Delicious LiveJournal Links for 10-1-2009

[andrewducker]

• No, I Will Not Molest Your Kids
  A reaction to the extreme care some people now take.
  (tags: children Child_abuse society)
• Marmaduke meets Cthulhu!
  (tags: comics funny cthulhu)
• An Artificial Heart That Doesn't Beat
  "You put this in cattle and they stand up and moo and eat and wonder why everyone is looking at them so weird," says William Cohn, a collaborator on the research and director of minimally invasive surgical technology at the Texas Heart Institute. "You see a cow wagging his tail and you say, wow, this is the future of the artificial heart."
  (tags: future technology science biology heart)
• French drop Polanski release call
  A drop of common sense.
  (tags: rape politics France)
• Comics Review: Alan Moore & Bill Sienkiewicz, Big Numbers 3
  Oh, what I'd pay for a completed Big Numbers.
  (tags: comics alan_moore BillSienkiewicz review)
• RAF leaflet box kills Afghan girl
  Now _that_'s not going to be winning any hearts or minds
  (tags: Irony EpicFail afghanistan)
• A list of people who think that raping 13-year-olds is fine, if you make movies.
  (tags: polanski rape EpicFail)
• PC tune-up software: less effective than spending the cash on RAM
  (tags: software windows memory)
• Online advertising overtakes TV advertising in the UK
  Now that was unexpected.
  (tags: internet advertising tv)

Comments

[broin.livejournal.com]

It's not pithy, it's blithely diminishing an already complex issue. Tilda Swinton doesn't have Eyes Wide Shut rape orgies, nor is Terry Gilliam sitting down to wonder which teenage girls he can rape this week.

As you say, it's a list of people who object to the manner of his arrest. I do too. That's separate from the crime he confessed to.

And where did you get the idea he was a paedophile?

[andrewducker]

Tilda Swinton doesn't have Eyes Wide Shut rape orgies, nor is Terry Gilliam sitting down to wonder which teenage girls he can rape this week.

Did anyone say they did?

As you say, it's a list of people who object to the manner of his arrest.
Which strikes me as barking mad. Film festivals are suddenly law-free zones???

And sorry, yes - I'd replace "paedophile" with "rapist", but sadly I can't.

[broin.livejournal.com]

"A list of people who think that raping 13-year-olds is fine, if you make movies."

I do not think Tilda Swinton and Terry Gilliam are in favor of the rape of 13 year old girls, single or en masse. You do. Right?

[andrewducker]

I think they're standing up in defense of someone who raped a 13 year old girl, yes. If that's not tacit defense of the act then what is it?

I've already seen Whoopi Goldberg offer the incredibly dumb response that "I know it wasn't rape-rape. It was something else but I don't believe it was rape-rape." - which is simply incoherent to me, and does seem to be defending the drugging and rape of a 13 year old as not being sufficiently rape-ish for her to be upset by it. Goodness knows what these other people are thinking.

[broin.livejournal.com]

For some people, rape and responsibility is more complex than either/or.

Furthermore, if I felt there was injustice in the arrest of someone, then pointing out that injustice does not mean I condone the alleged or actual crime.

I opposed the extradition of that hacker last month for similar reasons.

[andrewducker]

For some people, rape and responsibility is more complex than either/or.

Absolutely. And this is why juries and judges exist, to weigh things up.

I can't understand how his arrest was at all injust, to be honest.

[broin.livejournal.com]

So he lives in Switzerland. Owns property there. But they arrest him at a film festival? Someone is trying to score political points with this.

[andrewducker]

He mostly lives in France, so far as I can tell, although he was intermittently in Switzerland. Possibly this was the first occasion when they knew when exactly he'd be in Switzerland. Or possibly this is the first time that the US authorities knew exactly when he'd be in Switzerland and so could demand that the Swiss could carry out their side of the extradition treaty. Doesn't really matter to me, to be honest.

[broin.livejournal.com]

Fair enough, but it matters to me for the reason above. And Tilda Swinton, looks like.

[andrewducker]

Which reason? That it looks like they're doing it for publicity reasons? I can't see who actually wants the publicity out of this, and who benefits from it.

[broin.livejournal.com]

I believe there's an interesting relationship between the Swiss and IRS at the moment and some commenters feel the Swiss has been taking one in the ass from the US government on a number of issues. Even if it's not something so murky, having the filmmaker arrested at a glitzy show is interesting.

[marrog.livejournal.com]

This reminds me a little of the Fred Goodwin 16m pension affair. Everybody (including the PM) was all "Give it back, that's not fair!" and he was all "Life's not fair. This was legal," and everyone was all "Give it back anyway!" and he was all "Can't make me, nyah nyah nyah!"

I can certainly picture the US CJS going "Nyah nyah nyah," can't you?

[andrewducker]

As opposed to France refusing to hand him over for the last 30 years, and going "Nyah, nyah, nyah" while America said "That's not fair, hand him over!" ?

[broin.livejournal.com]

You didn't answer this one.

Let's be entirely clear: You're saying I condone child rape, right?

[andrewducker]

Wrong.

I haven't heard you speak either way about whether child rapists should face trial.

Got an opinion on the matter?

[broin.livejournal.com]

One set of goalposts at a time, please. ;)

I would be happy to have my name on that petition. You're saying that means I condone child rape. Yep?

[andrewducker]

No, I'm saying that you object to the arrest of a child rapist.

Edit: Actually, he's not been sentenced yet - so he's an alleged child rapist, legally. From the witness reports he seems to be an actual one, provided she wasn't lying, which he's never accused her of.

[broin.livejournal.com]

Yes, I absolutely object to this arrest. Colors, mast, nailed.

"A list of people who think that raping 13-year-olds is fine, if you make movies."

"I think they're standing up in defense of someone who raped a 13 year old girl, yes. If that's not tacit defense of the act then what is it?"

So does this mean I condone child rape, or is that reserved for celebrities?

[andrewducker]

The first one wasn't meant seriously.

The second is. But "tacit defense" is not the same as "condone". The first can happen accidentally - it's a side-effect. It was also a question, which I'm still waiting for an answer to...

[broin.livejournal.com]

Apologies! I didn't realise that was a question, rather than rhetorical.

I can oppose the invasion of Iraq without being in favor of Saddam Hussein's tyranny, no? Or be in favor of some pictures of naked 10 year old girls and not child porn, right?

[andrewducker]

I still, also, don't understand why you object to his arrest. Even if there's politics in the background, does that make him innocent?

[interactiveleaf.livejournal.com]

Edit: Actually, he's not been sentenced yet - so he's an alleged child rapist, legally.

No, he's not. He pled guilty. That makes him more than "alleged." It's the judgement (Guilty) that confirms guilt, not the sentencing.

[andrewducker]

Except he didn't plead guilty to rape:

Polanski was initially charged with rape by use of drugs, perversion, sodomy, lewd and lascivious act upon a child under 14, and furnishing a controlled substance (methaqualone) to a minor. These charges were dismissed under the terms of his plea bargain, and he pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of engaging in unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor.

[andrewducker]

Also, I don't find it to be a terribly complex issue.
Man commits crime.
Man flees country for one with no extradition agreement.
Man enters country which has extradition agreement.
Man is arrested so that he can be extradited to face trial.

I don't see where the complication lies.

[lizw.livejournal.com]

"Paedophile" strikes me as exactly the right word for someone who likes having sex with thirteen-year-olds. She was a child; people who have sex with children are paedophiles. This particular paedophile is also a rapist. Rapists should be jailed, and age does not entitle them to special treatment, particularly when the reason they are being arrested at an advance age is that they fled from justice. The issues are not at all complex, and everyone who signed that petition or is defending those who did should be ashamed of themselves.