Double Joel Bashing

Several days have passed since the Feb. 15 airing of “Northern Exposure,� yet I haven’t heard anyone talking about how or why the writers gave Maggie license to commit physical violence against Joel and even to glory in it.

There’ve been no bellicose calls to the talk radio stations, no editorial outcries in The Times. There’s been nothing at all. Yet, if Joel (who’s roughly the same size as Maggie) had hit Maggie, it would have been different.

Our society’s schizophrenia is frightening. One face is against abuse when the perpetrators are men and the other face is stony and indifferent when the perpetrators are women.

Am I missing something? Am I the only person who’s upset that Maggie broke the guy’s nose two times and was greatly satisfied after having done so? Are “some animals more equal than others�?

BONNIE MacADAM

Van Nuys