2009/09/30 Amsterdam
Les People
Hostile
‘Marie-Louise Fort, a French lawmaker in the Assembly who has sponsored anti-incest legislation, said in an interview that she was shocked that Mr. Polanski was attracting support from the political and artistic elite. “I don’t believe that public opinion is spontaneously supporting Mr. Polanski at all,” she said. “I believe that there is a distinction between the mediagenic class of artists and ordinary citizens that have a vision that is more simple.”
The mood was even more hostile in blogs and e-mails to newspapers and news magazines. Of the 30,000 participants in an online poll by the French daily Le Figaro, more than 70 percent said Mr. Polanski, 76, should face justice. And in the magazine Le Point, more than 400 letter writers were almost universal in their disdain for Mr. Polanski.
That contempt was not only directed at Mr. Polanski, but at the French class of celebrities — nicknamed Les People — who are part of Mr. Polanski’s rarefied Parisian world. Letter writers to Le Point scorned Les People as the “crypto-intelligentsia of our country” who deliver “eloquent phrases that defy common sense,”’ write Doreen Carvajal and Michael Cieply in today’s Herald Tribune.
I don’t make light of assaulting a young girl, and I don’t believe that artists should be treated as gods, but sometimes “common sense” is just a fig leaf for revenge and class warfare.
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22 comments 
I can't help feeling that Roman Polanski is being crucified for American society's sins. After all America is a society that constantly celebrates youthful sexuality and supports a huge pornography business. (Ironically, ultra-conservative Utah turns out to be largest per capita consumer of internet pornography.)
Reading through American internet dicussions about the case, I have become convinced that American and European cultures have diverged to the extent that they are no longer reconcilable. Europe is confronted, on the one side, by American puritanism and, on the other side, by Muslim fundamentalism.
Perhaps there are more similarities between Roman Polanski and Jesus of Nazareth than might meet eye at first sight.
Reading through American internet dicussions about the case, I have become convinced that American and European cultures have diverged to the extent that they are no longer reconcilable. Europe is confronted, on the one side, by American puritanism and, on the other side, by Muslim fundamentalism.
Perhaps there are more similarities between Roman Polanski and Jesus of Nazareth than might meet eye at first sight.
Gee Carlos.
that is a provoking theological insight. They both assumed vile man's flesh. The Crypto-Intelligentsia so often assume that things American have not the substance to haunt or the teeth to bite. To and fro and up and down have I had poor luck to wander in my fiery heartland looking to the Wise Ones of Old Lands for a relieviing flood of reason. But the stream is weak. Conceptual prostate problems perhaps? Would Zizek find that an appropriate metaphor?"Common sense" yes, whenever someone uses that word I am very mistrustful.
As soon as a certain offence is punished, the honest common sense- people tend to forget about why a certain act became an offence or if it should be "an offence" at all. They only care that the punishment is carried out. "Everyone equal for the law" and all that. Violence was taken from their hands, all that they have left is being a spectator of the legitimised legal violence, which they off course cherish as "justice".
Carlos
I beg you, don't rely on internet discussions.This is not a matter of common sense, fig leaves or American puritanism. It is what it seems to be: a matter of justice. The man confessed to a crime and he then evaded justice. Now he is being called to account after all.
Dries, you say: " "Everyone equal before the law"and all that". What do you mean, "...and all that"? Are you suggesting we abolish criminal law and return to the good old days of class justice?
a European crypto-intellectual
PS to Dutch readers I recommend: http://weblogs.nrc.nl/dag/2009/09/30/pro-en-contra/
Dries, you say: " "Everyone equal before the law"and all that". What do you mean, "...and all that"? Are you suggesting we abolish criminal law and return to the good old days of class justice?
a European crypto-intellectual
PS to Dutch readers I recommend: http://weblogs.nrc.nl/dag/2009/09/30/pro-en-contra/
Marc
Please, before rushing to quick judgments, watch Marina Zenovich's 2008 documentary "Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired".Period
Polanski fled for judgement for more than thirty years, and than there is no period of limitation for punishment.He bought off the victim (why?), even if he did so he can't compensate likewise with justice in these cases.
Defending Polanski is for Marxists like yesterday's Zizek bourgeois decadence (from Orwell's essay on Dali, his conclusion: investigating a diseased and disgusting act ought to start out from the fact)
Carlos
What does Zenovich put up for his defence?Carlos
I would be interested to see the statistics on internet pornography consumption that you refer to.I'm not sure that American puritanism is a force to reckon with.
bought off? careca dear
i think that the 'victim' was always interested in payment, wasn't she? as i remember the story.. have the prying media refound her?? idk.. it would be intersting to kno how she fared n wot she does.. n how she looks... does anybody kno?? do you careca? marxists are as sick as priests aint they?Oscar
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Business/story?id=6977202&page=1The Religious Right (a coalition sharing essentially puritan beliefs) got Bush Jr. elected. They are definitely a force to be reckoned with.
O Bossa
There is nothing wrong with buying off, but it cant put justice aside when you're caught by the police (it can buy you freedom when things are still private) Is Polanski more guilty when he is converted to catholicism or marxism? Every ideology has tasteful parts: i like marxism when they brand bad behaviour defended by arrogance as bourgeois decadence. (i like bourgeois when they brand marxist conclusions as narrowmindedniss)Careca
The legal proceedings under Judge Rittenband made a mockery of the justice system. This is confirmed by the prosecutor in the case, former Deputy District Attorney Roger Gunson.Natural justice
When you look at this case from the angle of natural justice in my opinion Polanski is punished enough. But people literally want to fight the zeitgeist and are extremist in justice, even in their defence of Polanski (from what i read). Does natural justice have superweapons to fight this extreme rhetoric?Carlos
Thanks for the URL.Are you suggesting that Mr Bush is a puritan because some people who can be described as puritans gave him their vote? Would you characterize Mr Bush's foreign policy as puritan? What exactly is the force of American puritanism that you perceive as acting on Europe?
In my opinion, Polanski wasn't punished at all yet. He escaped his judgement and he bribed the victim of. But what he did was rape, nothing more, nothing less. For that and his attempt to avoid it , he should be put on trial.
Oscar
The question isn't whether George W Bush is "a Puritan", but whether his worldview is strongly influenced by the tenets of Puritan faith. George W Bush is a fervent Baptist. The roots of American Baptist churches go back to the early Puritan settlers.I do not see any contradiction between Bush's foreign policy and his Baptist faith.
But this is not about George W Bush, it is about the Religious Right being essentially a development of Puritanical Calvinism.
Arnon - Has someone started editing your blog entries? The English has improved considerably, which is great.
Carlos
Before we continue this discussion, you may want to consult a dictionary for the meaning of the word "puritan".Oscar
You might too.Carlos
"puritan" (noun). A person with censorious moral beliefs, esp. about pleasure and sex.[ Add comment ]
