# Fornicate the French, Fornicate the Polanski supporters. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 28, 2009, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fornicate-the-french-fornicate-the-polanski-supporters/511883 "2009-09-28T19:38:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Michael\_Ellis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fornicate-the-french-fornicate-the-polanski-supporters/511883/61 "2009-09-29T13:11:02Z")
> [@ArchiveGuy](#): > > [Some people certainly think so](http://www.newser.com/off-the-grid/post/285/why-nab-roman-polanski-now-revenge.html): Oh dear, a blogger said something. Cancel everything boys, some random asshole on the internet has spoken! ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fornicate-the-french-fornicate-the-polanski-supporters/511883/62 "2009-09-29T13:25:52Z")
> [@Michael\_Ellis](#): > > Oh dear, a blogger said something. Cancel everything boys, some random asshole on the internet has spoken! You’re right. The edifying wisdom of a drive-by irrelevancy by some random asshole is far more preferable. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fornicate-the-french-fornicate-the-polanski-supporters/511883/63 "2009-09-29T13:40:54Z")
> [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](#): > > I am only pointing out how culturally advanced the Europeans are to us poor Americans. Just ask them. Some dipshit Euros think they are culturally advanced and some dipshit Americans listen to them and are so fucking stupid as to take them seriously. You stupid dipshit. People from all over rape children. They should be dealt with by the law. It seems after a long period Polanski will have to face the court again. He may even get off. That’s what courts are for. I say let them do there thing and we’ll argue about the outcome when it happens. ---
**Author:** ![MichaelQReilly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@MichaelQReilly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelQReilly)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fornicate-the-french-fornicate-the-polanski-supporters/511883/64 "2009-09-29T13:41:20Z")
Somebody help me understand the French point of view on this one. I think it was a _Guardian_ or a _Washington Post_ article that said something like (I can’t find the article right now): “The French celebrated Polanski and saw it as an opportunity to thumb their noses at puritanical Americans.” Huh? I don’t get it. It’s not like he had consensual sex with a barely underage girl. He forcibly raped a girl (anally) who was barely even a teenager. Then, when it became clear that he might actually be punished for what he did, he ran like a bitch. What does being puritanical have to do with any of it? Somebody explain the French though process here to me. Because to this guy (who has no animus toward France) it seems like the French are being asses here just for the pleasure of thumbing their nose at the U.S. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fornicate-the-french-fornicate-the-polanski-supporters/511883/65 "2009-09-29T13:51:23Z")
It seems lots of people celebrated Polanski. Check out all the famous people willing to give him a standing ovation at the oscars. [http://www.narbosa.com/2009/09/hollywood-giving-standing-ovation-to.html](http://www.narbosa.com/2009/09/hollywood-giving-standing-ovation-to.html) As to why the French didn’t send him back to the States I don’t have a clue but it seems that the average Joe Frenchy may not be as happy about this as many in this thread seem to think they are > [@](#): > > Polanski, who has dual French and Polish nationality, has long been protected by France’s refusal to extradite its citizens. But there’s more to it than that: France’s indulgence toward artists has played into sympathy for him among the country’s elites, as has the French distaste for peering into public figures’ private lives. > > Few, if any, prominent figures came out publicly against Polanski, but there were signs that many ordinary French people disagreed with the government’s position. > > Many newspaper readers responded with angry comments on the newspapers’ Web sites lashing out at France’s government and cultural leaders. One comment in Le Figaro read: “Our so-called intelligentsia lacks modesty, restraint and impartiality when one of its own has behaved badly.” [http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090929/ap\_on\_re\_eu/eu\_france\_protecting\_polanski;\_ylt=AhutX.cmr3AUQr9y26eQrEZ0fNdF](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090929/ap_on_re_eu/eu_france_protecting_polanski;_ylt=AhutX.cmr3AUQr9y26eQrEZ0fNdF) ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fornicate-the-french-fornicate-the-polanski-supporters/511883/66 "2009-09-29T13:52:42Z")
> [@yojimbo](#): > > Some dipshit Euros think they are culturally advanced and some dipshit Americans listen to them and are so fucking stupid as to take them seriously. You stupid dipshit. I’m sorry, but **Paul in Qatar** is absolutely right on his points. Prisoners in the US tend to eat with sporks, and in French prisons, I hear the incarcerated eat with a fork in their left hand, cut with their right, and don’t do that stupid “cut your meat with your right and then switch the fork to the right hand to spear it and shovel it in your mouth” thing that so many prole Americans do. If you can’t deal with the French being more civilized than us, then go back to eating your freedom fries, you barbaric ogre. (I bet Roman Polanski would love some freedom fries right now.) ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fornicate-the-french-fornicate-the-polanski-supporters/511883/67 "2009-09-29T13:57:25Z")
Heh. You’re not helping **Ravenman** Now excuse me while I drink my tea from a china cup with my little finger extended out. ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fornicate-the-french-fornicate-the-polanski-supporters/511883/68 "2009-09-29T14:02:04Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > In your opinion. Obviously in my opinion. But the fact that you think a crappy life excuses the rape of a thirteen year old surprises me. > [@](#): > > Does this give him carte blanche for the rest of his life? Of course not and I’ve never claimed it did. No, just that it gives him carte blanche to rape a 13 year old, so long it it occurred IYO within a reasonable time of a horrific event, and so long that as he had PTSD, was on drugs, or didn’t understand right and wrong. Even though there’s absolutely no evidence for the first and third of those, and even though we don’t excuse rape on the basis of the second for anyone else. > [@](#): > > Is it not conceivable that this man- who never did anything like this before to anyone’s knowledge and who has never done anything like it since- was crazed? Dunno. But if he believed he was crazed and could mount a reasonable defense on that basis, he could have done so. He didn’t. He PLED GUILTY. To RAPE. Of a 13 YEAR OLD. So your points about time passed, the vicitim’s wishes, the cost of seeing the case through, the deterrent value being nil – all of those are completely valid. Your point about what a terrible life the guy has, as if that excuses his behavior, is a steaming pile of pure horseshit. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fornicate-the-french-fornicate-the-polanski-supporters/511883/69 "2009-09-29T14:02:47Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > The guy who killed Polanski’s mother at Auschwitz-Bierkenau for one.? Oh stuff it up your ass you douchebag. I’m appalled that you’re defending child-rape. My dad is a holocaust survivor, saw the bulk of his family disappeared into various camps and personally went through all sorts of shit as a German speaking immigrant to the USA right after World War II. Not just his mommy, _him personally_. And yet, he’s never drugged and anally raped a little girl like the animal you’re trying to defend. So don’t give me that shit that “Wahh. His mommy was killed in the Holocaust and bad things happened to him so he couldn’t help it.” Most people who survived _didn’t_ become child-drugging rapists. I don’t know why you’ve got so much sand in your vagina about defending this asshole, but seriously–this is like the 3d time you’ve brought up the “His mommy was killed in the Holocaust so it only stands to reason…” crap and really, you should stop before you look like an even bigger shit-stain than you already do. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fornicate-the-french-fornicate-the-polanski-supporters/511883/70 "2009-09-29T14:08:43Z")
He is rich and famous. That means the normal laws do not apply. He paid her off. All is well. You people are advocating a disruption of the system. It is not a fair and equitable system. He had the money and paid great lawyers to get him off. It was a agreed to. Then a rogue judge went against the agreement. That is not permitted. Now he has to waste a lot of money buying justice again. It is not fair. ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fornicate-the-french-fornicate-the-polanski-supporters/511883/71 "2009-09-29T14:08:56Z")
And to clarify before someone does it for me: Yes, I know he pled guilty to having sex with an underage minor, but there is no question but that the sex was unconsensual. That’s rape under any definition. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fornicate-the-french-fornicate-the-polanski-supporters/511883/72 "2009-09-29T14:20:51Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > He paid her off. Is there any evidence for this? ---
**Author:** ![Twisty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7ab992/32.png) [@Twisty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Twisty)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fornicate-the-french-fornicate-the-polanski-supporters/511883/73 "2009-09-29T14:25:00Z")
the judges ruling was that he serve 45 days incarceration for the purposes of a psychoevaluation and then return to court for sentencing. He did not do this. He instead ran to France. He’s now going to return to the US to face the music for both his rape and his flight from justice. Even if it’s only for 4 years, he deserves to go down. ---
**Author:** ![PrettyVacant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/49beb7/32.png) [@PrettyVacant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PrettyVacant)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fornicate-the-french-fornicate-the-polanski-supporters/511883/74 "2009-09-29T14:28:52Z")
Slightly unfortunate final phrase. ---
**Author:** ![toofs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4491bb/32.png) [@toofs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toofs)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fornicate-the-french-fornicate-the-polanski-supporters/511883/75 "2009-09-29T14:51:09Z")
If things were reversed, with an academy award winning American director who while in France deflowered the ass of a thriteen year old girl, would we see the same supportive attitudes? I hope he ends up in the joint in Soledad or Folsom. I have friends who work there, and they’ve told me what happens to child abusers. ---
**Author:** ![PrettyVacant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/49beb7/32.png) [@PrettyVacant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PrettyVacant)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fornicate-the-french-fornicate-the-polanski-supporters/511883/76 "2009-09-29T15:15:18Z")
Ya mean they get to push the library cart ??? ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fornicate-the-french-fornicate-the-polanski-supporters/511883/77 "2009-09-29T15:17:05Z")
> [@villa](#): > > [QUOTE=gonzomax] > > He paid her off. Is there any evidence for this? [/QUOTE] It’s been mentioned in several of the articles that she sued him and settled for an undisclosed amount. For example, see this [CBS article](http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/09/28/entertainment/main5345713.shtml): > [@](#): > > His victim, Samantha Geimer, who long ago identified herself publicly, sued Polanski and reached an undisclosed settlement. Same M.O. as Michael Jackson. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Kumquat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gary\_Kumquat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Kumquat)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fornicate-the-french-fornicate-the-polanski-supporters/511883/78 "2009-09-29T15:24:14Z")
> [@Twisty](#): > > Even if it’s only for 4 years, he deserves to go down. Yup I can understand why the OP feels obliged to blame the French, even though I think you’d find most French people would happily see Polanski deported to face judgement. Quite how Paul in Qatar extends that to critics Europeans in general is beyond me. In the UK, he’d have been booted out at the drop of a hat, with the tabloids tripping over themselves to vent greater and greater spleen at him. ---
**Author:** ![PrettyVacant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/49beb7/32.png) [@PrettyVacant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PrettyVacant)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fornicate-the-french-fornicate-the-polanski-supporters/511883/79 "2009-09-29T15:32:39Z")
Well, the UK has always been very odd. Even poor Jerry Lee Lewis was hounded when he brought his 13-year old wife over from the USA. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fornicate-the-french-fornicate-the-polanski-supporters/511883/80 "2009-09-29T15:37:23Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > It’s been mentioned in several of the articles that she sued him and settled for an undisclosed amount. For example, see this [CBS article](http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/09/28/entertainment/main5345713.shtml): > > Same M.O. as Michael Jackson. I’m not sure that counts as ‘paying off.’ After all, there was a criminal case, and he did plead guilty. He got sued. Settling in that situation makes a lot more sense than going to trial. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fornicate-the-french-fornicate-the-polanski-supporters/511883.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fornicate-the-french-fornicate-the-polanski-supporters/511883.md?page=5)