Serious Subject

[deelaundry]

I have to admit that I have some sympathy for some people who have consensual sex with teenagers younger than age 18. There can be cases where both the adult and the teenager have the maturity to handle such a relationship. Can be. It's certainly not always the case, and erring on the side of caution is much better. With that said:

ROMAN POLANSKI RAPED HIS VICTIM. He did not have consensual sex; by his own admission and by the testimony of the victim, he ignored her clear statements refusing consent and went ahead and performed multiple sexual acts on her. That is RAPE.

Rape, murder, and treason are the three highest crimes in the US. If Polanski had sold nuclear secrets, would we say, "Oh, that's OK; let him go"? If he had killed a 13-year-old boy as the boy begged him not to, would we say that Polanski had "suffered enough by having to live in exile"?

More here, including details that are horrifying and may be triggering.

Comments

[blackmare.livejournal.com]

Yes, this.

That's why I never have (that I'm aware of) and never will see a Polanski film. It's about damn time he got arrested.

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

Hollywood is being so disgusting about this. So disgusting.

[hibernia1.livejournal.com]

The whole outrage is ridiculous. If it would have been anyone else, people would have said 'well, justice finally prevailed', or something like that. Now because he's talented and well-known, that's different somehow, and that's wrong.

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

So wrong. This makes me sick.

[leiascully.livejournal.com]

But Dee, France is so awful! It's basically like living in Darfur! That should be considered enough punishment!

Oh, no, wait, France is AWESOME. That's not exile, that's being an expat, and not for a good reason like political protest. Dear Roman Polanski and supporters, kindly STFU.

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

They need to STFU right now. It's disgusting that so many in Hollywood want him to escape his legal obligation to pay our society back for the crime he committed. He hasn't paid for anything until he takes the punishment of our legal system. If people want to argue AFTER THAT that he should be forgiven, then fine.

[leiascully.livejournal.com]

Nah, I'm pretty sure that I support the death penalty for people who rape children.

Not in general, but in that case, sure. Temperance Brennan talked me around. Some people just don't need to be alive anymore. I mean, kill one/a few adults, sure, go to prison. Genocide or crimes against children? Might as well take you out.

[frankincensy.livejournal.com]

The support for him makes me sick.

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

It's so gross, BB. SO GROSS and unconscionable.

[calamitysxchild.livejournal.com]

thank you! reposting this

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

Please do re-post!

[hry2007.livejournal.com]

My thoughts exactly. Also, I'm getting tired of the rough life defense. Unless there was an epidemic post-WWII of ghetto survivors becoming rapists, he can fuck right off.

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

The "rough life" defense is pathetic. If it's not an excuse accepted for people who don't have money/talent, then it can't be an excuse for people do have money. (A friend of mine said that Polanski may have been mentally ill at the time, which... I dunno. That could be a reason for lower culpability in committing a crime, but it doesn't excuse him repeatedly insisting since then that he should be allowed back in the US.)

[poeia.livejournal.com]

I absolutely agree and the fact that he has had a truly tragic life does nothing to mitigate the crime or absolve him. Rape is a very different crime than statutory rape (e.g. a 19-year-old boy and his 17-year-old girlfriend or boyfriend.)

That said:
The initial plea bargain was reached to spare the victim from the trauma of having to testify.
He fled the country because the judge planned to throw out the agreed upon plea bargain.
The victim says that she feels the judge and the DA are the ones who victimized her the most because she can never put it behind her. Every time there is a new development, she's dragged through the press all over again.

If there were any way to punish him without further injuring her, I'd be in favor of it but at this point I don't think there is a good solution.

[poeia.livejournal.com]

An hour later, I'm still thinking about this. I guess the best solution would have been if she had never gone public with her name. Then this whole mess could have remained focused on what it should be -- prosecuting someone who raped a 13-year-old girl and fled the country.

(And, as someone who was victimized by the Nazi, Polanski should know that "living in fear of being captured for 30+ years is punishment enough" is not a defense. Getting to live your life exactly as you want except that there are a couple of cities you can't visit is not a fitting punishment for the crime.)

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

I am very, very sorry for the victim. I am sorry this crime was pepetrated on her, and I'm sorry that she has to relive it when the press bring up her name.

I do not think the solution is for a bunch of famous assholes to call the rape a "morals crime" and insist that the legal system leave Polanski alone. Fuck them.

[poeia.livejournal.com]

The "he's talented so the rules don't apply" attitude always confuses and angers me. That people can think like that doesn't just anger me -- it frightens me. Celebrities shouldn't be held to a higher standard then the rest of us just because they're famous, but they should be held to the same standard.

Other examples were getting Jack Abbott paroled for murder because he wrote a good book and saying that James Brown shouldn't be tried for rape at gunpoint because he was such a good entertainer.

[poeia.livejournal.com]

I haven't had my coffee yet -- hence the repetition whist editing as I wrote. ;P

[pwcorgigirl.livejournal.com]

That people are coming out in support of him is just astonishing. Creativity and a tragic life do not excuse doing something so heinous to a child. I wonder how many would support him if they were asked how they'd feel if a stranger assaulted one of their daughters?

And like Mare, I have deliberately never watched one, and never will watch, of his films since the news came out that he had raped that child.

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

I am horrified by so many celebrities supporting Polanski, and especially by them calling the rape a "crime of morals." He didn't smoke dope; he didn't give a glass of wine to his daughter at dinner in his own home; he didn't have consensual BDSM. He raped a girl.

[lana-ftw.livejournal.com]

A-fucking-men. I'm going to send around that link.

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

Thank you for sending it around. I am OUTRAGED by people minimizing what Polanski did.

Polanski apologetics...

[takes-a-fairy.livejournal.com]

There is a reason Polanski's movies are so dark. I saw Rosemary's Baby on TV with my family when I was a kid. I have perused the list of his movies and have never watched any of his others, not even by mistake, thankfully.

Everytime I saw one of those movies being advertised I felt that it was too dark and the previews made me feel icky and I never watched any of them.

I have yet to hear ANY genuine remorse over what he did to that girl and I hope he is extradited and prosecuted.

Re: Polanski apologetics...

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

I am disgusted by what he did, and disgusted by people who feel he shouldn't have to pay the legal price for it. It seriously makes me wonder what they're doing with young teenagers that they want to have a pass for.

Re: Polanski apologetics...

[takes-a-fairy.livejournal.com]

And can we seriously believe he hasn't done it since? I'm waiting to hear about other girls boys? coming forward...unless they've been payed off somehow. Sure he's had a hard life, but lots of people have had hard times and they're not committing crimes and blaming their pasts.

Here locally we've had a murder trial in which the man's lawyer was trying to say that he'd had a brain injury as a child and that he may not have been able to control himself. Hah! He went all these years even in highschool with no violence and he JUST NOW couldn't control himself and murdered a woman? However, I believe he's been given the death penalty.
http://www.examiner.com/x-7403-Tampa-Crime-Examiner~y2009m9d2-Sentencing-hearing-in-Denise-Amber-Lee-case-Michael-King-faces-the-death-penalty-video

[hannahrorlove.livejournal.com]

Okay, I know "punch someone in the face" shouldn't be my go-to answer for dealing with most of humanity, but some days it seems like the best possible option. Come on, people.

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

Punch in the face is what I am sorely tempted to deliver. "Crime of morals" and "not rape-rape" are two of the heinous downplays people are giving to this. UGH.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Is that what people are saying? From what I heard, he wasn't forced to flee the country; he ran off when he felt the judge wasn't treating him fairly. Wow.

Also, might want to cut your post for triggers? For the big bold "r" word?

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

I cut the post; thanks.

I had heard as well that the judge was going to reject the plea bargain and give Polanski jail time, so he fled.

[taiga13.livejournal.com]

So true. Also, as takes_a_fairy pointed out, the man doesn't even think he didn't anything wrong! It's OK to rape kids if you're Roman Polanski!
As for not being able to go back to the US, I swear that I can remember years ago (maybe when he won his Oscar?) that he was in a huge boat just outside US waters. No doubt feeling prosecuted because the Coast Guard boat was right there watching.

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

There are plenty of delusional self-important assholes in the world, so Polanski's attitude doesn't surprise me. It's the dozens (hundreds?) of others insisting the rest of us should give him a pass who are flabbergasting me. WTF?

[purridot.livejournal.com]

If Polanski had never made a movie, would civilization have suffered terribly? I don't think so. He's not Jonas Salk. He belongs in jail. Bravo to the Swiss for doing the right thing (so far).

[daisylily.livejournal.com]

I can't read the link (dunno whether it's because I'm outside the US) but I've got the idea of its content from other posts, and it dumbfounds me that anyone should even consider defending what he did (and WTF is a 'moral crime' supposed to be?) He was OVER FORTY YEARS OLD at the time and must have known perfectly well what he was doing (and if, as some papers over here have reported, he was drugged to the eyeballs, he should not have had the young girl in the house at all).

It beggars belief.

[poeia.livejournal.com]

If you can access The Smoking Gun, they have the victim's grand jury testimony.

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/polanskia1.html

He doesn't deserve jail, he deserves castration.

[daisylily.livejournal.com]

I read as far as when he started the first assault and stopped, and that was plenty bad enough (TY for the link, even if it did make for uncomfortable reading, even as far as I got).

He plied a child with drugs and then raped her. How does that equal statements like "It wasn't rape-rape"?! WTF?

What is wrong with people that they think that is in any way at all OK?

[majiex.livejournal.com]

WTF is wrong with the world today!?

So he won a bloody Oscar and made some movies that people enjoyed, that suddenly makes it okay for him to get away with raping a minor?

Oh, and the people who are defending him are idiots! RAPE is not okay. 'But he lived in exile for so long...' so? He deserves punishment for what he did. He deserves to be locked up and never see the light of day again.

Gah so pissed off. *eats ice cream*