Roman Polanski Should Be Shot

After the news of his arrest, people are desperate to weigh in on the justice of Polanski’s arrest. The surprise? They don’t see any.

Is there any other pedophile that could elicit this much public sympathy?

A petition is circling Hollywood for his release and France’s foreign minister has called his arrest “sinister.”

Some are blaming the child:

The 13-year old model “seduced” by Polanski had been thrust onto him by her mother, who wanted her in the movies. The girl was just a few weeks short of her 14th birthday, which was the age of consent in California. (It’s probably 13 by now!) Polanski was demonized by the press, convicted, and managed to flee, fearing a heavy sentence.

Joan Z. Shore, who wrote the above paragraph figures she knows what happened that night because she met the man once: “I met Polanski shortly after he fled America and was filming Tess in Normandy… utterly charmed by Roman’s sobriety and intelligence.”

Some are blaming his hard life:

But the story of what Polanski suffered even before the unspeakable trauma of having his pregnant wife Sharon Tate butchered in the spooky twilight of the turbulent sixties makes me believe that overall, he’s as much victim as predator himself.

Can you imagine living in the Krakow ghetto during the Nazi Occupation, and at the tender age of ten watching both your parents shuttled off to concentration camps, only to have your mother die in one?

These horrors by no means excuse his crime, but they are mitigating factors, are they not?

No, they are not, John Farr. Abusers usually go on to abuse. If we excused everyone who had a hard life there would be no one in prison.

Some are blaming his fame:

“This affair is frankly a bit sinister. Here is a man of such talent, recognized worldwide, recognised especially in the country where he was arrested. This is not nice at all,” French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said.

Neither was raping a child.

He was indicted on six felony accounts for which he could face a life in prison. He made a deal with the lawyers, pleasing guilty to one account of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor. Part of that deal included that fact that his sentenced would be served after 42 days in prison. The judge would not accept the plea and the director fled to France.

Many people seem to be implying that it is strict American morality that is making such a big deal out of an innocent tryst. This was rape. It was statutory rape because she was way underage (the legal age of consent in California at the time was 16) and it was rape because she said no, repeatedly.

Kate Harding lays out the facts, based on the girl’s grand jury testimony:

Roman Polanski instructed her to get into a jacuzzi naked, refused to take her home when she begged to go, began kissing her even though she said no and asked him to stop; performed cunnilingus on her as she said no and asked him to stop; put his penis in her vagina as she said no and asked him to stop; asked if he could penetrate her anally, to which she replied, “No,” then went ahead and did it anyway, until he had an orgasm.

Polanski used his power to rape this girl. He used his Hollywood pull to get her alone in the house and he used his physical strength to force her open.

Think about how that girl must have felt when her pleas were ignored. Think about the relief and disgust she must have felt when he came inside of her and finally stopped. Think of how scared and alone she must have felt on the way home.

While I’m sure it sucked to be forced to live in France for 30 years as a millionaire and continue to have the ability to practice his art, that was not his sentence. That was a choice he made when he decided to flee instead of facing his jail time.

Despite these facts, Poland and France will make a joint appeal to the US and Switzerland to release Polanski from detention. Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski has also said that he plans to ask for clemency from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

In related news, on Friday Poland approved a law to make chemical castration mandatory for anyone charged with raping someone under the age of 15. Roman Polanski should be shot.

For more on this, check out Sexy Little Girls.