# Polanski falls for the old "We'd Like to Give You a Lifetime Achievement Award" Trick!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polanski-falls-for-the-old-wed-like-to-give-you-a-lifetime-achievement-award-trick/511742
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [September 27, 2009, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polanski-falls-for-the-old-wed-like-to-give-you-a-lifetime-achievement-award-trick/511742 "2009-09-27T11:49:45Z")
**Posts on this page:** 19
**Page:** 11
### Author:  [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2009, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polanski-falls-for-the-old-wed-like-to-give-you-a-lifetime-achievement-award-trick/511742/201 "2009-10-02T15:47:30Z")
Unless you have some actual evidence of a “badger game,” I wish you would quit trying to inusinuate it, especially since it would neither mitigate Polanski’s guilt (and Polanski testified in court that he was fully aware of the victim’s age, so what difference does it make if he’s not technically a pedophile?), or make the child any less of a victim.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2009, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polanski-falls-for-the-old-wed-like-to-give-you-a-lifetime-achievement-award-trick/511742/202 "2009-10-02T15:53:30Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#):
>
> Unless you have some actual evidence of a “badger game,” I wish you would quit trying to inusinuate it, especially since it would neither mitigate Polanski’s guilt (and Polanski testified in court that he was fully aware of the victim’s age, so what difference does it make if he’s not technically a pedophile?), or make the child any less of a victim.
I agree. The girl was drugged and raped, and it’s disgusting to hear someone blame her for trying to “trap” somebody three times her age.
Did you read the grand jury testimony, by any chance, **ZPG Zealot**?
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### Author:  [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2009, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polanski-falls-for-the-old-wed-like-to-give-you-a-lifetime-achievement-award-trick/511742/203 "2009-10-02T17:40:19Z")
People lie under oath all the time. Does anyone know if there was medical testing of the girl’s blood to confirm anything?
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2009, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polanski-falls-for-the-old-wed-like-to-give-you-a-lifetime-achievement-award-trick/511742/204 "2009-10-02T17:43:23Z")
> [@ZPG\_Zealot](#):
>
> People lie under oath all the time.
Yes, they do. But if you read it you’d have a better understanding of what he’s accused of doing - and what he admitted he did.
> [@](#):
>
> Does anyone know if there was medical testing of the girl’s blood to confirm anything?
I have no idea how advanced that kind of thing was 30 years ago.
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### Author:  [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2009, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polanski-falls-for-the-old-wed-like-to-give-you-a-lifetime-achievement-award-trick/511742/205 "2009-10-02T17:51:10Z")
A blood test to determine what? Polanski admitted to both the drugging and the sex?
I don’t know what the physical evdience was, but since Polanski pled guilty, what does it matter?
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### Author:  [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2009, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polanski-falls-for-the-old-wed-like-to-give-you-a-lifetime-achievement-award-trick/511742/206 "2009-10-02T17:57:03Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#):
>
> Unless you have some actual evidence of a “badger game,” I wish you would quit trying to inusinuate it, especially since it would neither mitigate Polanski’s guilt (and Polanski testified in court that he was fully aware of the victim’s age, so what difference does it make if he’s not technically a pedophile?), or make the child any less of a victim.
I don’t believe 13 year olds are a) children or b) victims if they consent to sex. And I have known plenty of 13 year old either put up to by ambitious parents or of their own free will who would consent to sex with a rich, famous movie director. However, I do not know any actual rape victims (and I know way too many rape victims) who would be content with $225,000 in a civil suit.
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### Author:  [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2009, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polanski-falls-for-the-old-wed-like-to-give-you-a-lifetime-achievement-award-trick/511742/207 "2009-10-02T17:58:26Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#):
>
> A blood test to determine what? Polanski admitted to both the drugging and the sex?
>
> I don’t know what the physical evdience was, but since Polanski pled guilty, what does it matter?
I take it you’re not very familiar with the court system in America. Sometimes people will plead guilty even if they are innocent if the plea bargain is sweet enough.
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### Author:  [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2009, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polanski-falls-for-the-old-wed-like-to-give-you-a-lifetime-achievement-award-trick/511742/208 "2009-10-02T17:59:50Z")
This 13 year old did not consent to have sex, and meaningful consent from a 13 year old is impossible anyway. Unless you actually have some evidence of something. I wish you would stop trying to slander a child rape victim.
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### Author:  [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2009, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polanski-falls-for-the-old-wed-like-to-give-you-a-lifetime-achievement-award-trick/511742/209 "2009-10-02T18:04:02Z")
> [@ZPG\_Zealot](#):
>
> I take it you’re not very familiar with the court system in America. Sometimes people will plead guilty even if they are innocent if the plea bargain is sweet enough.
The only reason for a rich celebrity to plea bargain is because the prosecution can prove them guilty of something worse.
Polanski has not disputed anything in the victim’s account, as far as I can tell, so why are you?
The suggestion that Polanski was being “set up” by the mom is baseless to begin with, but even if it were true, it wouldn’t _change_ anything. Polanski would still have drugged and raped a child, and the child will still be a _victim_ of rape. being “set up” is not an excuse for rape.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2009, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polanski-falls-for-the-old-wed-like-to-give-you-a-lifetime-achievement-award-trick/511742/210 "2009-10-02T18:07:30Z")
> [@ZPG\_Zealot](#):
>
> I don’t believe 13 year olds are a) children or b) victims if they consent to sex.
You don’t know that she consented to sex. She said at the time that she did not, and has never changed her story. There’s more evidence for her version of the story than there is for yours.
> [@](#):
>
> However, I do not know any actual rape victims (and I know way too many rape victims) who would be content with $225,000 in a civil suit.
How many rape victims do you know who have dealt with this kind of periodic, oddball publicity for 20 years? And what kind of badger trap is it if the victim doesn’t ask for payment until 20 years later and then only seeks a relatively small amount of money?
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### Author:  [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2009, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polanski-falls-for-the-old-wed-like-to-give-you-a-lifetime-achievement-award-trick/511742/211 "2009-10-02T19:17:08Z")
> [@ZPG\_Zealot](#):
>
> I don’t believe 13 year olds are a) children or b) victims if they consent to sex. And I have known plenty of 13 year old either put up to by ambitious parents or of their own free will who would consent to sex with a rich, famous movie director. However, I do not know any actual rape victims (and I know way too many rape victims) who would be content with $225,000 in a civil suit.
Wow. You’re kidding, right?
You think a 13 year-old can consent to sex? Especially with a 40+ year old?
A cursory review of developmental psychology will demonstrate that the parts of the brain that deal with judgment and consequences are not well developed in teens - that doesn’t happen until the late teens or early 20s. There’s also that issue of experience.
13 year olds might hate their parents one day, and love them the next. They might be madly in love with a person they hardly know one minute, and then find them repellant seconds later. Even _mature_ 13 year olds have this issue.
Bottom line, a read of the victim’s testimony makes your assumption moot.
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### Author:  [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2009, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polanski-falls-for-the-old-wed-like-to-give-you-a-lifetime-achievement-award-trick/511742/212 "2009-10-02T19:46:07Z")
> [@ZPG\_Zealot](#):
>
> I don’t believe 13 year olds are a) children or b) victims if they consent to sex.
And you won’t believe them when they say they didn’t consent.
> [@ZPG\_Zealot](#):
>
> However, I do not know any actual rape victims (and I know way too many rape victims) who would be content with $225,000 in a civil suit.
Had she received _more_ money you’d be citing that as further evidence that this was a set-up.
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### Author:  [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2009, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polanski-falls-for-the-old-wed-like-to-give-you-a-lifetime-achievement-award-trick/511742/213 "2009-10-02T21:24:22Z")
**jtgain** said:
> [@](#):
>
> Let’s say his conviction was thrown out. Isn’t “fleeing prosecution” a slam dunk against him?
I’m still waiting for someone to list what charges he would actually face. I’m assuming there is some criminal charge, but don’t know it, I’m just guessing.
\*\*ZPG Zealot \*\* said:
> [@](#):
>
> People lie under oath all the time. Does anyone know if there was medical testing of the girl’s blood to confirm anything?
How would a blood test confirm or discount rape? Or being part of a badger game?
He admitted in court giving her champagne and qualudes. What blood test would be required?
**ZPG Zealot** said:
> [@](#):
>
> I don’t believe 13 year olds are a) children or b) victims if they consent to sex.
There’s this thing called “age of consent”. It’s a legal age that a person can consent to sex and their opinion be held relevant. Below that age, it doesn’t matter if she walked up to him, threw off her clothes, and demanded he ride her like a cowboy in a rodeo.
Now there are grayer areas, such as a 13 year old boy and a 13 year old girl hooking up - both below age of consent, but consentual, for instance. But those gray areas do not apply to a 44 year old man. Much less that 44 year old man giving champagne and qualudes to a 13 year old girl. Then having sex with her.
Those are undisputed conditions.
> [@](#):
>
> However, I do not know any actual rape victims (and I know way too many rape victims) who would be content with $225,000 in a civil suit.
How much is the ideal amount of money for a rape victim to be content with? How much can a rape victim actually get out of a civil case with a felon who won’t even come back to the country? At what point is the amount of money sought “too much”, proving she was just trying to get money?
How much experience with civil suits do you have?
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### Author:  [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2009, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polanski-falls-for-the-old-wed-like-to-give-you-a-lifetime-achievement-award-trick/511742/214 "2009-10-03T02:08:42Z")
> [@Irishman](#):
>
> **jtgain** said:
> How much experience with civil suits do you have?
The highest settlement I’ve ever personally witnessed would have probably totalled somewhere in the millions if the jewelry and baubles (as in Louis Vuitton charms) bought by the potential statutory rapist for the potential victim were counted along with the money and property received by the potential victim’s family in exchange for not taking the matter to the police. On a smaller scale, I’ve seen seen houses handed over from landlords who thought tenant’s daughters were too cute (daughters that were coached every step of the way by their mothers). And in states that allow teen marriages with parental consent (and this can happen as young as 14 in some areas), I have seen people blackmailed into marriages.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2009, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polanski-falls-for-the-old-wed-like-to-give-you-a-lifetime-achievement-award-trick/511742/215 "2009-10-03T14:42:07Z")
It’s now being reported that the lawsuit was settled for $500,000, and Polanski didn’t pay most of it.
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### Author:  [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2009, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polanski-falls-for-the-old-wed-like-to-give-you-a-lifetime-achievement-award-trick/511742/216 "2009-10-03T15:09:48Z")
> [@Marley23](#):
>
> It’s now being reported that the lawsuit was settled for $500,000, and Polanski didn’t pay most of it.
Well, that just cinches it–if it was really that much, she MUST have been out for money the whole time!
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### Author:  [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2009, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polanski-falls-for-the-old-wed-like-to-give-you-a-lifetime-achievement-award-trick/511742/217 "2009-10-03T15:30:41Z")
And, of course, it may speak to how remorseful he really is about his actions.
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### Author:  [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2009, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polanski-falls-for-the-old-wed-like-to-give-you-a-lifetime-achievement-award-trick/511742/218 "2009-10-04T02:44:14Z")
Yeah, he’s so remorseful, he didn’t even pay most of it.
**ZPG Zealot** said:
> [@](#):
>
> The highest settlement I’ve ever personally witnessed would have probably totalled somewhere in the millions if the jewelry and baubles (as in Louis Vuitton charms) bought by the potential statutory rapist for the potential victim were counted along with the money and property received by the potential victim’s family in exchange for not taking the matter to the police. On a smaller scale, I’ve seen seen houses handed over from landlords who thought tenant’s daughters were too cute (daughters that were coached every step of the way by their mothers). And in states that allow teen marriages with parental consent (and this can happen as young as 14 in some areas), I have seen people blackmailed into marriages.
Now I’m wondering how you’ve come to have such personal knowledge of multiple statutory rape situations.
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### Author:  [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2009, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polanski-falls-for-the-old-wed-like-to-give-you-a-lifetime-achievement-award-trick/511742/219 "2009-10-04T03:24:55Z")
> [@Irishman](#):
>
> **ZPG Zealot** said:
>
> Now I’m wondering how you’ve come to have such personal knowledge of multiple statutory rape situations.
I know many criminials. Including plenty of people who work a con similiar to the old badger game. Thanks to the Internet, they don’t even have to risk letting their daughters near the mark. All it takes is a few sexy emails which include making arrangements to met with the underage person, or better yet sending them airplane or bus tickets, and the mark has committed enough for a felony. There are meaner people than the staff of “To Catch a Predator” trolling the net for pediophiles.
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