Posted on 09/29/2009 6:36:55 AM PDT by steve-b
Hasn't Roman Polanski suffered enough? Didn't he endure all those cool, gray, rainy Paris winters? Wasn't he forced -- well, not forced, but strongly enticed -- to subsist all those years on overpriced fare served up by haughty waiters in Michelin-starred restaurants? Didn't he survive for decades having his vacation options limited, essentially, to the grim monotony of the South of France?
I've got a better question: Shouldn't Polanski and his many apologists give us a break?
I'm a huge fan of Polanski's work. "Chinatown" is one of my favorite movies of all time, "Rosemary's Baby" is a masterpiece, and he richly deserved the Oscar he won as best director for "The Pianist." He's a great artist. Maybe his next film will be a prison movie....
...Those who argue that there's something unjust about Polanski's arrest are essentially accepting his argument that it's possible for a 13-year-old girl, under the influence of alcohol and drugs, to "consent" to sex with a man in his 40s. Or maybe his defenders are saying that drugging and raping a child is simply not such a big deal.
As far as I'm concerned, it's a huge deal. Even in France, it should be a big deal. This isn't about a genius who is being hounded for flouting society's hidebound conventions. It's about a rich and powerful man who used his fame and position to assault -- in every sense, to violate -- an innocent child.
And it's about a man who ran away rather than face the consequences of his actions. Before any sentence could be imposed, he absconded like a weasel to live a princely life in France.
That's the sort of protagonist, a great director like Polanski must realize, who doesn't deserve a happy ending.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Therefore, Polanksi should be the 2012 US Presidential candidate.
I would say put him in the worst part of Riker’s Island(NYC) or Cook County (Chi,IL) for 1 day and thne I would say “debt paid in full”.
Rope and lead are the only supplements to cure what he has.
For me, reading the transcript of the girl’s testimony leaves no doubt.
Buggered on a post, for the world to see.
When Eugene Robinson actually writes something I agree with??
It amazes me how the left thinks that anal rape of a child is is somehow made ok due to the passing of time and creation of movies.
Is Polanski elegible for office? I mean, was he even born in Africa?
Just what I was thinking.
jESUS, DON’T TELL ME WHOOPI GOLDBERG ACTUALLY WEIGHED IN ON THIS????
He’s perfect for the candidacy: He’s got the slime of Clinton, the amiguous citizenship of Obama, the felonious nature of Barney Frank, and the accountability of Charles Rangel.
Polanski so fit the dead Ted mantra...prosecution for crimes is for the lower classes.
Both are (in one case, were) equally stupid. But in America, we normally elevate the most stupid to congress.
Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.
man...the View is hard to watch...I caught that too...boy that was an icy exchange
Eugene Robinson has a spasm of lucidity! Very good article, especially for a Liberal. He’s probably not going to be too popular at the “progressive” cocktail parties for a while for calling a rapist a rapist.
He's certainly spot-on in this piece. It's an interesting year, in which two influential artists, Phil Spector and Polanski, finally get the justice they deserve.
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