize, "I feel even better because nobody got killed." Does that sound like a terrorist to you? I don't see why he has to apologize for doing something stupid when he was a kid.

At least he didn't steal my Visa number to go buy himself a purple lightsaber.

I admit to being armed, but I bought mine on my money. What I want to know is how he did the 4473 at transaction time after he paid for it with a stolen card. Did he have the card or just the number? It wasn't like black-market weapons dealers took plastic in those days.

Back then, young black men were being fed the idea that they would someday rise up against their white oppressors and have a revolution. Some of them believed it.

But does that make it any less criminal? And it sounds to me, upon reading the interview, that he did this when he was in college. The guy was likely a legal adult when this went down.

And you're also guilty of cherry-picking his quote, because he said this:

I’m proud that I stood up and used my voice—and some other things—to make my feelings known. I didn’t passively stand by and watch things happen the way people do now.

I'm also glad that nobody died and that he bacame a successful and talented actor, but that doesn't lessen the seriousness of what he did in the past. These were the actions of terrorists.

Back then, young black men were being fed the idea that they would someday rise up against their white oppressors and have a revolution. Some of them believed it.

And only asshats or those with alternative criminal motivations believed that bullshit.

I think it says a lot about him that he is now a successful actor, who doesn't feel that his own life is so cheap as he did as a youth.

I don't owe any one gratitutde for not becoming a murderous thug.

Dat cat no longer down wit the struggle cuz Da Man bought him off doncha see?

Sean M:

The guy is clearly drawing an implicit contrast between his "revolutionary" activities (i.e. taking hostages, buying guns with stolen credit cards, etc.) and current political activism. I find that disturbing, no matter which side of politics he's currently on.

And I called this a stretch. Whether it's clear or not (which is what we're debating, I believe), it is implicit (your word) at best. Which makes it a stretch. You're trying to assign motives that are not clearly expressed in the interview.

Now, as to the past. If he was a legal adult, then he certainly was legally answerable for the crimes he committed. Since the FBI came to his mother's house, I'm going to assume that they knew what he was up to. And he can't be hard for them to find nowadays.

But I'm not disputing that he committed illegal acts. I'm just not seeing the connection between the quotes in his interview, and incitement to criminal activity. He said it was part of his formative years. Nowhere in the interview does he encourage others to do the same. Unless it's in the unquoted material that I didn't read. But I assume you'd have quoted anything really incendiary.

And you accused me of cherry-picking, but I wrote:

Are you equating his remark about "the way people do now", to him thinking that people should be committing more crimes now in order to make themselves heard? That's a big stretch, I think.

See, I read that quote already, and responded to it. It is, I think, where you made your stretch.

Hmm this thing ate my info. Or else I forgot to fill it in. That was me writing that last post.

1. The ends can justify the means. You support the overthrow of Saddam don't you?
2. Most people do dumb stuff when they're young including breaking the law.
3. Blacks defending the Black Panthers (or something similar) remind me of Southerners defending the Confederacy. I expect most of them really know that it was some destructive misguided nonsense but they till feel compelled to defend it.

Steve-

Back then, young black men were being fed the idea that they would someday rise up against their white oppressors and have a revolution. Some of them believed it.

So the young, ignorant black marxists weren't responsible and can't be blamed because they chose to listen to the young and old, ignorant white marxists?

Because they were black, right?

He also says, in a line you chose not to emphasize, "I feel even better because nobody got killed."

Meaning, "I really didn't give a shit if someone got killed or not, but I'm glad it's not on my conscience now."

File this under "Asshats and the fuckwits that defend them."

But he says himself, "it was part of my formative years". He knows that it was youthful indiscretion.

Two different things altogether.

Either those ideas and actions "formed" him or it was a youthful, throwaway goof. I'll take Jackson at his word, not the word of his apologist.