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Rob Ford's Toronto

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euler said:
I would not compare Robbie to Putin. Putin has power, Putin has respect, Putin has connections, and Putin has an army and nukes. Robbie has an Escalade and a mickey of Russian Prince.
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What if the Ford family and their nation of fools did have all that power?
 
Johnny Au said:
Unless you are Ford Nation.

Ford Nation believes that all shows on CC are for frat boys.
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To be clear, I don't have anything against frat boys or college kids in general. I just think that it's part of the phenomenon where people like Ford because they'd love to have a beer with him, rather than his effectiveness as a leader. And if he's a bit rough around the edges, well, that's a bonus for some people. Makes him seem "normal" and "relatable".

I actually have seen comments where people say "But would you rather have a beer with Ford or one of those stuck-up, two-faced slick politicians?" I guess this is the new gold standard for leadership.
 
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anonymoose said:
To be clear, I don't have anything against frat boys or college kids in general. I just think that it's part of the phenomenon where people like Ford because they'd love to have a beer with him, rather than his effectiveness as a leader.
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Worked for George W Bush.....

The media kept reporting that he was the guy people wanted to have a beer with

Look how that turned out
 
dforthandbview said:
Well, here we go, from The Star:
Bf657FZCUAAt5YV.jpg

https://twitter.com/TorStarEditor/status/431987039123165184
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He's wearing the same suit, shirt and tie as he was when he got the jaywalking ticket. Michael Cooke doesn't know who the people are, maybe that's Renata on the left?
 
For young people (18 to early-mid 20s), Rob Ford reminds them of someone and that person is Charlie Sheen. In Ford, they see "one of them". A guy they can party with. They think he's awesome. They are ignorant of, nor do they care about his policies or his lying ways or many other things. They just don't care. Now whether these young people will vote for Ford, that is another story, because as we know, young people tend to not vote. Regardless, Ford parties therefore he is awesome.
 
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sadly that's all they care about.

dforthandbview said:
For young people, Rob Ford reminds them of someone and that person is Charlie Sheen. In Ford, they see "one of them". A guy they can party with. They think he's awesome. They are ignorant of, nor do they care about his policies or his lying ways or many other things. They just don't care. Now whether these young people will vote for Ford, that is another story, because as we know, young people tend to not vote. Regardless, Ford parties therefore he is awesome.
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RC8 said:
The point is that while raising the pride flag in Toronto for the duration of the Olympics is a completely understandable and even commendable thing to do, it is unfortunately still an act that makes a large percentage of the people in this city uncomfortable. Right now that's not a massive problem because of Rob Ford's sheer incompetence, but if he wasn't such an idiot I have no doubt episodes like this would tilt the balance in his favour.

By all means do it, fly the flag, but throw a bone at those who may (rightly or wrongly) feel excluded. It's not that hard and makes it a lot harder for the likes of Ford to throw a fit.
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I am really struggling with the concept of "those who may (rightly or wrongly) feel excluded". Really, what kind of bone ought to be thrown? The flag is a piece of cloth blowing in the wind, sending a positive message to some local people, who, if they were the same people trying to openly be who they are, not too far back in the past, would have a tough time in Toronto, or any other big city or small town in Canada. Also, I hope, but don't know, that this piece of cloth has a positive impact beyond our national borders.

Who in Toronto is oppressed by this piece of cloth blowing in the wind? Big cities, nationwide, have done the right thing here. What exactly would have been a better way for TO to handle this?
 
dforthandbview said:
For young people (18 to early-mid 20s), Rob Ford reminds them of someone and that person is Charlie Sheen. In Ford, they see "one of them". A guy they can party with. They think he's awesome. They are ignorant of, nor do they care about his policies or his lying ways or many other things. They just don't care. Now whether these young people will vote for Ford, that is another story, because as we know, young people tend to not vote. Regardless, Ford parties therefore he is awesome.
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Definitely.

At the same time, you see a lot of older people with families approaching Ford to take pics, and at his "Ford Fest" parties, etc. The woman who "almost ran Ford over" is young, but she has a kid. As a mother, you'd think she'd be less of a fan of a guy who admittedly drives drunk and endangers the lives of others, but she probably thinks driving drunk makes him more human (if she's even aware of it). I mean, who among us hasn't drank an entire bottle of vodka and driven away immediately?

To further the "frat boy" discussion a bit, I have a close friend who some see as a "bro", likes to drink, but absolutely deplores drunk drivers. He also thinks that Rob Ford is a douchebag. But he is a pretty intelligent guy, too (and no longer in college). So I definitely don't think there's a "one-size-fits-all" stereotype for this kind of thing.
 
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k10ery said:
No kidding. Hiding behind the flag, promoting hatred of a minority, maintain the Big Lie. These guys are remarkably expert propagandists.

I know people are going to say "Godwin's Law" but some people really do deserve to be compared to Hitler. So much so that I've drafted a campaign poster for them. Here you go, Rob.

View attachment 22678
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Ford himself aside, it's the fervor and blind devotion of Ford Nation that to me is the most frightening parallel, and is most analogous to the insanity of a segment of the German population under the 3rd R.

Johnny Au said:
Ford Nation: frat boys, angry old men, and suburbanites
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And bitter cat ladies. It's remarkable how many freaks on the "I hate the war on ford" are obsessed with cats. And fantasy imagery.
 
atodaso said:
Ford himself aside, it's the fervor and blind devotion of Ford Nation that to me is the most frightening parallel, and is most analogous to the insanity of a segment of the German population under the 3rd R.


And bitter cat ladies. It's remarkable how many freaks on the "I hate the war on ford" are obsessed with cats. And fantasy imagery.
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There were a lot of cat owners using #cats4crazytown last week. Being owned by a cat does not make women Ford fans!
 
anonymoose said:
I know a Ford supporter who is an incredibly nice person. Works in a unionized job, has a same-sex partner -- so not your stereotypical Ford Nation member. She actually thinks Rob Ford and his brother are idiots on a personal level (e.g. she laughed when I mentioned that the present themselves as "average joes", since she knows they are millionaires.) But she would vote for him again because she thinks "our city is in trouble without him". She truly thinks that he is a victim of a media hatchet job and that he's doing a great job for our city. She also thinks that Scarborough needs a subway, regardless of the cost. (She lives and works in Scarborough.)

When I mentioned Ford knocking down McConnell in November, she actually asked me: "Did you see the video?" That's the level of distrust some have for the media. They won't believe anything unless they see with their own two eyes.

Oh, and the reason she doesn't care about his "personal issues" is because, like so many others, she believes that all politicians are just as bad, except that they are much better at hiding it. "Oh, so you prefer the slick politicians who are good at lying to you!"
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I think being cynical about the media and politics is a way for uninformed people to not feel like they're out of the loop. If you don't allow for the possibility that news and government matters, you can't be missing out by not following it. It's how dumb people allow themselves to feel smart.
 
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