The Polanski Scale, A Quantification of Past Woes, Multiplied by Artistic Merit, Divided by Degree of Criminality...

That Polanski has been nabbed by the Swiss finally seems strange. The LA Times frontpage story today speculates that it was a call by Polanski's lawyers to get a dismissal of his guilty plea on the basis that Los Angeles prosecutors were not pursuing the matter that lead to Los Angeles prosecutors to pursue the matter.

That's a heckuva job done by Polanski's legal team right there.

But that's not what I want to comment about, instead let's talk about all this "rape rape" talk by the likes of Whoopi Goldberg.

Seems that part of the formula for why Polanski should have gotten away with what he did was cause he was a Holocaust survivor, and his hot pregnant wife was murdered by the Manson family, and he had to suffer the indignity of winning an Oscar without being able to accept it in person. All that some how forgives drugging, then having his way with a thirteen year old girl.

So, is there a quantifiable formula for this crap? (at least according to the Hollywood elite)

It would look something like this:

(Bad Crap That's Happened to You)x(Artistic Achievement)/(Criminal Behavior)

According to those who wish to forgive Polanski, the crap he suffered multiplied by his artistic merit, washes away large sins. Polanski's BC (bad crap) scores are off the chart (hard to beat Holocaust+Sharon Tate), plus his AA (artistic achievement) score is high (which after becoming a fugitive only amounts to Frantic, and The Pianist, and a bunch of crappy crap in between), as well. That gives him leeway for a massive CB (criminal behavior) while still being worthy of being honored and forgiven. Likewise, Michael Jackson's BC score is much lower, while his AA score is higher, and his CB is about the same as Polanski's (it could be argued as being lower given his protestations of innocence, along with failed prosecutions, or it could be argued as being higher given the serial nature, and general creepiness, of his transgressions), so his Polanski Scale score is about the same as Polanski's.

That means a director like Uwe Boll (low BC and abysmal AA scores) better keep his nose clean, cause he won't be forgiven anything. If he's going to transgress sexually, it better be with someone who is only slightly tipsy, no younger than 25, and Boll's worse offense is not reciprocating after oral favors.

As far as Polanski goes, he deserves to rot in jail for the rest of his life, he plead guilty to a horrible act, then fled punishment when he feared the judge wouldn't be lenient in sentencing. His life as a fugitive has hardly been a hardship, or a punishment. What should have happened way back when was to make him a social pariah for what he had admitted to, and fleeing justice. We should have banned the release of all French films here, and the export of all American films to France until they handed him over to the custody of those pursuing him. Maybe if the film industry here and there had suffered directly for harboring this criminal, they might not have found it so ennobling to forgive and enable him. But the 70s were long ago, and seriously messed up, so that's not what happened, and I can understand why people find it strange that this is all happening now, so many years later.