Published on Double X (http://www.doublex.com)
Polanski and Kennedy
The discussion over whether Roman Polanski’s artistry and his own personal suffering should mitigate the fact that he raped a 13-year-old is strangely similar to the discussion of the life of Ted Kennedy. At the time of Kennedy’s death, there were appalling comments that his accomplishments as a legislator and his personal tragedies made up for the fact that he left Mary Jo Kopechne to suffocate alone in a car when he drove it off a bridge. Why is there an impulse to excuse a crime just because the perpetrator has suffered in his own life, or has extraordinary professional achievements?
By: Emily Yoffe
Posted: October 1, 2009 at 4:18 PM
The discussion over whether Roman Polanski’s artistry and his own personal suffering should mitigate the fact that he raped a 13-year-old is strangely similar to the discussion of the life of Ted Kennedy. At the time of Kennedy’s death, there were appalling comments that his accomplishments as a legislator and his personal tragedies made up for the fact that he left Mary Jo Kopechne to suffocate alone in a car when he drove it off a bridge. Why is there an impulse to excuse a crime just because the perpetrator has suffered in his own life, or has extraordinary professional achievements?
The discussion over whether Roman Polanski’s artistry and his own personal suffering should mitigate the fact that he raped a 13-year-old is strangely similar to the discussion of the life of Ted Kennedy. At the time of Kennedy’s death, there were appalling comments that his accomplishments as a legislator and his personal tragedies made up for the fact that he left Mary Jo Kopechne to suffocate alone in a car when he drove it off a bridge. Why is there an impulse to excuse a crime just because the perpetrator has suffered in his own life, or has extraordinary professional achievements?
Photograph of Ted Kennedy by Evan Agostini/Getty.