October 10, 2009 Issue 45•41 Onion Sports
DETROIT—According to a local police report, Tigers first baseman Miguel Cabrera only connected on a pitiful 13 of 67 swings during an altercation with his wife Saturday, bringing his average down to .194 for the day, with a laughable .220 slugging percentage this month. "The guy'll swing at anything," Cabrera's wife, Rosangel, told reporters. "The truth is, he's been whiffing all year. When he does make contact, it's just a little dinker here and a dinker there." Though Cabrera continues to struggle, the scratches on his face indicate that his wife could be on pace to hit well over .400 this year.
October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month (DVAM) as well as Down Syndrome Awareness Month.
Providing awareness of both DV and Ds is of great importance to me both personally and professionally. Over the next month you'll be reading about all kinds of things. Some will be happy expressions of joy. Others will not. The point of heavy posts like this is to get educated and perhaps shine some light on areas in our communities that people prefer to ignore and certainly not talk about in order to increase safety.
The first part of this post is an article written in The Onion on 10/10/09, a satirical and fake newspaper that I generally am a fan of. It's not meant to be taken seriously. In fact, I'd say this article was written to suggest that Miguel Cabrera is an abusive a$$hat. I get that. The truth is that Miguel Cabrera DID come home at 6am after drinking all night with his baseball buddies, woke up his 4 year old daughter, and had an altercation with his wife. She called the police for help. They decided to transport him to the police department when she asked him to leave the home (BUT DID NOT ARREST HIM) and called his general manager to pick him up.
There are so many things wrong with is that I don't know where to begin. The police said language was a barrier. They said that although she had injuries visible on her lower lip, that he also had an injury on his face, so they couldn't determine the aggressor. They said when a person is intoxicated, it makes it more difficult, and he was highly intoxicated. They said his wife didn't like him coming home intoxicated. They said neither party pressed charges. They said there was a damaged cell phone and broken gold neck chain at the home. They said they notified Protective Services because a child was involved.
Later Cabrera issued a statement:
"There was an incident that took place on Saturday and it is a personal matter. I am sorry this has become a distraction and I apologize to the Tigers, my teammates, and all of the fans. I would appreciate it if you would respect my family's privacy as I prepare for our next game."
1. Police are trained to determine the PRIMARY aggressor and to get a history of DV, regardless of intoxication, language barrier, or celebrity status. They are trained to assess fear. They are trained that this WAS domestic violence and he should have been arrested. Period.
2. Nice apology to the Tigers, his teammates and fans, but not his wife or child. Nice.
3. Despite the satirical nature of the article in the Onion, it left me shaking my head and asking why?
That brings me to the 1st video clip above taken from the Simpson's episode on 10/11/09. I love the Simpson's and again, I get that they were creating a despicable, but sadly believable character. The 2nd clip was taken from Family Guy on 10/11/09, which I've never been a fan of. Mark found it due to it's Russian political content and sent it to me. I see absolutely NO redeeming factors for this one.
These are examples from over this past weekend of DV in entertainment. Just this weekend. There are THOUSANDS of examples that I could have used. So my question is this, why is it OK to use DV as entertainment or satire? Does it go too far? How do you suppose Mrs. Cabrera feels? Not only was she injured by her drunk husband, but the police failed her, the whole world knows about this, and the Onion turned their very real situation into a batting average joke.
And now, more information to think (or puke) about...
•Studies estimate that 80% of women with disabilities have been sexually assaulted.
•One study showed that 47% of sexually abused women with disabilities reported assaults on more than ten occasions.
•Children with disabilities are more than twice as likely as children without disabilities to be physically abused, and almost twice as likely to be sexually abused.
•Studies estimate that between 70% and 85% of cases of abuse against adults with disabilities go unreported.
•One study found that only 5% of reported crimes against people with disabilities were prosecuted, compared to 70% for serious crimes committed against people with no disabilities.
Taken from the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV)
For more information or to get help, please contact:
The National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE
The National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE
Providing awareness of both DV and Ds is of great importance to me both personally and professionally. Over the next month you'll be reading about all kinds of things. Some will be happy expressions of joy. Others will not. The point of heavy posts like this is to get educated and perhaps shine some light on areas in our communities that people prefer to ignore and certainly not talk about in order to increase safety.
The first part of this post is an article written in The Onion on 10/10/09, a satirical and fake newspaper that I generally am a fan of. It's not meant to be taken seriously. In fact, I'd say this article was written to suggest that Miguel Cabrera is an abusive a$$hat. I get that. The truth is that Miguel Cabrera DID come home at 6am after drinking all night with his baseball buddies, woke up his 4 year old daughter, and had an altercation with his wife. She called the police for help. They decided to transport him to the police department when she asked him to leave the home (BUT DID NOT ARREST HIM) and called his general manager to pick him up.
There are so many things wrong with is that I don't know where to begin. The police said language was a barrier. They said that although she had injuries visible on her lower lip, that he also had an injury on his face, so they couldn't determine the aggressor. They said when a person is intoxicated, it makes it more difficult, and he was highly intoxicated. They said his wife didn't like him coming home intoxicated. They said neither party pressed charges. They said there was a damaged cell phone and broken gold neck chain at the home. They said they notified Protective Services because a child was involved.
Later Cabrera issued a statement:
"There was an incident that took place on Saturday and it is a personal matter. I am sorry this has become a distraction and I apologize to the Tigers, my teammates, and all of the fans. I would appreciate it if you would respect my family's privacy as I prepare for our next game."
1. Police are trained to determine the PRIMARY aggressor and to get a history of DV, regardless of intoxication, language barrier, or celebrity status. They are trained to assess fear. They are trained that this WAS domestic violence and he should have been arrested. Period.
2. Nice apology to the Tigers, his teammates and fans, but not his wife or child. Nice.
3. Despite the satirical nature of the article in the Onion, it left me shaking my head and asking why?
That brings me to the 1st video clip above taken from the Simpson's episode on 10/11/09. I love the Simpson's and again, I get that they were creating a despicable, but sadly believable character. The 2nd clip was taken from Family Guy on 10/11/09, which I've never been a fan of. Mark found it due to it's Russian political content and sent it to me. I see absolutely NO redeeming factors for this one.
These are examples from over this past weekend of DV in entertainment. Just this weekend. There are THOUSANDS of examples that I could have used. So my question is this, why is it OK to use DV as entertainment or satire? Does it go too far? How do you suppose Mrs. Cabrera feels? Not only was she injured by her drunk husband, but the police failed her, the whole world knows about this, and the Onion turned their very real situation into a batting average joke.
And now, more information to think (or puke) about...
•Studies estimate that 80% of women with disabilities have been sexually assaulted.
•One study showed that 47% of sexually abused women with disabilities reported assaults on more than ten occasions.
•Children with disabilities are more than twice as likely as children without disabilities to be physically abused, and almost twice as likely to be sexually abused.
•Studies estimate that between 70% and 85% of cases of abuse against adults with disabilities go unreported.
•One study found that only 5% of reported crimes against people with disabilities were prosecuted, compared to 70% for serious crimes committed against people with no disabilities.
Taken from the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV)
For more information or to get help, please contact:
The National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE
The National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE
Posts
2 comments:
Hmmm. Nobody posting on this one. Interesting.
-Mark
MARK- I get tend to more comments when I post the blog on facebook. Since you're not on the facey spaces, here goes...
Clint Fuller said Cabrera sucks and should be prosecuted.
Jennifer Edsill Schrad said Preach it brother! Or, we could send him to Abuser Island.
Teresa Dybevik said I'm glad you wrote this... it gave me some awareness. These freaks shouldn't be playing ball....
Ann Nyberg said I agree w ur brother !!
Sally Jackson said Glad you wrote it..excellent info and persepective and numbers for help at the bottom...I posted it on my wall so all my friends can see it too. You go Super Mom!!
Jennifer Edsill Schrad said Thank you Sally
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