Anne Applebaum, Child Rape Apologist?

It's perhaps not that shocking that the film world is rallying around Roman Polanski. After all, plenty of artists over the years have worked with Polanski, all the while fully aware of his crimes. The Academy itself ignored them, awarding Polanski with the honor of Best Director; Harrison Ford ignored them as well, accepting the Oscar on Polanski's behalf.

What is shocking, however, is the support coming from certain liberal columnists. While some present peripheral arguments in support of Polanski, others' comments are more dangerous. In other words, Joan Z. Shore's barely coherent rant against the Swiss is one thing; Anne Applebaum's straight-up apology for child rape is quite another. (And to those who, like Whoopi Goldberg, argue that it wasn't "rape rape," I say yes, it was.)

Applebaum, it should be noted, is married to Radosław Sikorski, the Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs. In his role, Sikorski, along with Poland's President Lech Kaczynski, will be appealing to US authorities to drop proceedings against Polanski.

In her recent piece for the Washington Post, entitled "The Outrageous Arrest of Roman Polanski," she failed to disclose that information, later arguing that it's not her responsibility to disclose such information, as she is not a spokesperson for her husband (of course, Applebaum is fully capable of disclosing such information - she's done it before).

Frankly, who Applebaum is married to and what he believes is beside the point, for it is what Applebaum herself believes that is the problem. In her piece, she claims that Polanski has paid for his crime of raping a 13-year-old girl "in notoriety, lawyers' fees, in professional stigma. He could not return to Los Angeles to receive his recent Oscar. He cannot visit Hollywood to direct or cast a film." Oh, the humanity.

As if that weren't enough, Applebaum then turns rape apologist, blaming Polanski's actions on his mother's death at the hands of Nazis in Auschwitz, his father's suffering in Mauthausen, his own survival of the Krakow ghetto, and his wife's murder by the Manson Family. All horrible things to happen to a person, of course, but none an excuse for criminality. Many people suffer; most don't turn to crime.

In fact, let's ponder that one for a moment, shall we? Charles Manson is sitting in a jail cell for the rest of his life for the Tate/LaBianca murders, one of the victims of which was Polanski's second wife, Sharon Tate, and their unborn child. Charles Manson, too, suffered considerably prior to becoming a criminal. He was abandoned by his teenage mother, only to face abuse in the orphanage in which he was placed. At one point, his own mother sold him to a childless waitress. By Applebaum's logic, Manson's crimes should be forgiven, because after all, he suffered so much.

But perhaps most noteworthy in Applebaum's column is her final sentence: "If he weren't famous, I bet no one would bother with him at all." Maybe not. But if Polanski weren't famous, if he hadn't suffered so much and so publicly in the years prior to his crime, he would never have been permitted to leave the country in the first place. Polanski has been given treatment above the law since the day he was arrested. It's time for that era to end.

 

 

Follow Jillian York on Twitter: www.twitter.com/jilliancyork

Comments

[steambadger]

I agree with most of what you said -- but I'm confused. How did Anne Applebaum suddenly become a "liberal columnist"?

[1will]

Hmmm......I haven't been able to find one Conservative columnist that supports Polanski.

[zahara2603]

GAME OVER - ART DOES NOT EXCUSE RAPE

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/art-does-not-excuse-rape-polanski-must-face-justice

[clueless JD]

Polanski should do time.

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2008/0610081polanski1.html

[Sezin]

Thank you, Ms. York, for this refreshing and down-to-earth look at the reality of Roman Polanski's arrest. I'm so disgusted by all the Polanski apologists, Applebaum being only one of many, and I wonder if there will be campaigns in the near future to boycott those who support his release.

In college gender studies courses we learn about patriarchy in society, and while that may seem more like rhetoric than actuality, this case is a perfect example of how misogyny is alive and kicking in our world. We need more people like you who can so eloquently speak out against Polanski and his numerous crimes.

With much respect,
Sezin

[Jillian York - Huffpost Blogger]

Thank you Sezin, I appreciate your support.

[MsMassachusetts]

Thank you Jillian for your thoughtful article. I am so glad to see woman coming out and speaking with common sense and directness. If you disregard all the smoke and mirrors erected by his defenders, what you are left with is an unrepentant child rapist who ran away with his tail between his legs. Woman and young girls are so often victims of crimes such as this. How far have we come as a nation if we still "blame the victim" and give the criminal a pass? All those defending him are basically saying "boys will be boys". And I for one am disgusted at Jeff Norman popping up everywhere to say "what's the big deal?"

[clueless JD]

I agree that Jeff Norman seems creepy.

[Jeff Norman - Huffpost Blogger]

Jillian, on what basis did you conclude Polanski was permitted to leave the country because of his fame and suffering? You make that claim at the end of your post, so you must believe it’s a strong and valid point. Care to say how you know?

[Jillian York - Huffpost Blogger]

Jeff, I turn the question back on you: Why is it that Polanski is being defended by all these celebs, but not other child rapists?

[kyria]

How is rape denial any different than Holocaust denial?

[chewie2008]

There isn`t.

But don`t tell the Weinsteins and Applebaums.

[EscapeTireTube]

You see you all got it wrong. Polanski is a great director. He's won Oscars. He is a leftist. Of course all is forgiven.

[ESerafina42]

Not by me it's not.

[JShankel]

What makes him a leftist? What are his economic and political convictions?

[rsrobinson]

I just read the girl's testimony and it's absolutely damning. It's incredible that Applebaum thinks that the phone call to the mother somehow minimizes Polanski's culpability. It does not.

The girl repeatedly said no and asked to be taken home even after he got her drunk and fed her a quaalude. This would've been a "rape-rape" even if the girl had been thirty instead of thirteen.

I don't understand how anyone can read the girl's testimony and not be absolutely disgusted with Polanski.

[SethBLiNK]

"Polanski has paid for his crime of raping a 13-year-old girl "in notoriety, lawyers' fees, in professional stigma. He could not return to Los Angeles to receive his recent Oscar. He cannot visit Hollywood to direct or cast a film."

How exactly has he paid. He did not go into hiding. He went to France. There, he lived well, enjoyed his wealth and fame, and he took up with 15-year old Nastasia Kinski (I think 15 is legal in France).

Within a couple of years, he was making a sprawling epic film "Tess" (with Kinski) for which he was nominated for an Academy Award. It's three years after the crime, the victim is still only 16 and the movie industry is forgiving enough as to let him direct a movie (with his teenage lover) and to nominate him for an Oscar.

He's lived a wonderful life since then. I've seen photos of his villa in Gstaad. He married a beautiful 23 year old in the late 80s, to whom he remains married today. He directed other movies and and won an Oscar for The Pianist just a few years ago.

The only restriction is that he couldn't come to America, which is understandable considering that he had confessed to rape and fled the country before sentencing.

He committed the crime 32 years ago, and he would be out of prison 31 years and free to travel anywhere had he just served his sentence.

[PatA]

If Polanski raped my 13 year old daughter, he would have one furious mother on his hands ASAP.
I am thrilled that he has been arrested!

[alysheba 3]

If I had a 13 year old daughter and she was raped by ANYONE, that person would be better off with the entire prison population then me, no protective custody. And that would only be if I didn't reach them first.

Spoken as one who was drugged and raped at 16.

[writerjohnny]

I think there are four groups who have been inclined to show support for Polanski. The first, the smallest percentage, is genuinely confused because of an ability to over empathize with both sides. The second, still a small percentage, has had thoughts and in some cases actions that might qualify them for the disdain we are showing for Polanski. The third, we'll call them pedophiles, have actually broken the law in this area and want leniency when they are caught. And the fourth, the largest and most distressing of the four groups, is the group that has experienced directly or at close hand a form of child sexual abuse. To prosecute and diminish Polanski will serve to diminish themselves or loved ones who were made powerless and had important parts of their humanity ripped from them by a selfish adult. A selfish and disturbed adult who was probably a trusted member of their family or close family friend. And to admit this openly is to travel to the darkness and horror of rampant child sexual abuse throughout the entire world. And that is a place that most of us are just not ready to visit. Not for a day. Not for a minute. But it's out there. It's the big dark hole in humanity that can only be filled with truth. Horrible, painful, shocking, look-in-the-mirror truth. The secrets and lies regarding the abuse of children everywhere is the black hole in the heart of humanity.

[jmklein]

s1mon,

You must read the victim's uncontested testimony. Polanski fled the country because of these words. Warning: it is extremely graphic:

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/polanskicover1.html

[akw]

Nice article, Ms. York! Thank you for trying to "reground" the discussion.