OK, Ford Nation (or whatever you want to call yourselves)?
I may be a latte-drinking, Birkenstock-wearing, tree-hugging downtown elitist, but I don’t hate Rob Ford. I’m not keen on what he’s done to Toronto’s social fabric or the public conversation, but I don’t hate him or want to hurt him personally.
Honest to god.
Cross my heart and hope to die.
Really.
I think it’s pretty clear that he hates his job. What’s less clear is why the hell he wants to hang on to it. It’s not like he needs the money or anything. And it’s obvious that it’s just getting in the way of his love for football.
This will be an ongoing, daily issue for two excruciating months. We’ve finally reached the death spiral of the Ford mayoralty.
— Jonathan Goldsbie (@goldsbie) September 13, 2012
All the rest of it — the hypocrisy, the bad optics, the cellphones, the staffers, the hamfisted attempts at misdirection, the victim narrative, the Shiny Objects, the counterproductive messaging, the Brother … just cherries on the shit sundae.
JESUS DOUG HE’S YOUR BROTHER WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO DO TO HIM?
— Edward Keenan (@thekeenanwire) September 12, 2012
Seriously, what could possibly go wrong with this idea? @thetorontosun‘s @reporterdonpeat: torontosun.com/2012/09/13/may???” #topoli #tocouncil
— Adrienne Batra (@AdrienneBatra) September 13, 2012
But here’s a thought, and for this I acknowledge both Ed Keenan and John Lorinc: can we just stop, already, and perhaps focus on the stuff that needs attention? Transit, infrastructure, poverty, the inequality gap, public services, the quality of our civic life? These are all things that we need to have serious adult conversations about, and that can’t happen with the Rob Ford Follies consuming our attention, our focus and our energy like a fire consumes oxygen.
It’s time to recognize Rob Ford for what he is: a distraction. An easy shot to the front page, or the top of the evening news, or the trending topics on Twitter, but nothing more. This will go on for as long as it goes on, but there’s nothing that says we have to drop everything and dwell on it every time he drops the ball.
Related posts:
- Conflict of interest and the toxic Ford effect | #TOpoli
- @Cityslikr, @NickKouvalis, and more on controlling the narrative: the runup to 2014 | #TOpoli
- From Campaign 2010 to Campaign 2014: framing the #TOpoli narrative
- Yo, Rob. Isn’t it time to think about doing something else? | #TOpoli