In a rare bit of I-don’t-know-what-you’d-call-it (though it probably doesn’t need to be called ANYTHING and I’m just grasping for a lead-in), the paper’s esteemed columnist wrote about a guy who’s being stalked by a woman. No talk of boiled game or creative homicide-suicide letters or anything that you usually think about when you think “crazy nutjob stalker”; apparently, this woman just drives by his house and his place of work more than a person probably should. Naturally, the guy’s unnerved, as he should be, and he almost had me completely on his side until he said this:

So I shot our esteemed columnist an e-mail to the effect of, “Not to be an a-hole, but what makes this guy think women are treated any different when they file complaints on stalkers?” I mean, seriously, does he HAVE any idea how many women are murdered by freaks who violate protective orders? Now, of course the victim threw out the old chestnut of “What, do I have to wait until she harms me before something gets done about this?” and I thought to myself, “Well, YEAH. You do, because that’s what women do every single day, and you know what else? The odds are really good that the women who’re taking out protective orders? Aren’t just dealing with drive-bys. The likelihood that they’re dealing with threatening phone calls and crazyass letters is really high, so I’d say you’re pretty damn lucky as far as stalkers go. Now, why don’t you grow a set and ignore the crazy lady!??”

I mean, am I wrong?