S.Artesian wrote: > He's a child rapist. That's all there is to this. I don't advocate > putting > Polanski in prison. > > At the same time, should the victim, or should her parents, or close > relatives, blow Polanski's brains out in the street (as I most certainly > would have done should he have raped either of my daughters), I 1) > wouldn't > care 2) wouldn't feel a bit of sympathy for Polanski or mourn the loss of > a > "great artist" 3) wouldn't advocate putting Polanski's victim, or parents > in > prison. > > I would however contribute to her/their legal defense-- as opposed to > Polanski's. > This is the sort of talk that belongs on far-right forums, not here. With your Old Testament ideals of justice, you support capital punishment, provided it's carried out on an unofficial vigilante basis, then? Take your sentiments to a Republican Convention or British Conservative Party Conference and I guarantee you a standing ovation. Or maybe try Poland, where the neo-fascists in charge have imposed mandatory chemical castration for anyone convicted of sex with a child?
I would oppose any extradition to the US. If it's wrong for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, then it's wrong for Polanski. And, as Shane Mage says, you are sentencing someone to rape camp, and a thoroughly corrupt justice and penal system. What is the chance of Polanski receiving a fair trial after all this media publicity (with the lacklustre contempt of court laws, by which views on the guilt or otherwise of defendants can be pronounced upon on prime-time television before or during a trial)? He has pleaded guilty to and been found guilty of statutory rape, as mentioned before - we have the victim's testimony for the rest, but I don't believe someone is guilty until proved innocent - whether those events took place as she says needs to be determined in a court, if he is to be charged with them. That said, I find it sickening the way in which artists and others are leaping to the defence of Polanski on the grounds of his status and being a 'great artist' (a mystification if every there was one). The same went on when conductor Robert King over here was convicted of sexually exploiting children. Some of my own research is about how various figures in post-1945 West German musical life were deeply complicit with the Third Reich, to the extent of acting as its propagandist, or disseminating its hideous nationalistic propaganda. Yet, even from some musicians self-identifying as Marxists, one encounters ferocious opposition even to investigating this fact. Far too many people still buy into the idea that artists exist in some realm in which they are above considerations which apply to the rest of the population. If somehow the Third Reich was sustained even for a few hours less than it was, but as a result we had lost every performance and recording of Fürtwängler, Karajan, Gieseking or Schwarzkopf, I think that would be a price worth paying. And for justice for a victim of statutory rape it's worth sacrificing every film Polanski made after 1977 (including Tess and The Pianist). Solidarity, Ian ________________________________________________ YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
