A longtime lurking Townswoman posted the following question on her Facebook page, which she said we could hash out in all our nerdy glory here:

Why does Yoko get such a bad rap, and no one gives Linda shit for letting Paul write the screenplay and star in Give My Regards to Broad Street? She could have put a stop to this nonsense!

In our offlist chat, she added, “Just because you used to be a Beatle doesn’t make you infallible!”

This raises a plethora of RTH-worthy questions, among them, Does Linda deserve shit for not blowing the whistle on Paul’s worst musical tendencies? and Do Beatles fans deserve shit for not calling bullshit on Linda re: Paul as they did on Yoko re: John?

I think Linda was not held in as negative a regard as Yoko because Paul didn’t need Linda to “bring him down” in any way. He was perfectly capable of sucking without her “help.” This is not to suggest that Yoko really made Lennon turn out a good deal of solo crap on his own, but John gave off a strong sense of dependency on Yoko, while Paul seemed to simply enjoy Linda’s company. Also playing a role, I would think, is the fact that Yoko was an artist in her own right, while Linda, photography career ignored, was considered little more than the “cook of the house.” Yoko and John presented themselves as equals and collaborators, whereas Paul and Linda presented themselves as more of a traditional “married team,” in the 1950s sense.

I also found it interesting that another longtime lurking Townswoman responding to this Facebook post brought up unfair criticisms Linda received for her perceived lack of Paul-worthy beauty. I always thought she was pretty good looking and never felt like Paul should have chosen me or a woman I would have picked out for him, but since it was mentioned I do now recall Beatles fans having that hang-up.