I don't know Roman Polanski, or all the details of his crime. I do know he committed a dangerous crime, and importantly, one that should not go unpunished. But I also understand why so many support the man, to the point of being angry at the country of Switzerland.
America, largely, is a country of prudes and anti-intellectuals. Mcarthyism, just like Slavery, is an unhealed wound. Violence is still committed against sexual and intellectual "deviants" in this country with shocking regularity. Nipples cause outrage where violence fails to. I could go on, but the problems in America -- problems from a Liberal point of view -- are documented every day on sites like Salon.
Of course, Liberals and Conservatives can agree that rape is bad, especially when the girl is drugged, and especially when the girl is a girl. So why, then, have so many come out in support of Polanski? It is because his arrest has tapped into a well of Liberal rage against the anti-artist anti-intellectual anti-sex streak that colors this nation -- a streak that has harmed, and that continues to harm the more "European" American citizens. Polanski is a "troubled artist," and his crime, however reprehensible, is also one of sexual "deviation" -- something most liberals have come to reflexively defend against the perceived homophobic, Christian enemy.
With this in mind, it's not who Polanski is, what he has done, or even what he symbolizes. It's just that what he is (an artist) and what he's done (sex) are the kinds of things so often unfairly persecuted in this country. He's one of us -- the dirty cop.
However, many Liberals, myself included, have undoubtedly become somewhat desensitized, and so do not experience a gut-level revulsion at Polanski's crime. It is a dark scene in an artsy movie playing at Cannes, and truth be told a twisted -- but interesting -- life beats suburb/cubicle prison and/or censored novels in a Christian bookstore any day. We delight in the darkness because it undermines what we are enslaved to perpetuate every day -- or, the values we purport to have do not beget teh world we wish to inhabit.
Should Polanski go to jail? Probably -- after all, that's why justice is blind. For all we know, he could still be raping children. But does the price of justice actually feel worth it? Of course not. We're always secretly rooting for the bad guy, the rebel, the weirdo, the creep -- the one who makes the movie worth watching in the first place.
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Lise Miller
Joan Walsh
Kerry Lauerman
Salon.com
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But on my way to work this morning I heard him talk about the victim. "She was not unschooled in sexual matters" he said in a tone that really creeped me out. His total lack of remorse or concern for his victim came across loud and clear. So now I no longer give a shit what happens to him, as long as it isn't pleasant.
As it stands today - the victim, from what I understand, wants no more to do with this and has moved on with her life. I'd like to be made to understand why the courts aren't honoring her requests.
It’s easy to be zero tolerance about drunk driving, sex offenders, and a few other crimes when we know that no one in their right mind will disagree with us.
However, those of us who were of age in the 1960’s and 1970’s remember, often uncomfortably, that the attitude regarding statutory rape, alcohol and drug abuse, promiscuity and a host of other bad behaviors was considerably more lax than it has become today. (And yes, even in the middle schools and high schools of California). I’m not saying that this laxness was right and, in fact, it took a lot of hard work and advocacy to reach the attitude that we have in the new millennium.
What I find troubling is the knee-jerk hysterical outrage and thirst for increased punishment of the criminal “monsters” that has become commonplace with the evolution of this relatively new perception regarding victims and crime –
This changing perception includes the presumption of the total innocence and 0% complicity to be bestowed on what used to be called “plaintiffs” as soon as these matters are brought to trial.
Their actions are not to be questioned in any way, their perceptions of what transpired are gospel and their character cannot be criticized. Cross-examination is considered reprehensible. Sentencing is also influenced by the victim’s status – A driver killing a young pregnant mother will get a harsher sentence than a driver killing an old, childless wino.
On television we seem to be obsessed with cold case files, etc. where, I feel, we seek to punish the selfish and libertine excesses of the 60's & 70's (and the violence of the earlier 20th century) with the laws, attitudes and harsher punishments of today.
I also wonder about how our attitudes may adjust in the future to the parent’s part in these crimes. Just as the parents who delivered their children to Michael Jackson's gates– even after he had been arraigned the first time for molestation - this victim had a stage mother who delivered her daughter to Polanski for a photo shoot to advance her daughter's show business career. She had asked to be present that night and Polanski said no and she delivered her daughter anyway. If you were the parent, what would you do? I wonder if (given the evolution of our social and legal attitudes re: children) someday such actions might come to be prosecuted on their own as child endangerment, neglect or whatever.
(Bring on the torches and no, Noah himself never dated or harmed what used to be termed "jailbait")
She as a 13 year old CHILD, dumb-ass! She was given drugs and alcohol and RAPED! We know this because he plead guilty to it during his trial. Polanski IS a criminal “monsters” and deserves EVERYTHING he gets!
P.S. Including getting to room with Bubba so HE can enjoy the "pleasure" of being raped.
I hope your son or daughter is never accused of, let alone convicted of, such a crime. Also, what should be the punishment for the neglectful parents who offer up their children to the monsters?