Dear Hollywood,

Last time I checked, Rape was Rape. And even though some nutty director is really good at his job and the victim settled out of court years ago and would rather have the charges dropped there's this concept called Consequences that we in the real world live and die by. When you skip out on your sentence hearing you are still at the mercy of the judicial system for the same reason a person who commits perjury faces jail time. The authority of the courts is to be respected or else it would be powerless to seek out justice for those that deserve it. That's also why people who commit perjury go to jail.

It's possible that the 138 of you have signed this petition make a valid point in that Mr. Polanski is unfairly being made an example. It's likely that if he were not an international celebrity there would be little fan fare made of his arrest (if one would have occurred at all). The legal and media hullaballo you shake your fist at today also serves quite nicely when making donations to Hurricane Katrina Victims, supporting your favorite political candidate and hawking hybrid vehicles for Toyota.

Let's stop pretending that you are above the law. From where I sit your reaction is far more indicative of how far over the line we've allowed you to travel for the last few decades than it is of the corruption of the courts.

Heaven knows I love you far more than I should. From the minds and hearts of those that created such gems as Roman Holiday, Wall-E, Goonies, and the guiltiest of all guilty pleasures, Hot Fuzz, you have passed along far more joy than could have been realistically expected. I'll continue to watch your movies, plop myself in front of the boob tube on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday nights and shake my head when you're caught playing a bongo drum in the nude. But please don't interpret that as a statement that I (or any one else in America) sympathize with you or take you seriously.

Sincerely,
A Fan