It’s come to my attention that some people are actually making like it’s a bad thing that the Swiss locked up Roman Polanski.
I can’t imagine why. A word in your shell-like: The guy’s a major perv. Here’s a source who seems to have her head on straight about it. But DON”T READ THIS if you don’t want some pretty horrific details:
Roman Polanski raped a child. Let’s just start right there, because that’s the detail that tends to get neglected when we start discussing whether it was fair for the bail-jumping director to be arrested at age 76, after 32 years in “exile” (which in this case means owning multiple homes in Europe, continuing to work as a director, marrying and fathering two children, even winning an Oscar, but never — poor baby — being able to return to the U.S.). Let’s keep in mind that Roman Polanski gave a 13-year-old girl a Quaalude and champagne, then raped her, before we start discussing whether the victim looked older than her 13 years, or that she now says she’d rather not see him prosecuted because she can’t stand the media attention. Before we discuss how awesome his movies are or what the now-deceased judge did wrong at his trial, let’s take a moment to recall that according to the victim’s grand jury testimony, Roman Polanski instructed her to get into a jacuzzi naked, refused to take her home when she begged to go, began kissing her even though she said no and asked him to stop; performed cunnilingus on her as she said no and asked him to stop; put his penis in her vagina as she said no and asked him to stop; asked if he could penetrate her anally, to which she replied, “No,” then went ahead and did it anyway, until he had an orgasm.
I don’t even get what she’s on about with that “how awesome his movies are” stuff. Not really. “Chinatown” had something going for it, but it had some pretty perv-y elements to it also, as I recall.
Here’s Calvin Trillin’s take on it, which is also dead-on (and thanks to KBFenner for passing on the links):
A youthful error? Yes, perhaps.
But he’s been punished for this lapse–
For decades exiled from LA
He knows, as he wakes up each day,
He’ll miss the movers and the shakers.
He’ll never get to see the Lakers.
For just one old and small mischance,
He has to live in Paris, France.
He’s suffered slurs and other stuff.
Has he not suffered quite enough?
How can these people get so riled?
He only raped a single child.Why make him into some Darth Vader
For sodomizing one eighth grader?
This man is brilliant, that’s for sure–
Authentically, a film auteur.
He gets awards that are his due.
He knows important people, too–
Important people just like us.
And we know how to make a fuss.
Celebrities would just be fools
To play by little people’s rules.
So Roman’s banner we unfurl.
He only raped one little girl.
What more is there to say?
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Maybe this could become a trend. Maybe the Swiss can pick up bin Laden for us next…
Credit Kate Harding, of Salon.com’s Broadsheet for the first excerpt.
The thing I like was that before the arrest, his lawyers were saying the charges should just be dropped since the DA was making no effort to arrest him. So the DA looked and saw that Polanski was to receive an award in Switzerland, which has an extradition treaty that covers this, and had him arrested. Take that, smarty pants attorneys.
Now here’s an issue that is totally bipartisan for me. Anyone who defends rape, whether its a republican Senator (voting against Al Franken’s amendment to the 2010 Defense Appropriations bill) or Whoopi Goldberg blathering on about what constitutes “rape rape” is…well, I can’t find words that would be acceptable on the new and improved blog forum.
Swiss jail. How bad can it be? “Midnight Express” bad?
I agree. I don’t see why this is even being discussed. He is a talented director who is also a criminal. Talented criminals need to be punished when they commit a crime.Talented doctors, ministers, politicians, CEO’s, schoolteachers are not above the law.
Ever since they busted him, I’ve had an image in my head, from one of Martin Cruz Smith’s Arkady Renko novels, Red Square.
Arkady is detained while abroad, and placed in a West German jail cell briefly. It’s so nice — clean, gleaming — that he can’t believe it’s a jail. It’s like, better than his hotel room…
There isn’t an issue for anyone who is sane. I understand artistic idiosyncrasy, but that understanding stops when it starts to harm someone else. Child rape is so completely unacceptable as to be indefensible short of an insanity plea that comes with a life committment to an asylum for the criminally insane (he might prefer jail).
Here’s a concept we should all be able to agree on: Rape is wrong, period. Polanski should be jailed for his crimes. But a far bigger crime is the fact that 30 GOP senators inexplicably vote against a bill that would come down hard on corporations who cover up the crime of rape. Here’s an excerpt from a recent Guardian article:
Say, here’s a concept: if you act to keep violent criminals out of jail, you are probably not working in your country’s best interests, and shouldn’t be called upon to defend it. It’s a notion that was passed into law recently, with US senator Al Franken’s amendment to the defence appropriations bill stating that military contractors which prohibit their employees from taking rape and sexual assault cases to court would not receive funding or contracts from the US government.
Anybody know the excuse for that vote? I mean, was it part of a larger bill that Republicans had a beef with because it put too many “burdens on business” or whatever?
Not that the partisans battling in Washington have to have any sort of logical explanation. They may have just voted against it because it came from Al Franken. That’s about as deep as it usually goes…
bud, you have my whole-hearted agreement on this total BS and BS is just what it is. There is no excuse, reason, on this earth for 30 ignorant idiots to vote against the amendment. No matter who the business entity is, no matter who the national organization opposing it is, i.e., United States Chamber of Commerce, opposing it is, this is absolute stupidity. I am ashamed of every one of the 30 and as a conservative, I find their actions appalling.
I am not an Al Franken fan but his was a good, common sense, intelligent amendment to the bill.
The “reasoning” was that they don’t want to dictate how the organization conducts its business, even government-contract business. It’s very Republican.
Interestingly, the same senators had no compunction in that regard when dealing with ACORN.
I guess a “business” is private, and a publicly-funded social action organization isn’t….even if the business receives public funds…
My head hurts.
Brad, this is not an example of partisan behavior in Washington. Instead this is something more sinister. The gratuitous mention of the “partisans battling in Washington” dilutes the impact of the point. The Republicans are not just being team players and voting against the bill for reasons related to partisanship. Rather the GOP senators are voting against the bill because their world view values the rights of big business above that of individual freedom as delineated in the Constitution. To many Republicans corporate rights are sacrosanct.
Burl is onto something here with the ACORN comment. ACORN threatened the big business power brokers by enabling the poor and largely disenfranchised folks among us to have an avenue for effectively expressing their political convictions. The relatively minor incidents the FOX News folks have been able to entrap ACORN into should not be given the large amount of attention that the media has. Laws were likely broken to obtain the “evidence” regarding ACORN.
A truly balanced story would show this for the smear campaign that it is.
Does it really matter whether it is Polanski’s rape of a 13 year old girl, ACORN’s apparent support and advice to a couple posing as pimp and hooker to start a business importing underage girls for prostitution or a group of 30 tone deaf Republicans voting against an amendment to a bill?
In the end, all three are used for political purposes, not addressing the actual crimes in real time as they should be.
Polanski should be brought back to the United States to face legal actions, ACORN should be investigated and appropriate action taken if the charges are proven and the 30 Republicans should be voted out.
Or maybe everyone has forgotten the victims in favor of gaining political advantage. More BS.
Jon Stewart nailed it:
http://www.hulu.com/watch/102391/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart-rape-nuts
But a far bigger crime is the fact that 30 GOP senators inexplicably vote against a bill that would come down hard on corporations who cover up the crime of rape.
Wow, how did I miss this story? And how disgusting as a South Carolinian is it that these two were among the 30 nay-voters:
DeMint (R-SC)
Graham (R-SC)
It’s unfathomable that we should have to be represented by these two partisan hacks.
Hopefully South Carolina voters get it right next time around. When it comes to partisanship, I draw the line somewhere way before the subject of rape.
Jim DeMint. Lindsey Graham. Disgusting.
I just had an argument/discussion with my dad about Jay-Walking–the Jay Leno bit where he goes about trying to humiliate people with their lack of general knowledge and knowledge of current events. I pointed out that, while I do know quite a lot about current events, it really doesn’t make much of a difference except at the city level.
Nothing I can do or say will effect change on the state or national level. I doubt I am ever eloquent enough to change enough minds. My representatives, the excellent James Smith and Jim Clyburn are quite secure, and the senators Courson, Graham and DeMint are, as well, it seems. Graham is usually not this execrable at least. My presidential electoral vote matters naught, as well.Governor–maybe.
It’s depressing. It makes me want to go shoe shopping. It seems to be more useful, somehow. [Sigh]