Posted by
Compassionate Conservative on Wednesday, September 30, 2009 4:56:30 PM
In 1970, Tom Wolfe published a book of two social commentaries in the
form of long essays. One of those essays, "Radical Chic," made fun of
status-conscious celebrities who fawn over extreme leftists like Cesar
Chavez and the Black Panthers. In their celebrity delusion, they
imagine that by attaching themselves to people with a "cause," they can
stay cool and relevant while atoning for the "sin" of being rich. It
was laughable then, and it's still hilarious.
Fast
forward almost 40 years, and we find that "radical chic" has been
replaced by child molester chic. Celebrated director/pervert Roman
Polanski, who raped a 13-year old girl in 1977 and has been on the lam
in France ever since, was finally apprehended in Switzerland Saturday.
Who knew Swiss authorities, or authorities in any other of the
libertine countries of Western Europe, for that matter, could be so civic-minded?
Polanski, who fled the U.S. to France upon being released after the
42-day psychiatric evaluation that followed his guilty plea, has had a
U.S. arrest warrant outstanding since 1978. Apparently, since the
Los Angeles County district attorney's office
refused to give up on putting him in prison, this evolved in 2005 into
an international arrest warrant. Hence the Swiss arrest, and good for
them.
Over the weekend, however, scores of Hollywood notables
from actors like Harrison Ford and Debra Winger to directors such as
Woody Allen and Martin Scorcese have signed a petition asking for this
convicted child molester to be released. The petition, with a list of
signers, can be found here:
http://www.sacd.fr/Le-cinema-soutient-Roman-Polanski-Petition-for-Roman-Polanski.1340.0.html.
Their
stated reason for this request seems to be that a film maker of
Polanski's "stature" (he's made a few successful movies) is above the
law, and any attempt to make him do the time for his crime is simply
the work of Neanderthals in the U.S. justice system. Winger termed the
L.A. D.A.s "philistines" and studio head Harvey Weinstein says his
friend, whom he calls a "humanist" (as opposed to a rapist), has been
the victim of a gross
"miscarriage of justice." Here's a news flash, Harvey. Your buddy
pled guilty, which means he said he did it.
Although radical chic is hilarious, child molester chic isn't at all funny. If
this were just a mere anti-war protest, I could just write it off as
more unpatriotic behavior on the part of spoiled Hollywood brats biting
the hand that feeds them and their over-inflated egos. This, however,
is a bit more disturbing. Raping a 13-year old girl should be
something everyone, left and right, can condemn. The fact that at
least some on the left won't do that should really make everyone else
wonder where the moral compass of these people is pointing.