Hollywood Self-Defence (updated)

There is a very good discussion up on PJTV about Roman Polanski's arrest, or rather about the disgraceful Hollywood reaction to that arrest.

The reasoning they come up with for the broad support for Polanski among the Hollywood elite is that they are “defending their own potential exposure for future behavior” and “want to protect the nomenklatura”. I think the idea here is that if they are in the club that protects Polanski, the club that defends the excesses of ‘artists’, then they will be protected if their own faults are ever exposed.

This suggests a Hollywood that has been glimpsed before, that ostracise anyone mildly right-wing, but refused to condemn the murder of Theo van Gogh (ironic then that Salman Rushdie has supported Polanski). This is the same club that closed ranks to protect genuine communists desiring the destruction of a free Republic, thus being as culpable as McCarthy in his excesses. The same that instinctively condemn anything George W Bush did because that was what people did, and made poorly-received films to that end. They are left-wing because it is trendy and makes them feel good even while they exploit their employees and customers by their own proclaimed standards.

One extremely telling point brought out in the PJTV discussion is the effect this has on the unfortunate victim, Samantha Geimer, who has asked that Polanski be released because she simply wants to get on with life. The vast majority of the publicity, the press attention, interference and upset she is going to suffer over the next few weeks is due to the support for Polanski from the glitterati (or perhaps that should be Glitterati, considering the nature of the offence).

These people are abusing their fame and influence in the media to bring Polanski more attention, to increase the intensity and duration of the coverage of this case. They want more fuss to be made, more attention from the news media, and are able to achieve that. This result is exactly what Mrs Geimer is trying to avoid or at least minimise.

So these people are not just supporting a rapist. They are abusing his victim for his benefit. I don’t think they have even considered her feelings. They simply don’t care, as long as their little mutual-support club works.

Update: good on Big Hollywood, Breitbart’s site has a counter petition for entertainment industry professionals. Comments contain links to other counter petitions, but it is important to show the media that the Beautiful People are not an homogenous mass.

Update: Parcbench has a great satirical piece on this – Hollywood changes it’s mind as they find out Polanski had Halliburton shares! Worth reading, it’s only short.