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Rob Ford's Toronto

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http://www.torontolife.com/informer...ainst-rob-ford-and-suffered-the-consequences/

I know this isn’t news anymore, but it’s been bothering me since it was.

I also realize that this is politics, so some of Munira’s story may have dramatic elements, however in general I think it's a pretty sad post-election state of affairs in Rob Ford's Toronto.

I thought the racist graffiti on the signs was pretty bad, but this taking down and putting back up of signs a step down from that. One drunk person with a permanent marker can deface a newsworthy number of signs, but this much effort is the work of more than one person, with some form of organization required. It’s one thing to defeat a low-income candidate. It’s another to try to bankrupt them altogether.

Did Rob Ford order this? He didn’t have to. Can Ford Nation claim responsibility for this “unseen force� Or does it get attributed to FN in any case?

One of the TrawnaLife reader posts popped out (pinky 8888) about glorious Rexdale:

“It wasn't just Munira who had signs removed and reposted. During the muni election, I volunteered with Andray Domise who also ran in Ward 2. We had signs taken down in the hundreds and posted in illegal areas day after day after day. We found signs for Munira, Andray, Chow and Tory pulled up and tossed pver a fence into waste ground. We took photos every time and sent them in to the city. Yes there is always a certain amount of this, but in Ward 2 last fall it was epidemic. You have to wonder whose tiny minds were behin it.â€
 
I wish they would do away with these signs altogether. Causes litter, waste of paper, bad for the environment and just promotes lazy & herd-like thinking ("I don't know who to vote for so instead of doing some research and thinking for myself, I'll just look out my window and vote for whoever my neighbours are voting for")
 
Kat_YYZ said:
I wish they would do away with these signs altogether. Causes litter, waste of paper, bad for the environment and just promotes lazy & herd-like thinking ("I don't know who to vote for so instead of doing some research and thinking for myself, I'll just look out my window and vote for whoever my neighbours are voting for")
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I don't mind signs. Makes for good lay-of-the-land election sightseeing--there's nothing more fun than road tripping (or bike tripping, or transit tripping) come election time. Otherwise, it'd all feel like a vaporous vacuum.

And if you're bored or disinterested in such stuff, that's your problem.
 
adma said:
I don't mind signs. Makes for good lay-of-the-land election sightseeing--there's nothing more fun than road tripping (or bike tripping, or transit tripping) come election time. Otherwise, it'd all feel like a vaporous vacuum.

And if you're bored or disinterested in such stuff, that's your problem.
Click to expand...

I didn't say I was bored or disinterested. I said I found them wasteful.

Disinterested/low-information voters who follow the herd are everyone's problem. Because their vote is worth the same as an informed voter's. Why are you getting on my case? Do you have a better argument in favour of election signs besides your personal entertainment?
 
They have their use. If you were in an area with a ton of Rofo placards, a ton of Tory placards and a handful of Chow placards, and you vehemently wished to see the back of Ford, you'd know that a Tory vote would be the way to go in your ward.
 
adma said:
I don't mind signs. Makes for good lay-of-the-land election sightseeing--there's nothing more fun than road tripping (or bike tripping, or transit tripping) come election time. Otherwise, it'd all feel like a vaporous vacuum.

And if you're bored or disinterested in such stuff, that's your problem.
Click to expand...

Way to assume boredom or disinterest! I also think they are a waste of money and I don't find them to be fun to look at, they are an eye sore.
 
Kat_YYZ said:
Disinterested/low-information voters who follow the herd are everyone's problem. Because their vote is worth the same as an informed voter's. Why are you getting on my case? Do you have a better argument in favour of election signs besides your personal entertainment?
Click to expand...

It's the visual manifestation of democracy in action, and it makes the land richer. That is, it's a "personal entertainment" worth sharing--and it renders us more "engaged" on a macro-level. I mean, without signs, how would you know what's happening elsewhere besides your own immediate turf? Or, do you even *care*?

Elections with signs are mass spectacle, an aesthetic event--it draws us into the magical "electionness" of elections. Otherwise, to factor out signs is to reduce it all to dry electoral philistinism.

Come to think of it, given how I speak of election-time "road tripping", there may be a corollary btw/condemning election signs as *wasteful* and condemning road tripping as "wasteful"; y'know, gas et al.

Oh, and I'm probably *a lot more* engaged to electoral stats, poll-by-poll figures, trends, potential et al than you are. And I wouldn't have come about it if it weren't for a lifetime of election signage in my face...
 
EagleEye said:
Way to assume boredom or disinterest! I also think they are a waste of money and I don't find them to be fun to look at, they are an eye sore.
Click to expand...

And I'm probably a lot more engaged to electoral stats, poll-by-poll figures, trends, potential et al than *you* are, too.
 
Kat_YYZ said:
I wish they would do away with these signs altogether. Causes litter, waste of paper, bad for the environment and just promotes lazy & herd-like thinking ("I don't know who to vote for so instead of doing some research and thinking for myself, I'll just look out my window and vote for whoever my neighbours are voting for")
Click to expand...
Or, on the other hand, a sign might inspire one to do research. If an uninformed voter sees Joe Blow signs everywhere maybe they'll look him up online and see why he's so popular.
 
Signs are okay when restricted to the front of private residences. I wasn't in the city last election so don't know if the practice has remained the same but in past elections forests of signs seemed to gather on boulevards near intersections, or at the edges of unmaintained lands. Maybe this happened more in the inner suburbs, like Scarborough where I was living. Always seemed good reason not to vote for someone if they engaged in such practices, especially in municipal elections, because it showed lack of concern for the general cleanliness of the city. However, everyone seemed to do it.
 
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