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<img alt="" height="1" width="1" />[b]Wikipedia locks Polanski page[/b]
[size="-1"]Bangkok Post
A Wikipedia page devoted to Roman Polanski was locked on Monday due to fighting over whether the entry should emphasize his accomplishments as a film-maker ...

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Why is the rather routine act of Wikipedia temporarily protecting an article after an edit war worthy of such widespread news coverage?

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Because the media is still working under this misguided impression that Wikipedia is an encyclopedia.

Personally I think the reporter just seized the opportunity to reprint portions of the following flame-bait on the article's talk page:

Nice edits too:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=...oldid=316546876

No block yet and nothing on the talk page, what gives?

If I had to guess, I would dare suggest that the IP address 90.206.67.11 (resolves to the United Kingdom) belongs to User:Oxonian2006 (see his second edit ever), whom I would dare say may be theologian Paul Fiddes, or at least someone obsessed with promoting his books.

This is also an interesting edit by Oxonian2006.

I'm surprised he left out the relevant facts; thirteen year old plied with quaaludes and alcohol, taken into the bedroom, despite her pleading no, no, no and raped then anally sodomized, among other things. Then that animal has the gall to claim it was 'consensual'.

Polanski has major propaganda juice. Some of the articles in the main stream press paint him as the victim, the BBC is especially bad on this note.

Seriously, it unacceptable that Polanski has gotten a pass for the last thirty years for his despicable behavior.

I wasn't planning on posting here again, but since nobody else has brought it up, are the categories for French sex offenders (Polanski is the only name listed) and the entire category sex scandal figures really necessary?

...Sheez, just when you think that it can't get any worse...

Here's a pretty good blog post on this;



I can just see it now ... if Polanski gets a prison sentence every rabid social/political action group with too much time on its hands will be protesting the outrageous miscarriage of justice, proclaiming what a victim poor Roman is, much as they are currently doing with the 'hero' Jonathan Pollard.

Of course this is not about Europe or Ireland. The American Catholic church just went through the same thing. This will happen wherever people allow children to have special "helping positions" guided by adults in positions of trust in any institution thought to above reproach that does not implement measures to protect children from abuse. It might take years or decades to come to the fore, but it will happen. It can even happen on an American web site.

Hmm, why am I sufficiently gun-shy to not wade into another controversial BLP issue?

Oh right! I've learned my lesson about that kind of thing.

Yes, I agree that blog post went off on a tangent, but one thing it got right was the spin - the "Outcry over Polanski's detention". I'm just dumbfounded that Polanski is being painted as a victim. There are people calling his arrest "not only a grotesque farce of justice, but also an immense cultural scandal". There was another quote that Polanski's been going to his Swiss ski chalet for years, living a life of luxury and fame, and wasn't arrested until now and therefore something devious and political must be going on. You just can't make this stuff up.

Is there a way to combine newsfeeds on the same item? e.g. there is a Polanski thread from hte Bangkok Post and another from the virtual newspaper the Brisbane Times....

The polarized views on this case signify a substantial socio-cultural divide regarding the role of violence in our culture. The part that people have trouble reckoning is state-sponsored violence, variously to promote or suppress political ideologies or to punish crimes as defined by various governmental entities. Hammurabism is not a particularly graceful or enlightened religion.

I see it differently - this is just a guy who's gotten away a crime for thirty years because he's rich and connected. His arrest gives the Europeans an opportunity to insult us unsophisticated Americans. The spin is fabulous.

And yet a French poll finds that 70% feel Polanski has to answer for his crime, even after this massive deluge of media propaganda explaining what a victim poor Polanski is.

So I don't think this is a matter of the people having trouble reckoning, as you say Molton. I think this is a matter of the media being influenced and trying to influence on behalf of some rich connected guy.

Any person of average means would have had sever consequences for this crime, but Polanski got to live a life of luxury and fame. It's an insult not only to those who are law abiding, but to anyone who's made mistakes and had to live with the consequences, and most of all to the victims of sex crimes.

I agree with Tungsten. The French political leadership is outraged because Polanski is a member of their group, the movers and shakers in popular culture and politics. The average citizenry know that if they did what Polanski did, in France, the US, Switzerland, etc, they wouldn't have been able to run away and hide in plain sight for 30 years.

Indeed. If Polanski hadn't made The Pianist (oh, those bad, bad Nazis; I hadn't realized how bad they were; and comedy we get, too) and otherwise become a darling of the entertainment industry, he'd be hung out to dry. If you have the correct politics, you can always be forgiven some indiscreet act, unless maybe it's murder. Thus is it ever. Woody Allen!

What about Fatty Arbuckle?

They never forgave Fatty Arbuckle in the industry. And I'm amazed he didn't do time for manslaughter.

Let's compare Plaxico Burress with Polanski ...

Burress accidentally shot himself in the foot as he dropped his gun in a nightclub. His concealed weapon permit had expired. The police were not called, but Burress turned himself in the next day after the media got involved. Mayor Bloomberg, fuming to the media, demanded that Burress be prosecuted to the maximum extent of the law.

Burress had no criminal intent, no savagery, no premeditation, no predatory behavior, and he got two years in prison, for a couple of innocent mistakes with himself as the only victim.

Just imagine if it was Plaxico Burress charged with the same crimes as Polanski? What do think the reaction would be?

Ah, but there's been a new development! This culture minister, Frederic Mitterand, seems to have a related history, according to the BBC:

In France, a guy who could write this can get to be culture minister in a center-right government. It makes you wonder how they vet their appointees. And don't the opposition parties invest enough into oppo research to catch a passage like that from a book the guy published a mere four years ago? I'm veering off topic even more, but this is just too rich.

Priceless:

in response;


I wonder how long Polanski can drag this out.