Leave it to the Swiss to provide the headlining act to our opening act. Switzerland, afterall, is much like Obamerica would look. Just last week I wrote about the stunning decision by Eric Holder, aka Barack Obama, to dismiss all charges against members of the Black Panthers who had intimidated voters at a local polling place, brandishing night sticks and encouraging folks to “kill crackers”. Another example of New World Justice which is doled out in many different forms, depending on your race and social standing. Now, Switzerland, a gorgeous country which I have visited, skied in their Alps, ate their cheese, reveals their true political colors by releasing child rapist Roman Polanski.
Oh…what a long and winding road the Polanski story has been. Protected by the Hollywood elite after committing the crime, decades ago, of raping a thirteen year-old girl after plying her with alcohol and Quaaludes during a “photo shoot”. Naturally, because he is a talented guy, he needed, apparently, to be allowed some sort of artistic license. C’mon…she’s thirteen, it’s not like she’s a kid!
Except…she is a kid. Or was. It is fair to question what sort of parental malfunction occurred that results in a girl that age being at Jack Nicholson’s house with Roman Polanski for a photo shoot. At the end of the day, however, she is very much a minor and despite what Whoopie Goldberg may say, rape is rape. Were it you or I with a camera, pills and alcohol, we would probably just be finishing up our sentences. Or maybe not.
Look, it’s no surprise that Switzerland let Polanski go free. That was any easy guess when they brought him in months ago. Let the story get off the front page, wait a day or two more for another mind altering story to emanate from the United States, and then let him go in the middle of that dust cloud. Remember, too, that Switzerland is the poster boy for European culture, particularly when it comes to sexuality. Travelling there when I was a young boy, I took an unhealthy fascination with their news stands, as I remember. Let’s just say that the Saturday Evening Post took on a whole new meaning at the Swiss magazine racks.
The reason though, that I wonder if you and I would just be hanging up our prison jumpsuits today, is that there is more to this story than Polanski and Switzerland. It is the omnipresent blind eye that we continue to cast, as a culture, on sex crimes against children. Had Polanski beaten the girl with a baseball bat, but not sexually assaulted her, there would be more outcry.
Even violent rapes against adult women, horrendous as they are in their own right, generally garner more press coverage and social outrage then the same crime against a child. This baffles me.
Despite the strengthening of laws that deal with child predators, in nearly every state across the country (thanks in large part to Bill O’Reilly), the sexual exploitation of our children continues to grown like a cancer in this country. Child pornography on the internet is an established business and that fact doesn’t seem to bother too many people. Try distributing a video of someone clubbing a baby seal or a Dachshund, though, and see how quickly your phone starts ringing. When was the last time you heard a politician mention this horrific scourge on our national character?
So maybe Switzerland knew that the Polanski thing would only show up beneath the fold, if at all. America is busy, afterall, suing themselves and looking for a ShamWow large enough to cover the Gulf of Mexico. They just let two Black Panthers off the hook, and in Massachusetts a four year old girl was violently raped by an illegal immigrant. America is not even watching it’s borders, much less worrying about an aging and irrelevant Hollywood icon living off of past achievements and notoriety.
Switzerland was right. Polanski is free and barely anyone blinked. And like their cheese, we may soon find ourselves so full of holes that we…America…become unrecognizable.
www.beantowncomedy.com for details.”
Tags: Roman Polanski, Swiss Polanski
What exactly is the premise of this blog? Is it an excuse to bash Obama? (Obamamerica) Is it an excuse to race bait? (somehow Obama and his black AG dismissing charges against two Black Panthers equates to the Swiss releasing Polanksi? Did the Swiss dismiss charges against Polanski? No? Well how could they?)
Or is it because the Swiss no longer detained Polanski, that equates to all of us being tolerant of child abuse? So, therefore it is an excuse to bash Switzerland, Europe’s “poster boy” of sexuality?
When I think of Switzerland, I think leiderhousen, yodeling and chalets. If they were assigned as an immaginary European “poster child” of anything, what comes to my mind is banks holding/hiding tons and tons of money. Yet you accuse the Swiss of releasing Polanski becuase of your assessment they are a country associated with “sexuality”.
The French? Now they are, in my mind, a much better example of a European country associated with sexuality. But I’m digressing…….sexuality has nothing to do with child rape/abuse. Sexuality is not synonmous with perversion, sickness or anything associated with children.
My comments in no way should be misconstrued as being a Polanski sympathizer. I remember when the original crime happened, and over the years had forgotten about it. The initial crime had lost some of it’s outrage on me….maybe tempered by time? Maybe my respect for Polanski brilliance? I don’t know. However it didn’t take long for me to snap back into the sickness of Polanski’s crime.
That being said, I still do not get the premise of this blog. It has little to do with the title, “Roman”, and lots to do with everything but.
“Had Polanski beaten the girl with a baseball bat, but not sexually assaulted her, there would be more outcry.”
absolutely, and dollyhaze must be a member of N.O.W. (-;
I’ve read the column and it doesn’t seem that confusing to me. I am not bashing Obama personally, he seems like a nice guy. He’s a lousy President, though, in my opinion. And it would be hard for anyone to argue that he and his administration have not united the country, but instead used race to further divide it. Cambridge Police. Black Panthers. Arizona.
As far as Switzerland goes, I love it there. And you are right, France would be a better poster child. Still, the point of the article is simple. The Swiss let Polanski go free. He should have been extradited to finally account for raping a child. Like others who commented on this blog in other places, you offer no opinion of your own on the base question that the column asks….Have we, as a worldwide society, become essentially accepting of children being sexually abused and exploited by adults for profit or otherwise? My opinion is, generally, yes. I think our inaction and silence bears that out.
Finally…the title “Roman”, might be considered in terms beyond Polanskis first name. It also references a culture that crumbled under similar excesses.
Thanks for taking the time to read and comment.
In response to your question, no, I do not think we here in the US have become essentially accepting of children being sexually abused for profit or otherwise. Nor do I agree with your statement of inaction and silence on this. Does it have to be on the front page of the nespaper every day? What do you suggest?
Now as a “worldwide society”? I can not comment. I do not know enough about the societies of other countries to form an opinion. However the Swiss releasing Polanski does not, in any way, indicate their stance on child abuse. There are extradition laws and they differ from country to country. The fact that the Swiss held him for as long as they did indicates to me that they were working with our government, contrary to your opinion that they were just waiting for the dust to settle, and quietly let him slip out. Polanski being released was NEVER going to go unnoticed.
…it practically did. Anyway, thanks for reading. I will maintain my stance that a country, ours, that allows a 30 billion dollar per year business to thrive on the internet, must not be too worried about it. What do I suggest? More people writing to representatives and an occasional letter to the editor would be a good place to start. Do I want it on the front page? No, I’d rather work towards living in a world where those types of news stories don’t exist.
Dollyhaze,
Although I disagree with much of your perspective, when I step back a little bit I can see that you have given a lot of thought to this multifaceted issue, particularly the way in which it is framed in this weeks blog. You have been both thoughtful and express yourself in dissent on a very hot topic with a level of civility that seems to be disappearing on both sides of every issue in the public discourse these days.
The extent of the polarization taking place in this country is unfortunate but something we all have to deal with. However, the level of incivility that appears to be getting worse with each passing week is something that I think we all should be very concerned about, no matter which side of an issue you may be on.
That being said, to answer the question that you put forward, “should the crime of children being sexually abused be on the front page of the nespaper every day?” ………. I say unequivocally and emphatically YES. These are atrocities against children that go on daily in our midst, while most people remain in and ignorant stupor with regard to this issue.
Maybe because I’ve had experience working with the victim’s of such atrocities and seen firsthand the abject devastation on the mind, body, and soul of the victim throughout their childhood and throughout their adult lives. One case that haunts me is a deeply troubled adult woman recounting her story of how her father raped her daily for years. Tied her up and raped her orally, vaginally, and anally. He would beat her and when he was done he would insert his penis into her mouth and urinate in her mouth and force her to swallow his urine. So she struggled to swallow his urine and her own vomit. On some nights she would consider herself fortunate to not be raped vaginally and anally and “just have to swallow his urine.” When you sit with such a victim and hear in person her recount these atrocities you begin to wonder if there aren’t some things worse than death. Yet here I had this grown woman before me, despite several suicide attempts, struggling to live with some hope of attaining some peace of mind. Absolutely remarkable. I’ve never looked at this issue quite the same after working with this survivor and many others. Frankly, I do not have the emotional constitution to deal with such cases on an ongoing basis. However, to the point that I want to make. If anybody thinks that Karl has not hit the nail on the head in terms of the malaise surrounding and tolerance of the sexual abuse of children then, in my opinion, they are in desperate need of the facts that either (1)elude them or, what is usually the case,(2) the facts that they choose to look away from because they are just so so very awful.
This weeks blog was not about the Swiss or Obama or the Black Panthers, etc. It was about what he said it was about in his reply……… that the silence around this issue is deafening and society has either become accepting or has chosen to look away from the awful truth of the sexual abuse of children..
(FYI……it may be hard to imagine, but I left the worst details out.)
Jimbo,
Thanks, as always, for a fair response. You explained better than I could exactly what I was trying to get at in this column. Thank you also for having the courage and honesty to discuss the very unpleasant realty of what occurs in some of these situations. I remember speaking with former Atty. Gen. Kelly Ayotte on my radio show, and her telling me that the most dicfficult part of her job was, when prosecuting child sex cases, having to see video, pictures, and read accounts of the horrific graphic details that are involved in these cases. She remarked that if every American were encouraged to, just for a moment, view that actual crimes we are talking about here, that a major sea change might occur in how we view this as a country. Though I have never known you had worked with victims, I am not surpirsed, because I pegged you early on as a very caring and concerned individual. Bless you for facing what must be incredibly difficult, in an effort to help such people recover from years of terrorism.
Jimbo from Woburn,
Thanks for your thoughtful respose as well. Your detailed account and personal experience explains your passion on this issue.
My critique on the blog was two-fold. An issue, any issue that is a hot-bed and highly emotional topic does not need to be muddied down with superflous and unrelated points.
If the premise of the blog is to drive the point that the author feels we have become desensitized to child abuse- then that is what should be written and clearly stated.
Bringing Obama, the Black Panhters, Switzerland (categorized as the Europen poster child for sexuality) and taking the stand that this is a “worldwide” laisse-faire attitude adds nothing in getting one’s point across. Even if used as somehow meant to be satirical or humorous, there are topics where the facts will speak for themselves. Race, politics, etc. do not, should not, be part of the discussion.
My second point is reiterated that everyone has their own personal issues which they feel strongly and passionate about. While you focus on child abuse and are passionate about it, I might be passionate about the families of the victimes of Iraq/Afghanistan. Could I say as a country we don’t do enough for the victims and their families? Yes. Do I blame others who don’t share my passion for this issue? No. We all have our own crosses to bear, and we all have issues and opinions that are closer to our hearts than others. If we are not wearing a particular issue on oue sleeves, it does not mean we are desensitized or ambivelant about it? What do we need to do, bang the drum 24/7?
Again, thanks for your thoughful feedback.
Dollyhaze
Dollyhaze:
“Race, politics, etc. do not, should not, be part of the discussion.”
While I would agree with this statement don’t you think the left has made this an issue? I can’t tell you how many times I have been called a racist because I do not agree with a lot of the decisions this administration has made.
While Obama does not cry racism himself a lot of his supporters do. Just watch MSNBC in the evening and it is astounding how many times they say the tea party or the conservatives are racist for their opposing views.
Jimbo:
I think your passion for bringing this subject front and center is very important because you speak for people who often can’t speak for themselves. The more pressure put on the DA’s and the judges to stop letting the perps go or giving lite sentences the safer we will be.
Dollyhaze,
Again I want to emphasize how much I appreciate your civil approach to this difficult topic. ….You pose the following civil question to which I will provide a civil answer:
“What do we need to do, bang the drum 24/7?”
Yes
Karl,
Thanks for the feedback, however the real heroes are over at http://www.communityvoices.net/ ……with their multiple courageous affiliates. ….They have a much stronger emotional fortitude than I.
Back to your column and your replies…..You start big, on a global level, incorporating national issues….but your reply clearly indicates that all you wish for is that maybe a few more people would pay attention and maybe make a phonecall to their elected representatives to make their concerns known. …..And you know yourself that getting somebody to make a phonecall regarding this issue is a stunningly difficult task.
You made your hope/wish simple and crystal clear……..a phone call…..yet your request is compared to:“What do we need to do, bang the drum 24/7?”
That response, in my opinion, is just a reflection of a natural human defense to avoid acknowledging and dealing with the atrocities in their midst…..Is there a difference between making a 5 minute phone call and banging a drum 24/7?…………….c’mon……..
Dollyhaze,
In thinking about your following comment…..
“everyone has their own personal issues which they feel strongly and passionate about.”
I can only think of the following question: Isn’t the sexual assault of children and the destruction of their minds, bodies, and souls EVERYBODY’S “personal” issue?
OR do you think I’ve somehow inflated it’s importance so that it is a “personal issue” that is unique to people such as myself?
(that’s a sincere question that I hope you’ll answer in the same spirit of sincerity.)
That being said I’ve commented on civility, which I’ve fallen short of in the past,and have learned from my experience that everybody has their limits before they feel the temptation to strike out into incivility. I’ve learned that this impulse is human(especially online) and the key is to know yourself and recognize when you are at the point where you feel like crossing that line.With regard to this issue I recognize that I’m at that point and cannot continue this discussion in a productive manner…So, I’ll see you all next week. Have a good week.
http://www.patriotledger.com/highlight/x1070618675/Some-experts-say-registries-and-restrictions-not-enough-to-stop-some-sex-offenders
Jimbo, don’t lose your passion, the kids are depending on you.
Bogey,
I’ll never lose my passion…..as you wouldn’t.
I’ve just become more realistic with regard to what I can and cannot do. …When one makes that distinction they become more effective in productively employing what energy they have.
Getting stuck on frustration and anger and then striking at those who turn away from this issue, I’ve found to be unproductive.
AND KUDOS TO YOU! …Thanks for the link …..Boy are you plugged into this issue and news in general before it gets widespread coverage. …..I’m going to start calling you the “Matt Drudge of KFNH.”
I am honored (-;
Bogey thanks… I had more time to read the comment section after that article. Sometimes I get so depressed thinking that few care, and I read all 46 comments.
My favorites:
(1)distorta2 6 days ago
“That’s because they can’t be cured. You need to either imprison them for their entire lives, kill them, or castrate them and cut off their hands. ”
(2)”Nothing like finding a convicted sex offender in your 6 y.o daughter’s bed. Unfortunately, if the father had extracted true justice he would be the one sitting in prison. Is the loophole closed yet on registration or are the hacks too busy voting on Big Papi Day or honoring Ted w/ a statue overlooking Hyannis Port?
”
(3)Aussiesalways 5 days ago
Agree, they can not be cured, they will re-offend no matter what laws are in place. Prison for life or kill them.
(4)mad dog 5 days ago
try a s&w .357, works for me
IT LOOKS LIKE I’M IN GOOD COMPANY!
How can you watch someone, who you love so dearly and are powerless to help, destroy themselves day after day?
I could not Jimbo, if it’s your brother I am so sorry. I know you had such hopes.
anyone who know me…..especially among my friends here….knows…my response to people caught abusing children would be ROMAN like….but when you step back from it….you have to realize that these are very disturbed persons commiting these acts…..I mean lets use jimbo’s example….a father urinating in his daughters mouth…..I don’t think that people would accept that no matter what their political leanings are….and so much of this behavior seems to be compulsive….I don’t know what causes the judicial system to turn a half blind eye to some of these cases….but ask overall are we as a people any better…than our judicial system…..
an example…..I, like karl and jimbo share the same distaste for the abuse of children….but so do most people….but yet all over America on every weekend are flea markets selling knock off merchandise that has been produced by abusive child labor alll over the world….and we as amricans eat this merchandise up…..and never pay atten tin to where it comes from…I read an article where four years old were forced to assemble watches for 12-14 hours in horrendous environments…..only because of the size of their fingers which made them so adaptable to do this kind of work…..alll over the world children are abused…..and the sex trade among children and teens is pandemic…..and yet we only awaken when the brutality is a shock to the system…..
I believe that stories such as jimbo’s are the by product of emotional and mental instability…I do not believe these people intend this behavior….but are compulsed to practice it….that is a far cry from people who overwhelmingly avail themselves of child prostitutes and merchandise knock offs of gucci…….these are the people who should face the wrath of court systems…..the mentally ill should be treated and unfortunately put away….if they cannot overcome their behavior…..
forgive me the the typos…my eyes aren’t what they used to be…..
as difficult as it would be for me to control my temper if I did in fact catch someone in the act…you have to Remember…..that most peole agree that this behavior is compulsive,uncontrollable…..and when you advocate killing someone for something they cannot help or control….your on a slipperry slope of using this to rememdy almost any situation in civilization…..I totally agree with placing these people away where they can do no harm….but stop at killing them….the human brain is an incredible piece of tissue…..its complexity….its chemical make up…..that drives these compulsions is what needs to be focused on….so that cures…..and by that I mean substantial cures can be achieved…..look at the constant need of this behavior…..to act out this crime….and the fact that it is one area where almost everyone is in agreement with how hard this behavior is to control….that is the monster here,and maybe not so much the person involved in it…..
Joey…thanks for writing and hope all is well. I agree that the forced labor of children is also an afront to the world community. If elderly people were being forced to do that there would be an outcry from every corner. I’m not so quick to dismiss those who sexually abuse children as being simply unstable or needing help. I agree it is compulsive behavior, but so is murder and road rage. If, as a society, we continue to let all of these things go unanswered then what we will have is social chaos. We will all be “Roman” at that point. There is a reason that even monkeys figured out that the tribe needs rules. Rules work. There is a reason that as humans we feel guilt. You feel guilt when you have done something that you know is wrong. Guilt doesn’t feel good and so it becomes a deterrent towards doing it again. Nature works.
Jimbo..I am so sorry for your ongoing struggle with your loved one. Though I don’t know the details, I can relate. I have an 18 year old neighbor whose father was a very close friend of mine and died at age 41 from a brain tumour. I’ve known both his sons since they were born and him and his wife were childhood friends. His wife did the best she could working and keeping the home, but the younger son got hooked on Oxycontin. I was glad to hear Jay Severin last week talk about the scourge of prescription medication addiction in this country. I tried everything I could with this kid, took him under my wing, had some rough moments, too, because they live right next door to us. His treatment of his mother was beyond belief and I finally intervened, at her request, and made it clear that it wasn’t going to happen anymore. We tried to get him into treatment which is near impossible until you endanger yourself or someone else. He is doing better, but it is still an uphill bettle. The myriad of substances that is available to our young people with which to ruin their lives is beyond belief and nobody is talking about it.
Best of luck and don’t be too hard on yourself. I have seen firsthand how futile this fight can be. The drug holds the upper hand.
Bogey, Karl, and Joey..thanks for the kind words.
I came up with this saying a few hours after that post:
“Any determined man who believes in himself can move a mountain. But that same man cannot make another man move a rock.”
I’m working on accepting this fact…………
Joey,
If one were to stipulate and agree with your thesis about a compulsive illness that inflicts horrors on children……….Is there any excuse for society to look away, as they chronically do, and not ACT to permanently separate such individuals from reoffending to the average number of 92 children over the course of their lifetime.
NINETY TWO brutalized children for each pedophile. ….And some balk at their PERMANENT separation.
I don’t care if one designates them as “mentally ill” or “pure evil”…that’s academic semantics to me……..so long as they are PERMANENTLY SEPARATED after raping 20 kids…..THEN the next 72 kids will be spared.
The BRUTAL TRUTH is that citizens and their elected representatives don’t DEMAND such permanent separation……….It is a disgrace………….
jimbo….what i simply meant was that most people tend to agree that this attraction to children is something the individual is not able to control….I for one….would secure a pedophile in a facility where he could do no harm ever again….if the medical community agrees this is compulsive and not learned behavior….then we should secure these people so they could never re-offend…since it would seem to me to be almost instinctual…..maybe there is nothing these people could do to control these urges…..that doesn’t let the guy off the hook for me….but just allows me a little lead way to not simply kill him if we agree that it is an impossible act to control…..we are after all not barbarians and even though guys like myself you and karl would love to kill these people in the moment….we all believe that justice should be done….the problem is we don’t provide the victim with the proper justice…we instead favor the perpetrator…..I think that is where guys like karl,you and I have our problem….the unfair administration of what is needed to be done with these folks….but jimbo make no mistake….if I knew the guy was going to hurt a child…..I wouldn’t wait a second for justice to give him my own brand of justice…..
jimbo…on your moving a mountain quote….out here in las vegas….talk radio is a little tough…. get miller for free at night….and sometimes here karl on there…and thats always a moment for me…..jerry doyle in the daytime….and much of the rest really stinks….due to the mountains which surround me….I can not get much stuff non fm at night….so on the way home from the pizza place….i sometime listen to roy masters….who can be a little wierd….but his faith and self determination makes him at least listenable for me….and then there’s joy brown who made me realize something along the same lines….my anger seemed to come from not being able to accept or change other people’s opinion….she made me realize that i had to change my attitude about that….and to overlook that kind of stuff..in other words…I cannot change others behavior…..I can only accept them as they are….and try to overlook what i find objectionable….beleive me it has made me a lot calmer….I can watch the news now….and not become agitated….simply because of that little fact….my television screen is so happy now….
Joey,
That’s a great upgrade in attitude/quality of life……..the acceptance you’ve obtained.
I will never face a tougher challenge in my life than to powerlesssly watch and accept the complete self-destruction of a loved one. The courts will do nothing and I would have to kidnap him.(which obviously is not a workable solution)
So I’m left with watching, accepting, and waiting for that phone call.