Thanks for linking to our post on Jewish anti-heroes, which was originally intended more as a tongue-in-cheek comment on the culture of self-congratulation that is endemic to Jewish organizations these days. In composing my list of nominees for anti-hero status, I tried to avoid out-and-out criminals and hew closer to the literary definition of an anti-hero: someone not classically admirable or generally accepted by the mainstream, but whom we admire anyway. I can't imagine any of the people on my list ever winning a Jewish Community Hero vote like the one being held right now by UJC, but try to imagine our world without them? (By the way, the http://jwa.org/encyclopedia was indispensible in making sure I had great Jewish women on the list.) Jewish villains are another topic to my thinking and not at all synonymous with anti-heroes. Polanski is a fascinating figure because even if he had never been accused of rape he would still have been an anti-hero for his aesthetic and body of work. But unavoidably, Polanski is both villain and anti-hero. More to the point, anti-hero status should exempt no one from facing the consequences of their actions and being held accountable before our system of justice. It is one thing to consider Polanski's art in context, but not his crime.
Thanks for linking to our post on Jewish anti-heroes, which was originally intended more as a tongue-in-cheek comment on the culture of self-congratulation that is endemic to Jewish organizations these days. In composing my list of nominees for anti-hero status, I tried to avoid out-and-out criminals and hew closer to the literary definition of an anti-hero: someone not classically admirable or generally accepted by the mainstream, but whom we admire anyway. I can't imagine any of the people on my list ever winning a Jewish Community Hero vote like the one being held right now by UJC, but try to imagine our world without them? (By the way, the http://jwa.org/encyclopedia was indispensible in making sure I had great Jewish women on the list.) Jewish villains are another topic to my thinking and not at all synonymous with anti-heroes. Polanski is a fascinating figure because even if he had never been accused of rape he would still have been an anti-hero for his aesthetic and body of work. But unavoidably, Polanski is both villain and anti-hero. More to the point, anti-hero status should exempt no one from facing the consequences of their actions and being held accountable before our system of justice. It is one thing to consider Polanski's art in context, but not his crime.