Liam Neeson, though raised a Catholic, proudly proclaims his admiration for Ballymena’s most celebrated sectarian mouthpiece—the thunderous bigot Reverend Ian Paisley. Paisley, whose fire-and-brimstone tirades were so drenched in anti-Catholic bile that he unwittingly became the IRA’s most effective fundraiser: every time his vitriol hit the airwaves, donations from outraged Irish Americans surged.
As for Neeson himself—he is neither wise nor well-read. He once dabbled in college, but quickly dropped out, sparing academia the burden. Not that the course would’ve done much good; critical thinking is a skill he never acquired and still shows no sign of recognising, let alone mastering.
Neeson’s lack of even rudimentary critical faculties has left him wide open to every half-baked conspiracy theory that drifts across his feed. He consumes only what flatters his prejudices and reflexively rejects anything that might challenge them. In proper academic work, there’s a fundamental rule: disconfirming evidence must not only be acknowledged—it must be actively sought and rigorously addressed. This is the bare minimum defence against confirmation bias. But Neeson, blissfully unaware of such standards, treats contradiction not as an intellectual challenge but as a personal insult. He’s not engaging with evidence—he’s indulging in ideological comfort food.
And so, Ballymena’s second most famous bigot now fancies himself a filmmaker—setting out to direct a horror flick based not on fact, but on the discredited fever dreams already dismissed by an Irish government commission. No doubt it will be a big-budget tribute act to his hero’s fire-and-brimstone sermons, marinated in the same old anti-Catholic bile, only without the rhetorical flair or ecclesiastical furniture.
Neeson, ever the credulous disciple, has become so intoxicated by Tuam’s own high priestess of hysteria, Catherine Corless, that he can no longer tell history from hallucination. There he stands, misty-eyed and uncritical, genuflecting before her with all the intellectual independence of a damp sponge.
Citation:
For tireless service in the field of public delusion, the judging panel is pleased to shortlist Liam Neeson for the inaugural Matthew Hopkins Award, bestowed annually upon the individual who has inflicted the greatest harm on public understanding through the reckless spread of falsehoods.
Liam Neeson’s qualifications are exemplary. Though lacking formal training in history, journalism, or basic logic, he has nonetheless committed himself with evangelical fervour to reviving long-debunked conspiracy theories. His uncritical devotion to Catherine Corless and his fire-and-fury tribute to Ballymena’s late high priest of sectarianism mark him as a man deeply allergic to nuance and impervious to evidence.
In true Hopkinsian style, Neeson has mastered the ancient art of accusation without verification, testimony without corroboration, and indignation without introspection. He is a beacon for those who believe that feelings are facts—so long as the feelings are theirs.
For his contributions to the dark arts of misinformation and moral panic, Neeson is a natural fit for this year’s shortlist.
Photo Credit: By Karen Seto from Toronto, Canada – Toronto, Ontario, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=159308961
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