A-List Celebs, Fuck You Sideways

Since it seems I've made a personal crusade out of this whole Roman Polanski business, I thought I'd add on to my last post about this whole situation. I'm not through with this situation and much like Polanski himself, am "in a fighting mood" (which is apparently different than his usual state of being "in a raping mood"). I suppose my bone to pick this time is a bit more specific. Namely, the whole notion that Polanski deserves some sort of petition for his liberty. You can see the text of it here, if you'd like, but I think I'll just highlight the most hypocritical points and laugh both bitterly and derisively at them. Because, to be quite frank with you, this is all a lot of bullshit. I figure I'll lift my favorite chunk right from the petition and plop it down here, with parts I find particularly tacky and shocking placed in bold.

We have learned the astonishing news of Roman Polanski’s arrest by the Swiss police on September 26th, upon arrival in Zurich (Switzerland) while on his way to a film festival where he was due to receive an award for his career in filmmaking.

Not sure how astonishing it is, unless you consider how long it took to find an internationally famous pervert and finally catch him. Where was Dog the Bounty Hunter in all this? Seriously, this had to have been the longest and most successful flight on bail in history. It's not like Polanski pulled a D.B. Cooper here. He was still producing movies. Maybe that's why it was shocking. Everyone thought he'd gotten away scott-free.

His arrest follows an American arrest warrant dating from 1978 against the filmmaker, in a case of morals.

Oh, so its a case of morals? Is this the white-washed way of saying rape, or does everyone just think that he got a blow job from a hooker? Seriously. A case of morals makes it sound like he did something that a stern, Baptist minster would disprove of, but everyone else would find harmless, or at least worthy of little more than a wag of the finger. Nice dodge on that issue, celebs. Nice try glossing that over.

Roman Polanski is a French citizen, a renown and international artist now facing extradition. This extradition, if it takes place, will be heavy in consequences and will take away his freedom. Filmmakers, actors, producers and technicians—everyone involved in international filmmaking—want him to know that he has their support and friendship.

His freedom? Really? Are we seriously going to use that as our main argument? The man committed a heinous crime and you're going to try to play to sympathies by fencing legalities of his arrest and notions of "freedom?" I'm sorry, this is no longer 2004. The word freedom has been so trampled on in the last decade as to render it meaningless anyway, but doesn't anyone out of the 100 celebrities find this pandering to democratic ideals of personal freedom both tasteless and hypocritical, given Polanski's crime? I cannot think of anything anyone could ever do to violate personal freedom more than Polanski's act of forcing himself upon a 13-year-old. Of course, the French film association that initiated the petition doesn't care about that. Polanski is an artist! He's held to different standards than your bog-standard rapist. No, we can't persecute a man of ideas. Plus, he's a French citizen!

So what is the deal with these celebrities anyway? They cannot possibly be signing their name in support of a child rapist escaping punishment for his crime. No, celebrities always have good reasons to back their causes up, right? They have to. Celebs always have little pet issues that are culutrally-relevant and benefit a greater good. Perhaps they just feel a sense of loyalty to one of their own. Or maybe they feel that this arrest somehow threatens high-profile actors and film industry people the world over?
Or maybe they just like supporting the cause of child rape. I honestly can't figure it out. Do they have something in the water in Hollywood? How can so many people be so hopelessly wrong about something? How can they completely ignore the real issue here? A child was raped. It's not like Polanski was being detained for an overdue speeding ticket. The man forced himself upon a child. And yet, he's the one who gets 100 signatures backing him up? I just want to vomit all over the petition and the piggish people that signed it. I don't care what you're real motive is for signing the petiton -- personal loyalty, asinine concerns about the particulars of obscure extradition laws, or you genuinely believe his freedom is being impugned illegally -- at the end of the day you're attaching your name to a document that, at its symbolic core, states that child rape is O.K. People shouldn't have to face consequences for it. Especially not if they are "exceptional artists."

Apparently some see Polanski as the victim in all of this -- especially in Europe: "In much of Europe Polanski is portrayed as a wayward genius who has fallen victim to American bigotry." I'm not sure what kind of standards they have in Europe, but I thought they'd be a little higher than this. I don't care how much of a genius he is, nor how much the French film association wants to suck him off. At the end of the day he's still a criminal, not some misunderstood genius. He knew what he was doing. There's nothing to be misunderstood there.

Hollywood's residents are known for their love of charities and causes, but this may be one that the signers of this petition won't be able to live down as backlash continues to pour in. Nor should they. The petition itself is a crime, if not against standards of justice, then at least common decency. It's tacky, hypocritical, and completely out of touch with what is at stake here. Apparently this is goes hand in hand with an address in Beverly Hills. Being out of touch can be excused at times, but supporting child rape is not one of them.

I wonder why Jack Nicholson hasn't signed the petition yet?

-The Crier

[Edit: If you want a better-written look at the hypocrisy of the petition, I'd recommend the article over at Jezebel. They do a much better job than I.]