string ’em up
“We know no spectacle so ridiculous as the British public in one of its periodical fits of morality,” said Lord Macaulay. Witness the Profumo affair, any manner of Royal indiscretions from toe-sucking to the secret life of a Tampax, innumerable political sexual shenanigans and the recent MP fiddling scandal. And as the current hysteria over the peccadilloes of a defunct, and frankly cringe worthy, TV personality starkly demonstrates, no spectacle so vitriolic.
Obviously, the more the depths and degradation of his exploits are revealed the more this reaction appears warranted but what I’d like is a little consistency in the argument. One particularly odious individual has evaded justice for over 35 years. I’m referring to Roman Polanski who, in 1977, aged 43, had non-consensual sex with a 13 year old girl, allegedly after drugging her. Surely another example of a public figure guilty of child sex abuse getting away with it because of the power and notoriety of his fame. And let’s not even try to draw parallels between the extradition processes being applied to Polanski and Julian Assange.
Cultural hypocrisy runs deep and sometimes is undoubtedly class based: “leave poor ol’ Roman alone, it was a long long time ago, he’s getting on now y’know and he’s a fabulous director of pretentious art-house films” cry the chattering classes. As opposed to some creepy old geezer in a nylon shell-suit.
