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[alexis]

On topic:
I don't see why Polanski should be rewarded for the fact that he managed to circumvent his just punishment for 32 years. Let him do his time.

Oh, well it must be OK because Sharon Tate's sister said the sex with the 13-year old was "consensual":

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Huffington post 10-30-09
AP Text, Scroll for Video)

NEW YORK - Debra Tate, the sister of Roman Polanski's second wife, actress Sharon Tate, says Polanski is brilliant and a "good guy" and she doesn't think her former brother-in-law can get a fair trial in the United States.

Tate tells NBC's "Today" show on Wednesday that the U.S. justice system is broken.

Polanski was arrested Saturday in Zurich. The U.S. has been seeking his extradition for having sex with a 13-year-old girl in 1977.

Tate says Polanski did not forcibly have sex with the girl, calling it a "consensual matter."

Sharon Tate was murdered in Los Angeles in 1969 by followers of Charles Manson. She was eight months pregnant.

Debra Tate says it's been a devastating few weeks for her, with her sister's killer, Susan Atkins, dying Sept. 24 and now her late sister's husband jailed.


Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/30/sharon-tates-sister-sex-w_n_304042.html

[Mairi]

Even if she consented (WHICH SHE DIDN'T) it's still statuatory rape!

For Pete's sake, if this was a nobody from nowhere, it wouldn't be a question. I don't see why he should be excused just becaus he made some (admittedly great) films.

[alexis]

More "luminary" apologists, including to my dismay, Whoopi Goldberg. Chasing a 13-year old girl around the house, plying her with alcohol and Quaaludes, having girl privatel and anal intercourse with her.  , I don't think any movies he made have any bearing on whether he should be held accountable. Someone said the plea deal ("unlawful intercourse") should be rescinded, which I guess it would since he fled.

 


***********************************************************************
http://www.tnr.com/blog/the-plank/polanskis-defenders-contd
Polanski's Defenders, Cont'd

   


Unsurprisingly, the cinematic community has come out in strong support of Roman Polanski, typically invoking--like the French culture minister before them--his status as a great artist as if it granted him some form of legal immunity. Debra Winger, a judge at the film festival in Zurich that Polanski was planning to attend, called out the Swiss government for its "philistine collusion" in apprehending the fugitive, arguing that "This fledgling festival has been unfairly exploited and whenever this happens the whole art world suffers," which will doubtless come as news to a great number of nonsuffering art-worlders.

Whoopie Goldberg made the point (repeatedly) that this case is not about "rape rape," which is legally true--Polanski plea bargained the initial charges down to unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor in exchange for his confession. But setting the legal mechanics aside, Polanski furnished a 13-year-old with alcohol and a quaalude, repeatedly pressed to take her clothes off, pursued her from room to room through the house despite her protestations that she wanted to go home, and ultimately had girl privatel and anal intercourse with her, despite her having pleaded "no" every step of the way. (The Smoking Gun has the original, appalling court testimony here.) If this does not constitute "rape rape," I hope Goldberg will clarify what would.

Today, Martin Scorsese and David Lynch also added their names to those of sixty-odd other cinematic luminaries who've signed a petition calling for Polanski's immediate release. But the award for complete lack of self-awareness has to go to another new signee who placed his moral capital in such matters on the table today as well: Woody Allen.

[The Swine]

I love how flippant everyone's being about this. This girl didn't consent boys, she was raped. Repeatedly. Her mother should be held responsible too. And Swine, 13 year old girls are 13 year old girls whether they look "big" or not. And this one certainly didn't look older than her years. Women are still regarded as objects even after all these years. Hence the "oh well" attitude. And I guess the thing about famous people being above the law isn't just a Hollywood thing.

fair enough. i just meant that one can be mistaken about a girls age at first sight.

[BlueMeanie]

fair enough. i just meant that one can be mistaken about a girls age at first sight.

The Mrs still swears blind she's younger than me!

[An Apple Beatle]

I think all these highly famous people must read Aleister Crowleys's The Book of life and think they can get away/liberalise on anything.

Sorry just a random joke/type theory. 

....If I was the girl's dad and found out he'd touched my daughter, I'd knock him out...Polanski or not!

[BlueMeanie]

^ I'd cut off his gonads with a blunt razor.

[Kaleidoscope_Eyes]

Even if she consented (WHICH SHE DIDN'T) it's still statuatory rape!

For Pete's sake, if this was a nobody from nowhere, it wouldn't be a question. I don't see why he should be excused just becaus he made some (admittedly great) films.

Yes but that happened almost 30yrs ago, the girl in question does not want him to be locked up, and the man has gone through enough in his life anyway, why bring up this issue now?

[Joost]

Yes but that happened almost 30yrs ago

Yes, and if he would've had the dignity back then to just do his time, it would be a thing of the past now and nobody would talk about it anymore. But he chose to run away and now he's suffering the consequences.

the girl in question does not want him to be locked up

True, and I think that's really the only thing that Polanski can hold on to now.

and the man has gone through enough in his life anyway

That's irrelevant. I'm sure that there are a whole lot of people in prison right now that have gone through a lot. Hardly a reason to just set them all free, right?

[Mairi]

The woman wants her case dropped only because she is sick of being harassed and having her name dragged through the mud.

It doesn't matter how long ago it was, it still happened. If he does go free, it'll basically be a big middle finger to rape victims everywhere. "Oh, your pain doesn't matter! You should get over it! It was 30 years ago, lol!"

[Joost]

The woman wants her case dropped only because she is sick of being harassed and having her name dragged through the mud.

That's not what she said in a 2003 interview, it seems she really has forgiven him:

"After the publicity came out, I knew it was just as bad for him as it was for me. I'm sure if he could go back, he wouldn't do it again. He made a terrible mistake but he's paid for it.

I guess people want to me to be really angry and hateful toward him; honestly, I don't feel that way. I think he's a really good director."

Source: http://archives.starbulletin.com/2003/03/20/features/story1.html

[Mairi]

Oh, my mistake. But I think my second point still stands.

[Sondra]

Oh god. Come on people, stop being so naive. She "forgave" him because he gave her MONEY. Okay? He still f***ed a 13 year old against her will. THREE times! Sorry for the bluntness, but that's the reality. Read the transcripts. It's freaking disturbing. I don't get people and their ability to rationalize that away.

[alexis]

Oh god. Come on people, stop being so naive. She "forgave" him because he gave her MONEY. Okay? He still f***ed a 13 year old against her will. THREE times! Sorry for the bluntness, but that's the reality. Read the transcripts. It's freaking disturbing. I don't get people and their ability to rationalize that away.

There's no other way he could do it. 13 year old girls are considered by society to not have the ability to make give their will, to make rational "informed" decisions in cases like these. So "against her will" is pretty much from the Dept. of Redundancy Department. The Polanski apologists are trying to make it sound like it wasn't against her will. I haven't read the transcripts, and probably never will, but you don't have to read them to know that she didn't consent to it - she legally couldn't have.

Now maybe someone wants to argue that it's a silly law, and that 13 years should be able to give consent. That's certainly a point of view that can be debated (a wrong one IMO, but it can be debated), but it's not relevant here, no matter how hard his supporters want to make it be. He broke the law in a major way.

The only one that looks good in this case is Woody Allen. By comparison, sleeping with an 18 year old woman who he wasn't related to by blood looks positively Norman Rockwell-esque.


Just wondering - do any of the people who support Polanski have daughters?

[emmi_luvs_beatles]

There's no other way he could do it. 13 year old girls are considered by society to not have the ability to make give their will, to make rational "informed" decisions in cases like these.

I'm 13 and I would have made a rational descison. I wouldn't have let the man get near me enough to be able to even touch me in the first place. But thats me.

[alexis]

I'm 13 and I would have made a rational descison. I wouldn't have let the man get near me enough to be able to even touch me in the first place. But thats me.

Well, keep using good judgement, emmi_luvs_beatles 

[Sondra]

I'm 13 and I would have made a rational descison. I wouldn't have let the man get near me enough to be able to even touch me in the first place. But thats me.

You have no idea how much you'll change in just a few years. Of course you feel you know better right now, but there are things you're just not yet equipped to deal with. Also, this girl's mother put her in a situation that she obviously didn't know how to get out of on her own. Or wasn't allowed to get out of. The guy didn't listen to her saying "no" over and over. Men are stronger than women and little girls, so sometimes knowing better is not an option.  Add to that the fact that she was drugged and left alone with a sly older man who probably had abundant experience in seducing girls/women, and you get a different perspective of her actions. You can say all you want that you would have known how to handle it, but in reality, you have no idea what you would do if you actually had to live it.

[emmi_luvs_beatles]

You have no idea how much you'll change in just a few years. Of course you feel you know better right now, but there are things you're just not yet equipped to deal with. Also, this girl's mother put her in a situation that she obviously didn't know how to get out of on her own. Or wasn't allowed to get out of. The guy didn't listen to her saying "no" over and over. Men are stronger than women and little girls, so sometimes knowing better is not an option.  Add to that the fact that she was drugged and left alone with a sly older man who probably had abundant experience in seducing girls/women, and you get a different perspective of her actions. You can say all you want that you would have known how to handle it, but in reality, you have no idea what you would do if you actually had to live it.

Thats true, and I didn't know she was drugged. That would make the situation different. And I'm probably saying what any other 13 year old would be saying, so I'll just keep my mouth shut    

[nyfan(41)]

i think that roman polanski knows all about the murder of his wife sharon tate

roman polanski had a polish trouble maker friend named wojciech frykowski who was involved in the drug trade
the manson family were basically drug dealers to alot of celebrities - that's what all the bikers were doing on manson's ranch and where all the money came from

frykowski burned them in a drug deal and the helter skelter murders were actually a drug hit that was made to look like black revolutionaries did it to throw police off the trail.
the whole beatles connection by vincent bugliosi is fiction

the people who killed sharon tate and fryowski in 1969 knew the whole layout of the house etc because they used to deliver drugs there regularly.
roman polanski and his decadent overindulgant drug lifestyle involved his pregnant wife and his home with alot of dangerous drug dealers and got her murdered

polanski was in london the night of the murders. he came to l.a. to be questioned by police and said he had no idea what happened. after manson followers were arrested he high tailed it to europe.

so, since you ask -
in my opinion he's a lowlife and the sex with a minor is one of many examples of his lack of character

[nyfan(41)]

and fyi, the victims wishes actually play no legal part.
it's not a personal lawsuit by the victim against him -
the case is the state of california vs roman polanski. he's being pursued for his crimes against the state of california (for breaking the state's laws) if that makes sense.