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Mrs. E
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Jellydog
Pedophiles Should Go To Jail. Even The Ones That Make Good Movies.
It’s not very often I feel compelled to write a rant, but this Roman Polanski business has me fired up. Not the business of him getting arrested, because that is long overdue. The business of people making excuses for him and defending his actions. I really cannot believe some of the things I read or some of the things I heard on the talk radio shows my husband made me listen to in the car yesterday.
For the purposes of my rant, I’m going to assume that most of you know the basic details – he drugged and raped a 13 year old girl in the late 70’s and than ran away to another country to avoid imprisonment. Here’s his original plea agreement if you feel like indulging in a lengthy, disturbing read.
A warrant has been out for his arrest ever since, and he was recently arrested in Switzerland. Which for reasons I can’t begin to fathom has prompted outrage from some in Hollywood. Here’s a copy of a petition signed by a bunch of Hollywood types who apparently think it’s OK to rape children, as long as you are a gifted enough filmmaker, or enough time has gone by, or you were just minding your own business at a film festival in Switzerland.
Woody Allen signed it? Shocking. Because, you know, he’s one to talk…. oh, never mind I’m getting distracted.
I’ve heard people say the crime was so long ago, and the victim has forgiven him. Good for her, that’s fantastic. (No, I’m not being sarcastic). But can we stop and consider that she’s had 30 years to get to this point? 30 years that hopefully included therapy and support from loved ones?
Right now, we’re reading and hearing the thoughts of a mature woman who’s had a very long time to deal with what’s happened to her. Maybe if the face of his victim were a scared, crying teenager, this would be playing out a little differently in the media. Would it help anyone to consider that’s exactly what she was when this happened to her?
But you know when I really got stabby? When I heard someone ask, “Yeah, but was it really rape rape?” And this particular caller was questioning how much of a rape it really was if she was drugged and didn’t remember much of it. Another caller suggested it was her fault for being there in the first place and making herself “available”. Another suggested that you know, some 13 year olds do look a lot older than their age.
(UPDATE: Ok, about 20 minutes after I posted this, I saw the you-tube clip of Whoopi Goldberg defining rape for us. Gah, I wish famous people would use their power for good. How many others besides the radio show calling tool went around quoting this as a good argument yesterday?)
As much as I wish they would, I’m not naive enough to think that everyone in our society has moved past this blaming the victim mentality, especially in rape cases. But as awful as it is to suggest a woman was to blame for her rape, now we’re going to blame children. Children? Really?!?
Which brings me nicely to my next point. Lots are asking “Well, where were her parents?” True, that is an excellent fucking question. Someone should have been there to say, “No, you are NOT going to Jack Nicholson’s house to do drugs and have sex with old men. Now go to your room, young lady.”
And even if she had been blessed with parents who might have prevented this? Let’s say for the sake of argument, she defied her parents and snuck out and went anyway? Because you know, I never lied to my parents, or did shit I wasn’t supposed to when I was a teenager. *rolls eyes* Is it still her fault then?
NO. Because she was a fucking child. This is why we have those things called, you know, laws. Laws that say a 13 year old is not capable of giving consent. Laws that say it’s wrong for adults to have sex with children. Laws that he broke.
It shouldn’t matter that he broke them so long ago.
He knew what he did was wrong, that is why he fled the country and has avoided countries with extradition treaties with the US. It doesn’t matter how long ago the crime was, he ran to avoid the reprecussions of his actions. He deserves everything he gets. I agree with you 100%. I was disgusted by the things I read, but mostly by those saying that maybe it wasn’t really rape and the age of consent in some states was 14 so how bad could it really be. I wanted to vomit. He was in his forties and this CHILD was only 13.
It makes me so angry I can’t see straight!
Good point Erica – I didn’t even touch on the whole thing about how he ran away because he knew what he did was wrong.
I just really can’t understand the thinking of those that are defending him. I think so much less of every single person that signed that petition.
As I understand it, he was originally only going to receive probation and he didn’t flee the country until he learned that the judge planned to send him to jail. He ran away because he didn’t want to get locked up. Whether or not he actually felt he had done something wrong is a different question…
I agree with you. He should be publicly castrated. Or worse. He’s 70. How often is he using that thing anyway any more.
LOL!
Is it really awful for me to say that it’s such a shame he had a lifetime of freedom, and now he’s finally going to jail when he’s old?
I’m just as fired up about this. Especially when I read that people are defending this CHILD MOLESTER.
I’m with you on thinking its great that the victim has forgiven her molester. I think for her own piece of mind she had to. But on the same token don’t the families of murder victims sometimes forgive the murderer for their crime?
And I don’t care if she had consensual sex with this man or even if her parents were standing in the next room because she was a child and her innocence was lost when this monster decided to violate her.
I’d like to personally question each and every one of those petition signers and see if they are willing to leave their daughter alone with this man. I wonder how many of them are just desperate to get in his next crappy movie!
Ok. I’ll shut up now! Great blog!
Thank you! And no need for shutting up on my blog. Preach, sister!
I think there is a lot of sympathy for him because of the whole Manson family murders. It is an image he exploits on his own, by trying to minimize his own culpability and stating that he didn’t really hurt anyone because he didn’t kill them.
This is WRONG!! I agree, he’s a great artist, but how long would he have stayed in prison, anyway? And, wouldn’t this be all behind him and his victim, had he just manned up and gone then?
So what if his plea was supposed to result in no jail time. Prosecutors don’t have that power. They can make recommendations to the court, recommendations, that’s it. Overall, the judge and the judge alone, has sway over jail time versus probation, unless there is a sentencing portion of a trial, such as is the case with murder cases where the death penalty is being hashed out.
I wonder if those hollywood types would be so inclined to sign a petition if John Singleton was the perpetrator and not Roman Polanski?
And Woody Allen should be ashamed of himself for going there…
I totally agree that he’s milking the Manson thing for all it’s worth. Yes, it was tragic and terrible, but it doesn’t count as an “extenuating circumstance” in my book.
And you made another very good point – why didn’t he just sack up and do his time the first time around?
“why didn’t he just sack up and do his time the first time around?”
Because he is a pansy ass who was a scaredy cat. Wonder how his victim felt as he raped and sodomized her?
For real. I just honestly can’t see how anyone could read the transcript of her testimony and say anything at all in his defense. She said no. Repeatedly.