Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Quote of the day (re. the Polanski trial)

In an age like our own, when the artist is an altogether exceptional person, he must be allowed a certain amount of irresponsibility, just as a pregnant woman is. Still, no one would say that a pregnant woman should be allowed to commit murder, nor would anyone make such a claim for the artist, however gifted. If Shakespeare returned to the earth to-morrow, and if it were found that his favourite recreation was raping little girls in railway carriages, we should not tell him to go ahead with it on the ground that he might write another King Lear.
If you also found it awesome, then you will be happy to know that it was George Orwell who wrote that.  (via Nick Gillespie)

Megan McArdle provides a link to excerpts from the transcripts of the trial.  What Polanski did was brutal. Just brutal.  It is a shame that he has been free for so long.

No comments: