Who’s the Victim?

So they finally caught up with him. I’d like to say I thought long and hard about this one but it’s not true, I didn’t. I remember when in 1977 Roman Polanski was convicted of the rape of a 13-year-old girl and I remember how he escaped to France after being found guilty. Polanski had made a deal with the D.A. where he would have been sentenced to only the 42 days he had served under psychiatric evaluation. The reason he fled? Because he had heard the judge was going to renege on his deal and sentence him to more time. I also remember discussing it with my friends and the outrage we felt that he had been allowed to escape in the first place. Our thinking at the time was that if your average Joe were convicted of the same crime he never would have received bail in the first place. Forget 1977, that wouldn’t happen today. Case in point. In 2003 an African-American, Genarlow Wilson then 17, had consensual oral sex with a girl who was 15 at the time. He was convicted of aggravated child molestation and sentenced to 10 years in prison…I’ll let that sink in for a minute. He spent two years behind bars before the Georgia Supreme Court overturned his case. Polanski was 30 years older than his victim at the time of his conviction and spent 42 days under psychiatric evaluation!

I’m not sure whether racism or class distinction is at play here but something’s not right. Now Whoopi Goldberg, who I usually agree with on most things, says, “it wasn’t rape-rape” but instead “unlawful intercourse with a minor”. Let’s see Polanski was originally charged with giving the 13-year-old victim champagne and Quaaludes, taking nude photographs of her and forcibly having both oral and anal sex with her even though she repeatedly told him no. Regardless of him pleading to a lesser crime, he has admitted to doing all of this. Not rape? I’m sorry Whoopi, but with one statement you managed to make Sherri Shepherd, the woman who was unsure of the earth’s shape, look like the intelligent one on The View. He then fled to Europe where for the last 30 years he has been living the life being touted as a cinematic genius and traveling freely from country to country. Well he may be a cinematic genius, in fact I personally think Chinatown is one of the greatest movies ever made, but he is also a convicted child molester and rapist. Whoopi went on to say, "I think he's sorry. I think he knows it was wrong. I don't think he's a danger to society." Umm, okay. (Feel free to insert your own snarky comment here).

To be honest it’s not just Whoopi but all of Hollywood that seems to be out of touch with reality. Harvey Weinstein of the Weinstein Company has started a petition being circulated among Hollywood elite demanding the release of Polanski. The name at the top of the list is Woody Allen. You remember him, he married the adopted daughter of his long time girlfriend after she found nude photos he had taken of her. (You’d think Woody would be smart enough to take a pass on this one). Weinstein is not convinced public opinion is running against the filmmaker and dismisses the categorization of Hollywood as amoral. He said Polanski is a “humanist” and a victim of a “miscarriage of justice”. He also had this to say, "Hollywood has the best moral compass, because it has compassion". "We were the people who did the fundraising telethon for the victims of 9/11. We were there for the victims of Katrina and any world catastrophe." Wow! And all this time I thought I had compassion and my moral compass was held within…silly me.

The bottom line is this. Hollywood is attempting to portray Polanski as a victim because the deal he made with the D.A. was not going to be upheld. But let’s be honest. He pled guilty to the lesser crime of having sex with a minor for which he was never sentenced and he then fled the country. Which makes him a fugitive from justice. And although the victim of this crime accepted a “settlement” from Mr. Polanski and has since stated she wants all charges against him dropped, she is still the victim, not Polanski. How would any of us feel if he had done this to our daughter, sister or niece and gotten away with it? How about bringing his ass back here and let him face a judge and see what he says. I think the judge should be Genarlow Wilson. He certainly has an idea of what true American justice feels like.