Ranty McRantersons

Yeah, so this is going to be a rant. An angry rant.
You've been warned. It can't be all fun and games and amusing snark.

Roman Effing Polanski

Or more precisely, his apologists. Because frankly if you personally have any doubts about what he did and whether he should be finally sentenced and this whole thing made to be over, I really don't have much to say to you.

But the folks who've signed the petition for his freedom? The ones who are trying to defend his actions? Oh the anger. Oh the overwhelming disgust. Oh the flames coming out of the sides of my head.
There is no amount of success, no amount of money, no amount of artistic ability that makes crime, and running away from the punishment for that crime, okay.

"But he's such a great artist." they say.
"He's such a good friend!"
"He hasn't done anything else bad!"
"He's been through so much."
"But it's been yeaaaars since it happened, can't we just forgive and forget?"

How are any of these an excuse, or any sort of reason, that wipes clean a slate that consists of "admitting to having sex with a 13 year old girl." and beyond that "drugging and intoxicating said girl, and raping and sodomizing her while she continued to say no." Oh yeah, and after admitting it, turning around and leaving the country before he could be sentenced.
Also, I hate the apologists for being 'hollywood elite' because in too many minds, that means 'liberals' so I'm seeing a lot of noise in the conservative blogosphere/etc. that now liberals are okay with child rape. Uh. No. If they would bother (but they won't) to check say Jezebel or say, Salon or any number of non-h-wood blogs, they would find that huge gaping wodges of liberals think that Polanski must accept and serve his sentence, should have years ago. and is a complete asshat.
There is no excuse for supporting a rapist who plead guilty and then ran away from being sentenced. None. The ability to blind oneself to the faults of one's friends and coworkers may be a lovely human quality, but when it stretches to this sort of delusional state it just is neither good nor healthy. When our friends and loved ones do bad things, yes, we should continue to love and support them. But sometimes, support also means saying honestly, bluntly, and with great sincerity "You did something wrong, and you need to deal with it like an adult."