I am curious how funny the victim of domestic violence referred to in Robert Kirby’s article on Aug. 21, “Love means putting up with a lot — even broccoli for dinner” finds it?
Kirby posits that the logical cause for this incident must have been that the victim tried to serve her husband broccoli, based upon his intense dislike for the vegetable. According to the police report, the man was arrested and jailed for injuring his wife while dragging her from a campsite to the banks of the Provo River and threatening to drown her.
I am curious how many other victims trapped in vicious cycles of domestic or intimate partner violence who have been beaten or threatened by their partners for saying or doing “the wrong thing” found this funny?
Kirby claims, “the angriest times I have ever been with my wife,” with his examples of sophomoric antics and disappointments have never led him to even consider hitting his wife, due to his chivalric code. How lucky she is.
According to data from the Utah Domestic Violence Coalition, every year approximately 80 Utah children witness the murder or attempted murder of their mother and, since 2000, at least 42% of adult homicides were domestic violence related, of which 88% of domestic violence perpetrators were male.
An Aug. 10 article the Ogden Standard-Examiner, titled, “Man beats woman as they drive on I-15,” might serve as fodder for Kirby’s next humor column as this event could trigger his dislike of “backseat drivers.”
We get it. You really don’t like broccoli. And yes, we all have foods we don’t like. Unfortunately, your attempt to meld that loathing with a domestic violence incident is not funny, but misogynistic.
Patrick Butler, Ogden
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