Give Wil Cordero a break. Give us all a break. Not that I condone Cordero’s physical abuse of his wife (I’m sure you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who does), but why should he be precluded from pursuing his vocation? Because it is a high-profile occupation? Because he gets paid a million dollars a year? What about Joe Blow, the ditch-digger down the street who beats his wife? What about the habitual drunken driver who maims a family of four in a car accident? What about Kevin Pendergast, point-shaver? Should any of these people be precluded from making a living regardless of the glamor, visibility or income that occupation brings?
Bonnie DeSimone was “horrified” to see the reaction of the local head of the National Organization for Women (Tribune, April 5). Just what is the proper environment for the rehabilitation of a wife-beater? A drunken driver? A point-shaver? If you want to boycott White Sox baseball because Wil Cordero plays for the team, make sure you never eat at a fast-food restaurant, never take a cab, never go to the zoo, never buy a car, never fly on an airplane, never buy a computer and, of course, never read the Chicago Tribune, because (although I can’t prove it) I am sure you could find one person working at each of those places who has beaten his wife, driven under the influence, failed to make a child-support payment or cheated on a spouse.
Why does Bonnie DeSimone get to decide which crimes warrant excommunication from which vocations? Why doesn’t she donate her paycheck for the Wil Cordero article to a battered-women’s shelter? And make sure she gives equal time to the victims of other crimes. None is less reprehensible than the others. Some just sell more newspapers.
