I don’t understand why he needed to put this in the public domain.
is it to relieve himself of the burden of carrying around the secret with him? or had someone else who knew the story threatened to “out” him so he got there first!. Or is it a genuine attempt to share the fact that anyone can suffer from a mental health matter, that can result in unwanted behaviours?
You’re lucky - some people just have stable brain chemistry.
I’m not the kind of person who would seek out violent revenge on someone who has hurt a loved one. I would use a sniper rifle against politicians who put selfishness above the common good, and I would blow their head into a million smithereens using exploding bullets. I have these thoughts, but I know I won’t act upon them.
I also mentally explore the pros and cons of differently-weighted swords and axes for chopping a path through slow-moving crowds in tube stations, but I think everyone does that.
I feel your pain 
I think many or most intelligent people are also equipped with sufficient emotional intelligence which makes them more self-aware and less prone to violence.
Some good points here about liam, i am rather ashamed to have got pretty upset in road rage sometimes and would also have done some very stupid things . There but for the grace of God go i
you need to meet my ex 
There are some fundamental points that make his response racist even if a general anger and desire for vengeance is there. The fact that he wanted to go out and hunt down another (innocent) black man should be considered concerning on several levels, but it’s the lumping of black men together that makes it so racist.
Bingo
I don’t agree with that statement at all
I thinks that’s his point and why he feels ashamed about it
I actually think the opposite is often true.
I doubt that he denies that it’s racist, but he is clearly ashamed of his thoughts.
We are programmed to fear “the other”, to find difference and fear it. What makes us human is our ability to control our actions, despite an innate fear. Fortunately he didn’t resort to any violent acts.
He knows he fucked up here, that’s the whole point.
Not in my experience. Emotional intelligence seems utterly uncorrelated to IQ.
I honestly have no idea if this is the case or not. I certainly didn’t mean to imply that it was. Rather I see people with a high degree of emotional intelligence as intelligent regardless of their IQ or educational accomplishments.
Is emotional intelligence a thing? If so can we have a definition please.
His thinking at the time was racist. Does that mean he is racist now?
I think racism is learned behaviour, with children and adolescents parroting their elders and peers. Through education these things can be unlearned. If you believe that people cannot change such views then we are in a pretty hopeless state.
As for the public “confession”, then it is his up to him if he feels the need to air it. Most of the reaction is media hysteria and #twatter white noise (other shades of noise are available).
I prefer to infer a positive message: “I used to be a twat, but I have since discovered I was wrong, and now I don’t think this way.”
Thankfully, this was a path me and my sister decided not to take. Both our parents were/are racist (amongst other things). We, again thankfully, did not copy them and tread the same path they did.
But according to some, especially when related to a well known guitarist, “once a racist - always a racist”.