Exactly!
This issue has been providing me with steady background radiation levels off annoyance for the past week, and this blog post articulated my boggle perfectly:
The reporting on Polanski's arrest has been every bit as "bizarrely skewed," if not more so. Roman Polanski may be a great director, an old man, a husband, a father, a friend to many powerful people, and even the target of some questionable legal shenanigans. He may very well be no threat to society at this point. He may even be a good person on balance, whatever that means. But none of that changes the basic, undisputed fact: Roman Polanski raped a child. And rushing past that point to focus on the reasons why we should forgive him, pity him, respect him, admire him, support him, whatever, is absolutely twisted.
Also not relevant is whether the victim looked older than her 13 years, was hot, or was asking for it (according to testimony not disputed by Polanski, she most certainly was not.) Or whether the victim forgave him, or how many millions of dollars he gave her at civil trial. It is not mean-spirited or petty to demand that he be treated like any non-celebrity who had done something similar.
The reporting on Polanski's arrest has been every bit as "bizarrely skewed," if not more so. Roman Polanski may be a great director, an old man, a husband, a father, a friend to many powerful people, and even the target of some questionable legal shenanigans. He may very well be no threat to society at this point. He may even be a good person on balance, whatever that means. But none of that changes the basic, undisputed fact: Roman Polanski raped a child. And rushing past that point to focus on the reasons why we should forgive him, pity him, respect him, admire him, support him, whatever, is absolutely twisted.
Also not relevant is whether the victim looked older than her 13 years, was hot, or was asking for it (according to testimony not disputed by Polanski, she most certainly was not.) Or whether the victim forgave him, or how many millions of dollars he gave her at civil trial. It is not mean-spirited or petty to demand that he be treated like any non-celebrity who had done something similar.