Excusing the crimes of the elite
A few months ago I was sickened and horrified to discover that, when the malfeasance of a wealthy, powerful, privileged member of the elite results in the death of an "ordinary" person, there are very many on the left who are willing and eager to minimize and gloss over the event, treating it as a mere footnote to the great aristocrat's illustrious career.
Chappaquiddick was not just some trivial sex scandal. A person died.
Now we're seeing the same nasty impulse rise to the surface again, with Roman Polanski. While the evil of Polanski's act cannot be equated with Chappaquiddick (his victim is still alive), it was utterly heinous -- a responsible adult drugged and forcibly sodomized a 13-year-old who was vehemently protesting and asserting her lack of consent. In this case there don't seem to be many bloggers seeking to excuse and minimize the crime (thank goodness), but a laundry list of celebrities and commentators has rushed to protest Polanski's arrest and possible extradition. The Middle of Nowhere has a definitive overview of the situation (read this too). The rationalizations in defense of Polanski recall the twisted verbiage used by others to downplay and minimize the Catholic-priest child-molestation scandals.
How many of those rushing to defend Polanski would be doing so if he were an ordinary nobody guilty of exactly the same crime? (Not even a hypothetical -- there are plenty of child-rapists sitting in prison right now.) Isn't there more than a hint here, as with Kennedy, of the attitude that the "extraordinary man" should be forgiven acts for which common mortals would deserve full punishment?
I don't care if the right does worse. That's not the topic of this posting. I don't want to see this on our side.
Chappaquiddick was not just some trivial sex scandal. A person died.
Now we're seeing the same nasty impulse rise to the surface again, with Roman Polanski. While the evil of Polanski's act cannot be equated with Chappaquiddick (his victim is still alive), it was utterly heinous -- a responsible adult drugged and forcibly sodomized a 13-year-old who was vehemently protesting and asserting her lack of consent. In this case there don't seem to be many bloggers seeking to excuse and minimize the crime (thank goodness), but a laundry list of celebrities and commentators has rushed to protest Polanski's arrest and possible extradition. The Middle of Nowhere has a definitive overview of the situation (read this too). The rationalizations in defense of Polanski recall the twisted verbiage used by others to downplay and minimize the Catholic-priest child-molestation scandals.
How many of those rushing to defend Polanski would be doing so if he were an ordinary nobody guilty of exactly the same crime? (Not even a hypothetical -- there are plenty of child-rapists sitting in prison right now.) Isn't there more than a hint here, as with Kennedy, of the attitude that the "extraordinary man" should be forgiven acts for which common mortals would deserve full punishment?
I don't care if the right does worse. That's not the topic of this posting. I don't want to see this on our side.
posted by Infidel753 at 1:27 AM
6 Comments:
Amen. While I thought Kennedy did a lot of good through his political work, I never could get to liking him as a person because of his involvement in the death of someone; his statements about it never really made sense to me. The same with Polanski. He's done some amazing work, but he needs to face the music and stand trial. No more excuses.
My one concern is that his admission of guilt was contingent upon a plea agreement that the judge rejected. While he clearly needs to be responsible for his crime, those circumstance need consideration as well.
This is something that I wouldnt touch as far as posting in my journal...although I been keeping up with it.
As far as his fetish for young ladies..it seem's to be quite popular with guy's actually,but this was not consentual... I mean, you have to use dope and booze to get the chick in the mood? And have to go for something at that age level? If there is no challenge...where's the gratification? Well...to each their own ...that certainly isnt very exciting to me.But...whatever float's your boat.I mean...I'm considered a pervert myself...if I like an aggressive,mature,dominant type woman...so I cant talk. :)
But what shocked me most was not Polanski trying to evade authorities...but this group of celeb's,that petitioned to release him ...I mean...HELLOOOO ...WTF! Do any of these folk's live in the real world? This dude made a cop-out/plea bargain with a now dead judge who supposedly renigged somewhere in the defense plan.... this guy fled sentencing/prosecution ...duuuuh ... that's how it work's.Doesnt matter if the victim who is a mature woman now say's let bygones be bygones ... he entered his plea...he fled...and that's how it goes when you do shit like that. I mean...What a f'n pansy!Be a f'n man...and come back..and do your time...or probation or whatever, plus...they will be very light on him...because it's old school...all they want is the conviction for the record...even the victim dont give a rat's ass about it anymore watching her be interviewed. None of us want to do time...but when we do shit...and get pinched we have consequences. If I get pinched/busted for dealing dope or something...it's not my associate's in these activities responsiblity to ask for my release...we all choose our action's...and have to accept what comes with the territory. If he's worried about getting raped in prison...he so old and ugly...he'd have to pay somebody to rape his ugly ass! Some of these celeb's look at these award event's as sacred...and off limit's to serving warrant's or taking offender's into custody ... are they nut's?
If I was the ole boy...I would turn myself in voluntarily...and show my action's since the offense...If I been clean...to be considered in my defense in sentencing...the guy aint got to worry about hard time...they aint gonna fry the dude.For the celeb's whining ... STFU!!
Thank You Sir .....
Infidel, I probably do not know enough about Chappaquiddick. From what I gleaned in my on-line snooping, there was no sex involved between Kennedy and Mary Jo -- is that so? She was a proper Catholic girl, etc. Plus her death was an accident, wasn't it?
Yes, Kennedy's behavior after the accident was wrong, but (from what I know) he did not plan on getting Mary Jo killed. If you know more, let me know -- I'll be interested to learn.
Polanski, OTOH, premeditated the rape of a child and showed absolutely no remorse afterward. It was a perfectly normal thing for him. And knowing what we do know about pedophiles, she was not his only victim.
OK, well, we do know as much -- there was Nastasja Kinsky, with whom he slept when she was 15, and, quite possibly, his current wife -- he was 56 when married her -- she was 23, but there is no info available on how long they had known each other before that; and who knows how many others.
One thing we know for certain about pedophiles is that their victims are multiple. It is hardly ever just one child. (Personally, I am not aware of a case of a pedophile who has limited his abuse to just one victim.)
Neither Chappaquiddick nor the rape committed by Polanski are footnotes for the victims and their families. Unfortunately, I think that there is a double standard when it comes to the punishment of crimes committed by members of the political, business and cultural elites. This is not right, but it seems to be the way things are. Hopefully, the American government can get Polanski back to the States and have him pay for his crime regardless of his stature within the arts community.
Whether Kennedy was having sex with Kopechne or not is irrelevant to the scandal. He was driving recklessly under dangerous conditions, very likely drunk. His gross negligence, both before and after the crash, killed her. His responsibility is only negligibly different than if he'd put a gun to her head and pulled the trigger. An ordinary person who had behaved exactly as Kennedy did, but lacked his wealth and prestige, would have suffered severe penalties and won no sympathy from the sniveling apologists who continue to defend Kennedy.
Post a Comment
<< Home