Spot the Difference

[steepholm]

William Mayne, noted children's author, jailed for two and half years in 2004 for child sex offences that took place some thirty years earlier. On the sex offenders register for life. An unpublishable pariah.

Roman Polanski, noted film director, still unpunished some thirty years after admitting the rape of a thirteen-year-old girl. Feted, given lifetime achievement awards by the European film establishment (ETA to say nothing of the Oscar!), and continues to make movies that receive critical acclaim - including some that involve working closely with children, such as Oliver Twist (2005).

Shurely some mistake?

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

A youthful error? Yes, perhaps.
But he's been punished for this lapse--
For decades exiled from LA
He knows, as he wakes up each day,
He'll miss the movers and the shakers.
He'll never get to see the Lakers.
For just one old and small mischance,
He has to live in Paris, France.
He's suffered slurs and other stuff.
Has he not suffered quite enough?
How can these people get so riled?
He only raped a single child.
Why make him into some Darth Vader
For sodomizing one eighth grader?
This man is brilliant, that's for sure--
Authentically, a film auteur.
He gets awards that are his due.
He knows important people, too--
Important people just like us.
And we know how to make a fuss.
Celebrities would just be fools
To play by little people's rules.
So Roman's banner we unfurl.
He only raped one little girl.

Why make him into some Darth Vader
For sodomizing one eighth grader?
This man is brilliant, that's for sure--
Authentically, a film auteur.
He gets awards that are his due.
He knows important people, too--
Important people just like us.
And we know how to make a fuss.
Celebrities would just be fools
To play by little people's rules.
So Roman's banner we unfurl.
He only raped one little girl.

Calvin Trillin, The Nation. 07,09,09