I'm glad Roman Polanski finally got caught!

[hiphop]

It's a very far cry between saying "I disagree with what you say, and I'm going to speak out about it, and criticize you for it" and "I disagree with what you say, so into the gulag you go!"

I have no problem with people criticizing Goldberg´s opinion, if this is the only consequence she has to face. I´m sure she doesn´t have a problem with it either.

What about "I disagree with what you say, and I´m going to fire you for it"?

or

"The majority of the public really gets a giant hard-on doing witch hunts and touting how morally correct they are in compare to you. Keep your mouth shut and be careful what you say in the next few months - pull another stunt like that and you´re fired!"

 

[hiphop]

the public as an entity has a unique ability to whip themselves into a righteous frenzy.

c. They're catering to the masses. For public figures, taking the popular tack and trashing Polanski is good for business/ratings etc.

I agree. It's why I really get irritated by these TV personalities. My wife loves Nancy Grace, and watches her regularly, and I'm always disgusted by how self-righteous she gets over the latest story (usually some disgusting crime against a child)...because every new story that happens gives her something more to holler about, and puts eyeballs on her show & cash in her pocket.

Exactly.

 

[WildHoneyAlways]

I have no problem with people criticizing Goldberg´s opinion, if this is the only consequence she has to face. I´m sure she doesn´t have a problem with it either.

What about "I disagree with what you say, and I´m going to fire you for it"?

or

"The majority of the public really gets a giant hard-on doing witch hunts and touting how morally correct they are in compare to you. Keep your mouth shut and be careful what you say in the next few months - pull another stunt like that and you´re fired!"

There are a lot of things you could say that would get you fired from your job. I don't understand where your outrage is coming from.

 

[hiphop]

There are a lot of things you could say that would get you fired from your job. I don't understand where your outrage is coming from.

Maybe you´ll understand when it happens to you.

It did happen to me once. I don´t want to go all public but if you´re interested I´ll PM you the details.

 

[diamond]

Whoopi Goldberg also went on, on that same View show, to make "jokes" about molesting herself. She's playing the Rosie role on that show, only she goes about it in a much nicer way than Rosie ever did. I can't take her opinion of the Roman Polanski situation seriously at all. A CHILD was RAPED. Period.

We agree.
The woman is whacked.

 

[corianderstem]

Whoopi is a host on a show whose job it is to sit there and give their opinions about current topics. That's what they do on that show - sit there and squawk about stuff and then the media/internet dissects and bitches about what they say. Hell, it's the purpose of the show.

While I can appreciate being sensitive about the subject due to personal experience, I don't think Whoopi is anywhere near the threat of being canned for being controversial.

 

[diamond]

Whoopi is a host on a show whose job it is to sit there and give their opinions about current topics. That's what they do on that show - sit there and squawk about stuff and then the media/internet dissects and bitches about what they say. Hell, it's the purpose of the show.

While I can appreciate being sensitive about the subject due to personal experience, I don't think Whoopi is anywhere near the threat of being canned for being controversial.

Can't be said if Elisabeth Hasselbeck had made the same comments.

<>

 

[pgv]

I hate to chip in midway through a debate but this is obviously a hot topic at the moment and following the whole furore of it I've been reading ALOT of articles defending/attacking goldberg. Perhaps the worst of the former would've been the American online article (haven't got a link but could find it if need be) that compared Polanski to Oscar Wilde.... woefully, woefully inaccurate.

 

[anitram]

I have no problem with people criticizing Goldberg´s opinion, if this is the only consequence she has to face. I´m sure she doesn´t have a problem with it either.

Why?

I mean, if, in theory, people are so outraged that they no longer tune into the show, and the advertisers consequently pull out, then it isn't as if Whoopi's employer owes her some duty to keep her on when they are operating at a loss directly due to something that she said.

Free speech is a phrase that gets tossed around here constantly and almost always incorrectly. This is NOT governmental action, she is NOT being prohibited from saying anything. If her producers are getting a lot of negative letters about what she said (which was frankly, ridiculous), then that is the consequence of her actions. And if the reaction was extreme enough, well then her firing may be justifiable and has absolutely NOTHING to do with the concept of free speech whatsoever.

I don't believe that anybody is actually contemplating firing her, so all of this discussion is for naught anyway.

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

She's hardly the only person on the planet who espouses the idea that there is "rape rape" and there's rape that's not really rape and that the victim is somehow complicit because of their background or the situation or whatever (even a 13 year old). She can just say it on national tv, because she has the freedom to on that show (until ABC or Barbara Walters get sick of it for whatever reasons). Rosie talked about her 9/11 conspiracy beliefs and other such things.

I don't know what, if anything, anyone else on The View said to Whoopi about her "rape rape" nonsense. I guess since Whoopi believes they shouldn't talk about anything without having all the info, well she must have read the parts of the grand jury transcript that came out in the media. If so and she still doesn't get it, well..

 

[corianderstem]

Can't be said if Elisabeth Hasselbeck had made the same comments.

Actually, I think Elisabeth Hasselbeck is a great example as proof as to why I think Goldberg is safe as houses in her job.

No one on that show has been more controversial than Hasselbeck, and she's still employed there.

 

[pgv]

I think Goldberg should be less worried about losing her job, than losing her standing as well respected American feminist/intellect. People are going to have a hard time taking her seriously after this.

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

I think Goldberg should be less worried about losing her job, than losing her standing as well respected American feminist/intellect.

I didn't know she had that standing. I don't mean that as any offense to you.
She had that black face incident with Ted Danson and possibly some other situations.

Elisabeth is on that show for as long as she wants to be. She's the perfect foil on that show, and they live for it. Remember the split screen in the infamous fight with Rosie that led to Rosie's departure? I don't care what Barbara Walters says, my hunch is that she lives for it too.

 

[financeguy]

By their friends ye shall know them.

Sex with boys admission haunts French Culture Minister Fr�d�ric Mitterand - Times Online



Is it valid to ask the question of the Hollywood elite whether any of them that signed the letters are also in the same bracket?

 

[financeguy]

(this reminds me of the mindset of conservatives at the start of the Iraq war: if you were against the war, you FIRST had to make clear you did not excuse brutal dictator Saddam´s actions, if you did not want to be branded as someone who supports dictators. often enough displayed in FYM)

Sorry, but I don't remotely see the relevance.

(I am also disgusted by idiotic "ah, Woody Allen signed, haha, look at those rape and pedophilia buddies" comments.

Why, seing as it's basically true? Some of the public figures defending Polanski are also child molestors. (Edit: Maybe not Allen, we don't know for sure, but Mitterand?) That's what's disgusting, surely.

If Wacko was still alive, I bet he'd be pleading for 'justice' for the 'oppressed' Polanski in that whiny voice of his.

 

[diamond]

By their friends ye shall know them.

Mr Mitterrand, who hails from the political Left, hit back yesterday, saying that he was flattered that his name was being sullied by extremists but shocked by the Socialists’ attitude.

Some Socialists still possess a moral compass apparently.

<>

 

[coolian2]

Some Socialists still possess a moral compass apparently.

<>

i'm surprised your ilk aren't the only ones.

 

[hiphop]

Sorry, but I don't remotely see the relevance.

Why, seing as it's basically true? Some of the public figures defending Polanski are also child molestors. (Edit: Maybe not Allen, we don't know for sure, but Mitterand?) That's what's disgusting, surely.

If Wacko was still alive, I bet he'd be pleading for 'justice' for the 'oppressed' Polanski in that whiny voice of his.

(Edit: Maybe not Allen, we don't know for sure, but Mitterand?) - what´s that supposed to mean?

Please enlighten me now who on that list has been convicted and tried and served a sentence for child molestation.

As to Allen, his current (as far as I know) wife SoonYi was born in 1970; the breakup with Mia Farrow happened in 1992. Farrow discovered his relationship with SoonYi after finding nude pictures of the woman, then 21. I don´t know all the details, but what I know hardly qualifies for child molestation.

I just read of Mitterand, hanging with gay men or gay boys in Thailand - also Mitterand hasn´t been convicted tried or served a sentence for child molestation as of yet. I am interested in facts, not in tabloid or internet perception. In the Polanski case, there are facts.

"By their friends ye shall know them." Ah, what a dramatic conclusion!

Now if you came up with 5 names from that list that served jail for child molestation, your argument would be relevant. If you can´t, you´re just a sensation-seeker. About as lowly as a Sun tabloid journo.

 

[pgv]

I didn't know she had that standing. I don't mean that as any offense to you.
She had that black face incident with Ted Danson and possibly some other situations.

Well, I'm British - and she's certainly considered that over here anyway, perhaps why there was such an outcry over what she said. We don't really consider it 'her saying one controversial thing on a programme where they're always saying controversial things' - for us it's more 'whoopi goldberg saying something sexist when she's supposed to know better than that.'
I don't know anything about the black face incident..?

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

I don't know anything about the black face incident..?

i had to google it because i only vaguely remembered it being mentioned in the media:
In 1993, white actor Ted Danson ignited a firestorm of controversy when he appeared at a Friars Club roast in blackface, delivering a risqué shtick written by his then love interest, African-American comedienne Whoopi Goldberg.

maybe this sounds hypocritical, but since the act was written by whoopi herself i don't see this as racist. i basically liken it to a rapper singing about his "niggers" - it'd be offensive if a white person said it but not so much if a black person does.

 

[anitram]

As to Allen, his current (as far as I know) wife SoonYi was born in 1970; the breakup with Mia Farrow happened in 1992. Farrow discovered his relationship with SoonYi after finding nude pictures of the woman, then 21. I don´t know all the details, but what I know hardly qualifies for child molestation.

I don't know that anyone accused Allen of child molestation with respect to Soon Yi Previn (the allegations were respecting another daughter that he adopted with Mia Farrow, for which Frank Sinatra famously offered to break his legs, but it was a very complicated and ugly law suit which was eventually dropped so we'll never know).

It is more that it's totally CREEPY given that from 1980, when Soon Yi was 10, Woody Allen lived with her mother and assumed a parental role with her. There are obvious power imbalance issues involved there, and he was obviously in a clear position of trust with respect to a child. So that is what I would gather most people find objectionable with respect to this particular relationship. And I don't blame them either.

 

[financeguy]

I just read of Mitterand, hanging with gay men or gay boys in Thailand - also Mitterand hasn´t been convicted tried or served a sentence for child molestation as of yet. I am interested in facts, not in tabloid or internet perception. In the Polanski case, there are facts.

He wasn't 'hanging out', he was engaging in 'sex tourism' - which is a euphemism for abusing kids. In other words, a wealthy westerner abusing underprivileged kids in a developing country just because he could get away with it, and unfortunately it looks like he has, unless some vigilante tracks him down.

Now if you came up with 5 names from that list that served jail for child molestation, your argument would be relevant.

I don't need to, I just need to demonstrate that some of Polanski's high profile celebrity and political defenders are persons of deeply questionable moral values. Which I've already done.

You asked the question earlier as to why Polanski was arrested at this particular juncture, so long after the offense - I suggest that question be turned it on its head. Why did he manage escape justice for so long, is perhaps the more relevant question. The answer suggests itself.

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

Yes that would be a great move for Obama right now

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-...anski-begs-obama-for-mercy/?cid=hp:mainpromo6

 

[diamond]

Thank goodness for sensible prosecutors:

LA prosecutors argue Roman Polanski's victim can't seek dismissal of decades-old sex case | San Francisco Examiner

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

Yippee!

BERN, Switzerland — The Swiss government declared renowned film director Roman Polanski a free man on Monday after rejecting a U.S. request to extradite him on a charge of having sex in 1977 with a 13-year-old girl.

The Swiss mostly blamed U.S. authorities for failing to provide confidential testimony about Polanski's sentencing procedure in 1977-1978.

The stunning decision could end the United States' three-decade pursuit of Polanski, unless he travels to another country that would be willing to apprehend him and weigh sending him to Los Angeles. France, where he has spent much of his time, does not extradite its own citizens, and the public scrutiny over Switzerland's deliberations may dissuade other nations from making such a spectacular arrest.

The Swiss government said it had sought confidential testimony given on Jan. 26 by Roger Gunson, the Los Angeles attorney in charge of the original prosecution against Polanski. Washington rejected the request.

"Mr. Polanski can now move freely. Since 12:30 today he's a free man," Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf declared.

Authorities in Los Angeles and Washington cannot appeal the Swiss decision. Sandy Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, declined to comment.