urbandreamer
recession proof
Rob Ford is successful because he's a career politician. 'nuff said.
I'd say he's more of a career campaigner.Rob Ford is successful because he's a career politician. 'nuff said.
And if you check out the hate-filled, bigoted comments on the sun that's just the way robbie nation likes it.
My roommate works in the 'burbs where he has come to learn that many of his co-workers, younger people - mostly 20-40-somethings, will support Ford no matter what. He asks me not to re-post anything about Ford on his FB page because he's connected to some of them there, so of course I don't.
My roommate works in the 'burbs where he has come to learn that many of his co-workers, younger people - mostly 20-40-somethings, will support Ford no matter what. He asks me not to re-post anything about Ford on his FB page because he's connected to some of them there, so of course I don't. Today one of his co-workers was by, a really sweet, smart woman of perhaps late 20's. Somehow we got onto politics, then to John Tory and I could see my roommate starting to fidget and get nervous. Her comment about how The Star ruthlessly goes after Rob Ford and how unfair that is got me going and I couldn't help myself, when I told her all the other national and local dailies were down on Ford she simply wouldn't accept that fact - it's all about the Toronto Star to her. I left it there because my roommate was beginning to have a panic attack and I like her, but it illustrated once again that even though she's admittedly luke-warm politically but overall "likes" Ford ("what other Mayor invites the whole city to a BBQ that he pays for"), there's no reasonable debate that can sway their opinions. Until a recording is released or he does something serious that finally winds him up in jail for more than three months, Ford Nation is truly alive and well.
Most people are too busy working or looking for work and trying to live their lives to follow the story closely enough to be able to put all the pieces together, the result is they only remember Ford's "I SAVED A GABILLION DOLLARS SOMEHOW" and "EVIL STAR COMMIENAZI PROPAGANDA SLUR CAMPAIGN!" repeated ad nauseam. You add in that "everybody's (poorly informed) opinion is valid!" crap everybody's been raised to accept as gospel truth along with an unhealthy lack of critical thinking skills and the unrelenting corperate propaganda machine aimed at the average suburbanite dolt, and you get the stubborn banality of Ford Nation.
It's one thing to behave a certain way and think certain things out of genuine ignorance, but it's quite another to bury one's head in the sand (or in Ford Nation's case, firmly up their asses) and proudly dismiss or gloss over obvious things that have happened recently which casts doubt on their privledged golden boy's character. I've seen 5th graders being hauled down to the office for setting off stink bombs in the girls' washroom comport themselves with more dignity and class than I've seen from either of the Ford boys during this entire sorry affair.
I really wonder what if anything would make these people admit to being wrong about anything (We've all already seen and heard premptive goalpost moving like "I don't care if he smoked crack/is a homophobe/is a racist/never held down a job that wasn't working for his daddy prior to buying his way into politics or selling hash with his brother! Ford did *nebulous good that is usually demonstrably untrue when pressed for clairification or missatributed to him* good for the city!") or reconsider their views.
There's no reasonable debate on either side, and ThinkRicky's post is pretty much proof of that. While there are plenty of people who support Ford for poor reasons, there are equally as many who dislike Ford for poor or imaginary reasons (homophobe, racist, he's fat, he's red, never had a job, runs a propaganda machine, etc, etc). Most of the criticism that gets flung at him is baseless or irrelevant: he's a homophobe because he said something statistically true, he's a vandalizer because he put magnets on cars, etc.
The reason people are so passionately blind in their support of Ford is the same reason people are so passionately blind in their hatred of Ford. He's a controversial figure, says exactly what he thinks and is the antithesis of both your average politician and politics in general.
If any of you honestly think that there isn't an equal amount of baseless blind hatred of the man as there is adoration, then you're probably just as blind as the Ford Nation supporters you lambast.
I'm not saying that anyone who dislikes Ford is unreasonable or blind. In particular, I like Edward Keenan's column in The Grid: he offers some thoughtful and nuanced criticisms of Ford. However, it bothers me whenever I see Ford Nation characterized as stupid by the same people whose criticism of him is "hes a fat homophobic racist facist bigot fat fuck!!!!"
There's no reasonable debate on either side, and ThinkRicky's post is pretty much proof of that. While there are plenty of people who support Ford for poor reasons, there are equally as many who dislike Ford for poor or imaginary reasons (homophobe, racist, he's fat, he's red, never had a job, runs a propaganda machine, etc, etc). Most of the criticism that gets flung at him is baseless or irrelevant: he's a homophobe because he said something statistically true, he's a vandalizer because he put magnets on cars, etc.
The reason people are so passionately blind in their support of Ford is the same reason people are so passionately blind in their hatred of Ford. He's a controversial figure, says exactly what he thinks and is the antithesis of both your average politician and politics in general.
If any of you honestly think that there isn't an equal amount of baseless blind hatred of the man as there is adoration, then you're probably just as blind as the Ford Nation supporters you lambast.
I'm not saying that anyone who dislikes Ford is unreasonable or blind. In particular, I like Edward Keenan's column in The Grid: he offers some thoughtful and nuanced criticisms of Ford. However, it bothers me whenever I see Ford Nation characterized as stupid by the same people whose criticism of him is "hes a fat homophobic racist facist bigot fat fuck!!!!"
There's no reasonable debate on either side, and ThinkRicky's post is pretty much proof of that. While there are plenty of people who support Ford for poor reasons, there are equally as many who dislike Ford for poor or imaginary reasons (homophobe, racist, he's fat, he's red, never had a job, runs a propaganda machine, etc, etc). Most of the criticism that gets flung at him is baseless or irrelevant: he's a homophobe because he said something statistically true, he's a vandalizer because he put magnets on cars, etc.
The reason people are so passionately blind in their support of Ford is the same reason people are so passionately blind in their hatred of Ford. He's a controversial figure, says exactly what he thinks and is the antithesis of both your average politician and politics in general.
If any of you honestly think that there isn't an equal amount of baseless blind hatred of the man as there is adoration, then you're probably just as blind as the Ford Nation supporters you lambast.
I'm not saying that anyone who dislikes Ford is unreasonable or blind. In particular, I like Edward Keenan's column in The Grid: he offers some thoughtful and nuanced criticisms of Ford. However, it bothers me whenever I see Ford Nation characterized as stupid by the same people whose criticism of him is "hes a fat homophobic racist facist bigot fat fuck!!!!"
Ppl forget that much of "Ford Nation" infact is made up of small (and medium and large) business people. I know one of the people that helped raise funds for his campaign--you'd be surprised who these people are. They continue to support him, not because who he is but rather who he represents--aka business class ppl.
Am I really fond of these biz class ppl? No.