Culture: Once Again Celebrity Trumps Justice

This has been a very good week for celebrities, rape apologists, pedophiles and the people who love them. In fact, they should probably all give a hearty round of applause to French philosopher Bernard-Henry Levy, French Culture Minister Frédéric Mitterand, French Foreign Affairs Minister Bernard Kouchner and last but not least, American Director Woody Allen, international patron saint of dirty old men everywhere. After all, it is their sustained efforts (both on the record and more disturbingly, off) on behalf of convicted sex offender Roman Polanski that ultimately succeeded in persuading the Swiss authorities to invoke their "national interests" and deny his extradition to the U.S. for sentencing.

Lest there be any doubt, as Johann Hari of The Independent rightfully pointed out, the extradition was for a crime Polanski not only admitted to but even boasted about to journalists during his exile in France. Had Roman Polanski been Bernard-Henry Levy's neighborhood boulanger or Frédéric Mitterand's gardener or Bernard Kouchner's news agent, would he have been the beneficiary of their impassioned pleas for his release? Would these powerful men have been as eager to publicly trumpet their lame excuses ("He's suffered so much already."), flawed arguments ("It was so very long ago.") and hysterical claims ("He's the victim of a terrible witch hunt.") on behalf of the average garden-variety pedophile? Of course not. In the words of Philip Vannatter, the arresting officer in the case: “Had he not been who he was, he would never have gotten a plea. Had he been me—or some poor dope on the street—he would have been locked up."

The denouement of the Polanski affair amounts to the triumph of celebrity over justice. His fame and status allowed him a plea bargain whereas the average rapist would have been immediately locked up, it allowed him to flea from justice and enjoy a golden exile in France when he should have been serving his sentence and now it has allowed him to escape extradition. No one ever denied that fame and status have their perks. As such, it is an indictment of our celebrity-worshipping culture.

Sincerely,

The Luxe Chronicles

Comments

[maccosmetics]

terrible reporters.

[Emanuela]

I wonder how all the celebrities that rushed to Polanski's defense would feel about this outcome, an effective statute of limitations on admitted rape, if the victim had been their daughter?

[Helene]

Thank you for your comment Anon.

Yes, sadly there are too many societies where the rights of children are still routinely brushed aside in favour of the privileges of the wealthy and powerful. I suppose we should draw some comfort from the fact that our own societies have enacted laws to protect children from this kind of depravity. It's cold comfort though when the laws can be so easily bent to accommodate the well-connected.

Helene

[anon]

J'accuse, madame! Such an eloquent argument. Polanski is not the first person who got away with a crime because he has the right connections, ie, fame, money, etc, to access the powers that be.
Consider the case of a state governor in a Southeast Asian country where the paedophile commits statutory rape. The girl ends up going to reform school, the politician who speaks up for her goes to jail, while the governor carries on interfering with females.