Josh- I absolutely enjoyed your post, and am really glad to hear that the Encyclopedia was helpful to you! It is great to know that folks are consciously thinking about including women when they make lists of Jewish figures.
I apologize if I took your tongue and cheek "anti-heroes" idea and stretched it a bit to serve my own argument. You argue that Polanski is both a villain and an anti-hero, and I agree. However, I think the problem lies in the fact that many Jews are unwilling to admit he is a villain, because they prefer to keep their claim on him as an anti-hero.
I guess what I want to know is what would it take for us to decide that someone has passed the limits of the "anti-hero" and truly become a villain, someone the Jewish community should disown. Where is the line? I think the Polanski case shows us where that line should be.
A man who rapes a 13 year old girl and then evades the consequences of that action for 30 years without a doubt crosses that line. A man who drugs and rapes a 13 year old girl is evil, and it would be "better for the Jews" to disown such a person than try to retain him as an anti-hero, no matter how prolific his movies are.
Josh- I absolutely enjoyed your post, and am really glad to hear that the Encyclopedia was helpful to you! It is great to know that folks are consciously thinking about including women when they make lists of Jewish figures.
I apologize if I took your tongue and cheek "anti-heroes" idea and stretched it a bit to serve my own argument. You argue that Polanski is both a villain and an anti-hero, and I agree. However, I think the problem lies in the fact that many Jews are unwilling to admit he is a villain, because they prefer to keep their claim on him as an anti-hero.
I guess what I want to know is what would it take for us to decide that someone has passed the limits of the "anti-hero" and truly become a villain, someone the Jewish community should disown. Where is the line? I think the Polanski case shows us where that line should be.
A man who rapes a 13 year old girl and then evades the consequences of that action for 30 years without a doubt crosses that line. A man who drugs and rapes a 13 year old girl is evil, and it would be "better for the Jews" to disown such a person than try to retain him as an anti-hero, no matter how prolific his movies are.