NYCBoy2305
Active Member
You are also less likely to get a brain tumour with a land line
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Rob Ford's Toronto
- Thread starter MetroMan
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the lemur
Senior Member
Fear not, it's not my personal view - I was drawing on the Ford lexicon of words for people they don't like.
In the Fordian worldview, 'downtown' and 'elite' go together, since anyone who lives downtown is someone who supposedly considers himself too good to live in the suburbs as they do. To Ford Nation, downtown is for work and entertainment only, not for living. But not highbrow entertainment - any interest in that which goes by the name of 'the arts' or 'culture' is suspect.
Elites are of course anyone the Fords don't like, mainly because they are a lost cause to them, and the Fords resent them for their education, which generally enables them to see through the brothers' politics of distraction and dissembling, and their income, which, although it may be high like their own or that of the more well-off members of Ford Nation, is earned in puzzling and apparently illegitimate ways that have nothing to do with manual labour or anything that benefits them directly, and much to do with book-learnin', liberries, cultcher, sociology, education and vague artsy shit.
It's no accident that Rob's drunken harangue of that couple at the ACC included speculation on the unworthy, effete occupation of one of them: 'Are you a fucking teacher?'
As for the bike part, again, bicycles ridden outside of suburban parks and cul-de-sacs, as transportation rather than recreation, are a signifier of uppity downtownerness.
AlvinofDiaspar
Moderator
It's really not so much so an issue with landline vs. cell - it's not a sufficient answer to how one end up with a 50% presentation by those 55+ and extrapolate that as representative.
AoD
AoD
calimehtar
Active Member
Because it wasn't so long ago that land lines were considered practically a necessity, I assume that land line use correlates with age and not much else. In more conventional elections you can usually guess that this means polls will tell you conservatives will get more votes than they actually end up getting - younger people tend to vote for left-leaning parties.
This story says there is a very slight skew in Ford supporters - there is a slightly higher probablility (probably within the margin of error) that older voters support him. So unfortunately election results seem likely to align with the polls in this case.
My speculation about Ford support -
He is clearly a populist: his support comes from telling people what they want to hear, regardless of the facts. For voters who are not paying careful attention he has a very consistent message, and it just happens to be more-or-less exactly what his supporters are thinking. A smarter politician like Karen Stinz would be much more effective as mayor but, for example, failed to win credit for the Scarborough subway because she has not been heard chanting "subways subways subways" whenever she is given the opportunity.
It doesn't matter that he hasn't really done anything to achieve his objectives, he magically attracts credit for things he supports, and evades blame for screw-ups he is responsible for by playing the outsider. I believe it may not be a failing of Toronto voters: the problem may be that Ford just happens to be here in Toronto - he would have the same appeal in other North American cities.
As the crack scandal has illustrated, he can pretty much do anything as long as he keeps fighting against higher taxes. Even though half of future property tax hikes will be to pay for the subway he gets credit for, he will avoid blame because more responsible councillors will vote for the increases while he votes against them.
The only way to get rid of him permanently is if a leftist or centrist with broad appeal runs in every election that he also runs in. If he is convicted of a crime he will return to run again, and maybe win.
This story says there is a very slight skew in Ford supporters - there is a slightly higher probablility (probably within the margin of error) that older voters support him. So unfortunately election results seem likely to align with the polls in this case.
My speculation about Ford support -
He is clearly a populist: his support comes from telling people what they want to hear, regardless of the facts. For voters who are not paying careful attention he has a very consistent message, and it just happens to be more-or-less exactly what his supporters are thinking. A smarter politician like Karen Stinz would be much more effective as mayor but, for example, failed to win credit for the Scarborough subway because she has not been heard chanting "subways subways subways" whenever she is given the opportunity.
It doesn't matter that he hasn't really done anything to achieve his objectives, he magically attracts credit for things he supports, and evades blame for screw-ups he is responsible for by playing the outsider. I believe it may not be a failing of Toronto voters: the problem may be that Ford just happens to be here in Toronto - he would have the same appeal in other North American cities.
As the crack scandal has illustrated, he can pretty much do anything as long as he keeps fighting against higher taxes. Even though half of future property tax hikes will be to pay for the subway he gets credit for, he will avoid blame because more responsible councillors will vote for the increases while he votes against them.
The only way to get rid of him permanently is if a leftist or centrist with broad appeal runs in every election that he also runs in. If he is convicted of a crime he will return to run again, and maybe win.
thisbusymonster
New Member
No you aren't.
AlvinofDiaspar
Moderator
re: elitist
But isn't it interesting how the word was being appropriated in a manner that is purely negative and completely avoided the other meaning, i.e. the best? Someone is playing a class war, and it ain't the left in this case.
AoD
But isn't it interesting how the word was being appropriated in a manner that is purely negative and completely avoided the other meaning, i.e. the best? Someone is playing a class war, and it ain't the left in this case.
AoD
the lemur
Senior Member
I've met and I know several, and I am one of the latter. Again, I was alluding to the Fords' hate-on for all things downtown and pedal-powered.
My point is that it would be hugely ironic for Rob's dubious back-alley transaction, whatever it was, to have been witnessed by, of all things, a teacher. On a bicycle. Downtown. Three things he generally never has a good word to say about.
Maybe being downtown threw Robbie off - out of his element, he let his guard down. So that part would have been his own fault.
If this eyewitness testimony is true and turns out to be pivotal to the case against Ford, it would be hugely satisfying to his detractors for Ford - a man whose stock in trade is denigrating downtown as a den of stubbornly non-Fordian politics, vice and general velocipedal depravity wrought by pinkos and teachers - to be brought down by the observational powers of, to combine the words of Ford himself and one of his out-of-town boosters, one of those fucking teachers who like to ride bikes.
NYCBoy2305
Active Member
Brain tumours...
Disconnect: The Truth About Cell Phone Radiation, What the Industry Is Doing to Hide It, and How to Protect Your Family
http://www.amazon.com/Disconnect-Radiation-Industry-Protect-Family/dp/0452297443
Disconnect: The Truth About Cell Phone Radiation, What the Industry Is Doing to Hide It, and How to Protect Your Family
http://www.amazon.com/Disconnect-Radiation-Industry-Protect-Family/dp/0452297443
AlvinofDiaspar
Moderator
Yes, put yourself in a Faraday cage and call it a day.
AoD
AoD
inyyz
Active Member
I have a landline AND a rotary phone in the event of an emergency. I sure hope I remember how to use that phone....
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Dubster
Active Member
How do we know it's a slow day in Fordland?
"Landlines vs Cell Phones? Which will Save/Kill Everyone You've Ever Loved? Tune In Tonight at 6:30 To Find Out!"
"Landlines vs Cell Phones? Which will Save/Kill Everyone You've Ever Loved? Tune In Tonight at 6:30 To Find Out!"
AlvinofDiaspar
Moderator
James_D
Active Member
And sadly a slow news day in the world of Robbie is 'only' front page news about his domestic assault interrupting a sting operation to arrest his driver/dealer.
inyyz
Active Member
I guess I'll find out during the next blackout/emergency. The dust on that phone will probably kill me first.
voxpopulicosmicum
Senior Member
Notice how Peepers has not actually responded to being asked if he's Joe Warmington? (and this from a guy who has a genuine soft spot for Peepers)
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