Polanski Arrest Exposes More Liberal Hypocrisy

Ronald Radosh asks,  “Can We Still Trust Anne Applebaum?”

So, I am more upset that a columnist like Anne Applebaum has somehow lost her senses and her moral compass than that the Hollywood elite- whom we all expect to rally around one of their own- has joined in the ruckus to free Polanski. Does she not realize that these columns hurt her own calls for justice to those who suffered in the Gulag, and her understanding that for certain crimes, there is no statute of limitations?  Does she want her readers to take her seriously in the future?

We have come a long way from both morality and seriousness when an intellectual columnist like Anne Applebaum can write in defense of the indefensible. Now if only Polanski had agreed to colorizing his early black and white films. Then, perhaps, the auteurs would not have sprung so readily to his defense.

Definitely read the whole thing.

At Red County, Ron Miller writes, “Polanski Arrest Exposes More Liberal Hypocrisy”:

Liberal outrage over director Roman Polanski’s arrest in Switzerland this week on 1977 charges of raping a 13-year old girl in the U.S. has once again exposed the lie that liberals are for “the little guy.”

These defenders of “the little guy” are the same ones who:

• Tried to destroy a working Joe for daring to question then-candidate Barack Obama
• Promote the killing of millions of voiceless and helpless unborn children as a human right
• Regularly insult the millions of ordinary Americans who have taken to the streets this year to protest out-of-control government spending and intrusion into our lives.

They are now lining up to defend a child rapist because – well, because he suffered horribly in his life and he’s contributed more to society than his victim.

Europeans, especially the French, are beside themselves over this issue. French Culture Minister Frédéric Mitterrand huffed, “To see him thrown to the lions and put in prison because of ancient history — and as he was traveling to an event honoring him — is absolutely horrifying…There’s an America we love and an America that scares us, and it’s that latter America that has just shown us its face.”

Forgive us, Monsieur Mitterand, if our laws place the well-being of children, and their protection against sexual assault by adults, ahead of receiving a lifetime achievement award at the Zurich Film Festival.

Hollywood, of course, is competing with the French for who can shout the loudest in defense of the indefensible. Actress Debra Winger takes the cake when she dismisses the child rape charges as “a three-decade-old case that is all but dead but for minor technicalities.” You mean the “minor technicalities” that involve drugging and performing forced oral, vaginal and anal sex on a 13-year old girl who repeatedly said “no” but was ignored? Or is it the “minor technicalities” that involve him pleading guilty to the charge of unlawful sex with a minor?

What makes this screaming and gnashing of teeth all the more reprehensible is that many of the people crying out for his release are women, obviously the same women who looked the other way while Bill Clinton abused the power of his office as governor and President to bed multiple women and pressure others for sex. Would Polanski’s troubled past or creative genius mattered to them if they were the 13-year old girl being raped? Would those things have mattered if the 13-year old girl was their daughter?

For a long-form video look at Polanski’s crimes, don’t miss an exceptional edition of Poliwood, with Roger L. Simon and Lionel Chetwynd on the topic. Looking at clips of Woody Allen’s Bullets Over Broadway and Crimes and Misdemeanors, Lionel asks, “Does the artist create his own moral universe? Obviously, Woody Allen thinks he does.” And so does everyone in Hollywood who signed the petition in support of Polanski, even if they can’t articulate their reasons why in such words.

As the backlash against Hollywood grows, as somebody mentioned on Twitter the other day, watch for the Van Jones defense to be played, along the lines of “I didn’t know what I was signing.” But as David Steinberg writes, “Sorry, Leftism: You Don’t Get to Disown the Polanski List.”

For a short video on the topic…Mister, we could use a man like Sgt. Friday again!