by Pedro Miranda

Created on: July 16, 2010   Last Updated: July 17, 2010

The Swiss are nothing if not pragmatic. Roman Polanski, the famous movie director, who has been on the lam for decades after jumping bail on sexual assault charges in California, crossed from France into Switzerland to receive a movie award. The US, under the terms of the extradition treaty it has with Switzerland requested the extradition of the French/Polish director. He was arrested and, after a while released on house arrest (he owns a chalet in Switzerland) while the justice system made a decision.

The decision, released this week, denied the US request for extradition based on the fact that Mr. Polanski would not have crossed into Switzerland had he known that the US would request his extradition.

In reality, the reasoning is different. The French, as well as the Hollywood intelligentsia opine that, because Mr. Polanski is a great film maker, his genius offsets his crimes, like Mr. Gore’s carbon credits offset his whopping electric bill. Whoopi Goldberg said that his rape of a 13 year old girl was not “rape-rape” They wonder why the US is chasing down Mr. Polanski for a 33 year old crime and they attribute this to the well-known prudishness that afflicts the US in all matters regarding sex.

The fact that a 13 year old girl was raped, yes raped, because by definition a 13 year old girl cannot give consent, not here, nor in any jurisdiction in Europe, and sodomized by the movie director, who pleaded guilty, by the way, seems irrelevant. Polanski himself said that everyone wants young girls, which is why we have statutory rape laws in the books. Because adults should not be taking advantage of immature young girls, or boys.

But even disregarding her age, the victim declared that she was upset before, during, and after the act, and she asked him to stop. The very same people who chant that “No means No” now imply that if you are famous enough, or important enough, you do not have to follow the rules everyone else follows. Leona Helmsley, who said “Taxes are for little people” served her time in jail, but Timothy Geitner who “forgot” to pay his taxes for three years, got away with it, because he is the Secretary of the Treasury, in charge of making everyone pay theirs.

You see, in this great Republic of ours, all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others. If you are pretty enough, or artistic enough, you can get the Hollywood airheads to support you in your efforts to evade justice. Of course if you are a CEO of an insurance conglomerate or an oil company, the same herd will be calling for your head.

Eugene Robinson at the Washington Post suggested steering clear of his movies while he steers clear of US justice. The problem is that his movies are not that popular in the US. They may be great but, like the movies of another director who also seems to appreciate the charms of very young women, Woody Allen, they are not such great hits in the American market.

I have a better idea:

Let’s steer clear of Swiss cheese.

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