Academic and Work Pursuits, Polanski and Commie Debates

[tcpip]

Received my results for the first two units of my MBA, Financial Management and Management Perspectives; I passed both with Distinction grades. This was an enormous relief, especially for the Financial Management exam, which I thought was extremely difficult at the time. It also means that, assuming I complete Marketing and Information Systems, I will have a Graduate Certificate in Management (Technology Systems) by the end of next month. Then on to the Graduate Diploma. On a related angle, I have been given the necessary task of trying to make some sense of the internal wiki, external website and some of our marketing material. It doesn't make sense to pitch with generic marketing speak to scientists, for some well-known reasons, which have recently become evident at the Australian Synchrotron.

The events of Roman Polanksi's extradition for sexual assault have been long discussed. If you have the stomach for it, you can read the testimony of the young Samantha Geimer on the events themselves. When some members of the entertainment industry tried to defend Polanksi on the grounds of his international cultural reputation, most people responded to this with appropriate outrage. An unexpected angle however has come from the Sparticist League who have defended Polanski because Samantha was sexually experienced and had tried quaaludes previous. You can read the Sparticist League's position in the Communist Party of Great Britian newspaper in issue 794 and my response in 795.

Comments

[antayla.livejournal.com]

The only real grounds for leaving Roman Polanski alone is that Samantha seems to have moved beyond the affair and it's unlikely that he's going to do anything like it again. It was rape... she asked him to stop. It blows my mind that all these folks are defending his actions.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

That exactly what I think as well. Even in circumstances like this, I believe the principles of accusatory law over inquisitionary law must be maintained. The victim must be the person who decides whether or not proceedings should continue. Interesting and sensible comments by Samantha Geimer were in the LA Times when Polanski was up for an Oscar.

[lederhosen.livejournal.com]

The victim must be the person who decides whether or not proceedings should continue.

I'm uncomfortable about that approach - while I understand the victim in this case wanted to get on with her life, it's a very abusable system. Too much incentive to intimidate/bribe the victim.

[shehasathree]

well done on the MBA results! :)

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

They're OK :) I could be an eternal critic of business managers or I could get lead by example.

I still want to do a science degree in this decade as well.

Dammit and my interdisciplinary desires...

[bar-barra.livejournal.com]

The Sparts haven't really changed, have they? It's still 1921.....

Go You on the MBA!!!

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

The Sparts are an extremely strange cult group even within the aegis of the far-left and have been for a very long time. Lack of engagement with other systems of though, I believe, has led them to reductio ad absurdum in political reasoning...

[fluffyblanket.livejournal.com]

Down with male violence against women !
Congratulations on your MBA !
As I'm sure you already know , the Communist Party of Great Britain and its organ , "The Daily Worker" aren't the original ones . The real CPGB changed its newspaper into "The Morning Star" and later dissolved itself after the the collapse of authoritarian , bureaucratic state capitalism . I used to be a member before joining the Federation of Anarcho-Pacifists .

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Down with male violence against women !

Well, as unlikely as it is, a reversal of gender roles would have been just as wrong.

the Communist Party of Great Britain and its organ , "The Daily Worker" aren't the original ones

*nods* The CPGB are a new group; they seem remotely reasonable which is pleasant surprise.

[kardashev.livejournal.com]

Even if the girl said yes to Polanski, I don't think a 13-year old is mentally competent enough to give informed consent. Therefore, Polanski still acted against the law.

Thanks for posting that link to the Weekly Worker. It's good to know what shenanigans those Communists are up to. Especially when it involves taking away my parental right to prosecute someone who tries to have a go at my daughter.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Go away.

[notthebuddha.livejournal.com]

congrats on the MBA progress!

[sebastianne.livejournal.com]

Congrats on the studies! I swear you must have the ability to bend time with all the stuff you manage to do! *hehe*

A view inside my garage.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

[omnot.livejournal.com]

Congratulations on your Distinction grades! Always a relief to see the results even when you've been doing well, let alone after a not-very-reassuring exam.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Thanks; I stumbled out of that Financial Management exam shell-shocked. I as hoping that my assignment grade of 88% would drag me over the line for a pass. As it turned out I picked up 73% (how!?) leading to a "just fine" final grade.

[forwrathandruin.livejournal.com]

What really surprises me is just how many big names have signed on to "defend" him. They're as good as saying that what he did was okay. The list is full of A-list people who either have no idea what they're signing off on the rape of a thirteen year old girl, or worse still, do know and don't care.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Looking at the petition of the big names, which does include many people I respect, I am trying to work out their reasoning.

Interestingly the text does not refer to the case as such, but rather refers to the circumstances (arrested in a third country outside of the US and France) and, bizarrely, the damage it could do to Franco-American relations.

I can understand where they are coming from in the first concern. The second is utterly irrelevant.

[droog64.livejournal.com]

There's no question that what Polanski did was wrong, but there aren't many people who've been through what he's been through. I feel sorry for him.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

That part is true as well; it can be confusing to have strong emotions of sympathy and loathing for the same person. I have little doubt that the Sharon Tate/Manson events contributed significantly to a disturbed state in Polanksi's mind.

[(Anonymous)]

I feel sorry for what Polanski has been through in his life, but it in no way explains nor excuses his behaviour in my opinion. Many people experience some pretty awful life experiences and not all of them go on to do bad things. A large number of child sex perpetrators have abuse histories themselves- does that mean we should excuse pedophilia? Because a lot of people who have been abused actually go the other way and out of an awareness of what they have been through are able to empathise with other people and become more committed to doing acts of good in the world. What Polanski did to that little girl shows what a complete lack of empathy he had for her and for the effects his abuse whould have on her life. I think that anyone who is happy to prioritise the temporary physical gratification of their sexual urges over the emotional, psychological and physical wellbeing of a child deserves to face the consequences...

[castleclear.livejournal.com]

CONGRATULATIONS on your academic results. LOL re: having a Time Tunnel in your garage! (And now exiting Stage Right to bypass the Roman Polanski discussion.)

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Nice dodge there sir :)

[tzunder.livejournal.com]

The Spartacists were always so odd I never even read their rags as a student.
The line that it can't be rape since the victim was already sexually active and had tried alcohol and drugs before is the oldest reactionary excuse for the rape of women by men (she was asking for it) that I can't quite, but I can, believe they repeated it. Shame on them..

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

The worst part is the argument was being presented a (apparently) female representative of the Sparts.. Just bizarre.