Because it's making me sick.

[jadedmusings]

For some reason, all this controversy surrounding Roman Polanski's arrest has elicited a rather visceral reaction from me. I wanted to rant about it, but the more I read the more I realize I shouldn't be reading about this. No, I don't know why it's making me feel sick to my stomach, and I really am not going to try to delve into it since it would serve no purpose than to upset me further. I will say I've lost a lot of faith in humanity after reading that someone like Whoopi Goldberg said "It's not rape-rape," and that Terry Gilliam is but one of a few names on a "Free Polanski" petition. The bright spots have been seeing Kevin Smith say on his Twitter "Rape is rape," and that a crime had been committed. Also, Greg Grunberg of Heroes fame said yesterday "Because HE DRUGGED & RAPED A 13 YEAR OLD GIRL!!" when a follower stated zie didn't understand why Polanski was arrested. Yet, those two voices are drowned out by the overwhelming cries of "He's an artist!" or "It was so long ago!" It seems as though the fact that Polanski pled guilty to drugging and orally, vaginally, and anally raping a thirteen year-old child before he skipped town has absolutely no bearing on anything.

Plenty has been said on this matter, and it has been said by people with louder voices than mine. Instead of torturing myself further by reading the words of rape apologists and people who turn a blind eye to horrific criminal activity, I'm going to provide but a few links that pretty much say for me why it is I believe it was right for Polanski to be arrested and returned to the United States to finally be punished as he should have been over thirty years ago.

1) Perhaps the most horrifying thing I read today was from the Telegraph. Michael Deacon found a quote from 1979 of Polanski himself speaking on the case.

“If I had killed somebody, it wouldn’t have had so much appeal to the press, you see? But… f—ing, you see, and the young girls. Judges want to f— young girls. Juries want to f— young girls. Everyone wants to f— young girls!”

Keep in mind Polanski did not fuck this girl. He drugged her and then raped her.

2) Reminder: Roman Polanski raped a child. Kate Harding lays it out on the line.

Roman Polanski raped a child. Let's just start right there, because that's the detail that tends to get neglected when we start discussing whether it was fair for the bail-jumping director to be arrested at age 76, after 32 years in "exile" (which in this case means owning multiple homes in Europe, continuing to work as a director, marrying and fathering two children, even winning an Oscar, but never -- poor baby -- being able to return to the U.S.). Let's keep in mind that Roman Polanski gave a 13-year-old girl a Quaalude and champagne, then raped her, before we start discussing whether the victim looked older than her 13 years, or that she now says she'd rather not see him prosecuted because she can't stand the media attention.

3) Melissa McEwan points out that Polanski's victim has her own reasons for stating that she doesn't want any more media attention on the crime.

The simple answer for that is because justice doesn't operate on the principle of what's best for the victim; it operates on the principle of what's best for the community. (That's why prosecutors represent "the people.") Particularly in a case of sexual assault of a minor, there is additional pressure to prosecute, even if the victim(s) don't support the prosecution, because interviews of convicted/admitted child rapists in prisons suggest that the rapist who only rapes once and never again has about as much supporting evidence for his existence as does the unicorn.

4) Finally, ginmar provides a long list of "fun" facts about Polanski's case, and if you still don't understand why Polanski should be behind bars, then there's no help for you. I'm certainly not going to hold anyone's hand and explain it all to you.