Noblesse Oblige or Rank Has It’s Privileges?
Tuesday, October 13th, 2009 | Hollywood, US Judicial System
When the term Noblesse Oblige was first explained to me, the person explaining it gave me the impression that it meant rank has it’s privileges. It bothered me that this didn’t seem to be an accurate translation. While I am no fan of the French language I sought to tranlate it even if I had to deal with the language.
I realized that there is a world of difference between the two. Noblesse oblige implies that nobility demands that you do certain things: like help the poor or feed the hungry; the other implies that the rich get special favors cause they are rich.
This last month the newspapers have been talking about the arrest of Roman Polanski. He was convicted of a crime with an underage girl. Rather than face the punishment, he chose to leave the country. Since that time, he became a fuguitve and recently was captured.
Some of the Hollywood community have been saying that the fact that he has spent 30 years in exile is punishment enough for what he did. I believe that this is wrong. Polanski is considered a very good director and Hollywood seems to be making allowances for him because of that. I have to ask, if he were a cameraman or a key grip, would the Hollywood community still be coming to his defense?
A lot of people in Hollywood feel that because they are artistic, they deserve some special treatment because they are more emotionally involved or because they produce artisitic works. This is creating a class of people that feel superior to the common man. And, in truth, we all are “the common man.” I have a garbage man who collects my garbage every week and the fact that he does it every week and that I haven’t had any problems with him means that hs is doing a good job. If I found out that he was also a child molester, would that give him any special privileges?
I might feel differently if Roman Polanski had sex with a girl who he thought was 18 and later found her to be under age. This was not the case. Roman Polanski drugged the girl, plied her with alcohol, and sodomized her. I think the majority of people would agree that this constitutes rape. He purposely did these things and he should pay the penalty. Art shouldn’t be a “get out of jail free card.”
3 Comments to Noblesse Oblige or Rank Has It’s Privileges?
I added your blog to bookmarks. And i’ll read your articles more often!
Very interesting and amusing subject. I read with great pleasure.
Anjanette MirandaOctober 27, 2009
Couldn’t agree with you more the fact that Debra Wigner stood in front of a crowd in his defense made me sick. Why is it that “celebrities” have more rights than everyone else? They hardly do anything good with their time, energy or money so why are they so special? They keep on making the same movies over and over. (How many times are they going to make Halloween or the now played out Saw movies?)If all they are going to do is make reruns of OLD movies can they really be called “artist”?
October 15, 2009