Rob Ford's Toronto

[adma]

Also impairing practicality is the fact that this is Canada, not America (the "gun thing", etc).

But when it comes to my radical speculation: keep in mind that it's a tributary of my stance last fall relative to all the usual lefty arguments and whines equating Ford to all your usual-suspect "disastrous conservative mayors", Mel Lastman (whine), Sam Katz (whine), Larry O'Brien (whine), etc. Even then, I was warning the lefty armchair critics: uh-uh. This is a whole different kettle of fish, something far more grotesque and ominous and all, etc...

 

[tkip]

As mentioned before, I accept the possibility that my words in threads like this might trigger the unhinged. But if that's the case, then the Beatles killed Sharon Tate.

And to go back to the whole "tkip family" thing for a metaphor: my own family imploded, spectacularly. And I wouldn't wish it upon anyone; however, in hindsight and on balance, maybe it was better for that to happen than for us to "grin and bear it", even if some of us got hurt in the process. That's right: sometimes fate dictates that it's necessary for a family to self-destruct (luckily I had alternate "good family" exemplars to look up to).

And I sense a similar toxin in effect w/the Ford regime...and, face it. Maybe, just as w/my family, "grinning and bearing it" just *isn't* enough.

What's your problem dude? Seriously, you keep making references to my family as though it were some plague. And now you're predicting a Ford assassination!? You do need meds.

 

[Irishmonk]

Read the comments section of the Marcus Gee column--or any opinion piece about Ford--and you'll see the kind of polarizing, malignant hate that has descended onto Toronto since that dark day last October. The tolerant, peaceful sophisticated city that we thought we lived in and perhaps felt a bit complacent about was nothing but a sham. The truth is this city is as divided as any region in the U.S. and our political discourse is of no higher nature. Hate to say it, but the the Torontopia Enlightment is over.

 

[Torontovibe]

Read the comments section of the Marcus Gee column--or any opinion piece about Ford--and you'll see the kind of polarizing, malignant hate that has descended onto Toronto since that dark day last October. The tolerant, peaceful sophisticated city that we thought we lived in and perhaps felt a bit complacent about was nothing but a sham. The truth is this city is as divided as any region in the U.S. and our political discourse is of no higher nature. Hate to say it, but the the Torontopia Enlightment is over.

Well, that's what you get when you elect a mayor who picks favourites and pits one group against another. Ford has been divisive from day one. The hate is really beginning to flow.

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

I have a good mind to write the Pride Committee and recommend that they send an open letter to the "Mayor", and all National and Local media outlets cancelling Pride completely for as long as Ford is still in office as he clearly doesn't not want nor welcome this event in his city and further, opt out of World Pride in 2014. Watch the sh*t fly then when businesses realize that a half billion dollars will be lost in the local economy over the next three years.
Further, with all this hate and vitriol spewing online I have a very uneasy feeling something bad is going to happen this year. Not to compare to adma's theory if Ford attended the parade, but just something bad.

 

[kEiThZ]

I have a good mind to write the Pride Committee and recommend that they send an open letter to the "Mayor", and all National and Local media outlets cancelling Pride completely for as long as Ford is still in office as he clearly doesn't not want nor welcome this event in his city and further, opt out of World Pride in 2014. Watch the sh*t fly then when businesses realize that a half billion dollars will be lost in the local economy over the next three years.
Further, with all this hate and vitriol spewing online I have a very uneasy feeling something bad is going to happen this year. Not to compare to adma's theory if Ford attended the parade, but just something bad.

But isn't the event more than one man? I really don't see how Rob Ford attending or not will make a difference. Any more than say the Prime Minister or the Premier attending.

I think people are making way too big a deal out of this. It's a convenient opportunity to bash his views. And that's fine. But to suggest that the Pride parade will some how suffer because Rob Ford is not showing up is ridiculous. And if he does show up now, after all this crap, it's just going to be an uncomfortable presence.

Personally, I'm not a fan of the parade either. And that has nothing do with gay rights. I just don't like the debauchery on display. I don't see what it (the parade as constituted today) has to do with gay rights at all. It may have been about that at one point, but it's certainly not that today. It my books, that parade simply sends the wrong message about LBGT people. It makes them out to be the some crazy cross-dressing, flaming nutjob who likes to play with water guns. That's a far cry from the friends and family I have who are gay. So I find it understandable that somebody might not want to attend. Perhaps Rob Ford should simply consider some alternate venue to do with gay rights this weekend. I'm sure there's some plaque or dedication or something else in the city this weekend.

 

[RC8]

Read the comments section of the Marcus Gee column--or any opinion piece about Ford--and you'll see the kind of polarizing, malignant hate that has descended onto Toronto since that dark day last October. The tolerant, peaceful sophisticated city that we thought we lived in and perhaps felt a bit complacent about was nothing but a sham. The truth is this city is as divided as any region in the U.S. and our political discourse is of no higher nature. Hate to say it, but the the Torontopia Enlightment is over.

I disagree. Toronto is not divided.

There is, however, a division between the real city of Toronto and the ridiculous wasteland suburbs that were attached to it in the 90s.

American cities are usually not amalgamated like ours, and they still have great divisions.

 

[kEiThZ]

Also impairing practicality is the fact that this is Canada, not America (the "gun thing", etc).

But when it comes to my radical speculation: keep in mind that it's a tributary of my stance last fall relative to all the usual lefty arguments and whines equating Ford to all your usual-suspect "disastrous conservative mayors", Mel Lastman (whine), Sam Katz (whine), Larry O'Brien (whine), etc. Even then, I was warning the lefty armchair critics: uh-uh. This is a whole different kettle of fish, something far more grotesque and ominous and all, etc...

Having lived in Ottawa during the Larry O'Brien period, I am not inclined to count him as a failure. He made an unpopular call, cancelling the light rail project. But it was the right call. That project simply made too many compromises. At the end it was some weird line that didn't serve commuters in the East or West, and wouldn't have done much for commuters in the South, unless you lived in the new built sprawl outside the greenbelt. It wasn't grade separated through downtown and by the City staffs own estimates would have resulted not only in no operational savings, it would have actually sucked up all expected future operational cost increases. It also flat out promoted sprawl by rewarding those who chose to live in sprawl suburbs rather than those commuting within the greenbelt. For his courage in pushing for a proper reset, the guy has been lumped in with people like Ford. All because of the folks who just wanted to see something get built, regardless of the significant long term detrimental impact.

I have a feeling, years from now, when the light rail is in service, properly serving East-West commuters (the bulk of transit rides in Ottawa), people are going to be quite grateful that Larry O'Brien had the guts to make an unpopular call.

 

[kEiThZ]

I disagree. Toronto is not divided.

There is, however, a division between the real city of Toronto and the ridiculous wasteland suburbs that were attached to it in the 90s.

American cities are usually not amalgamated like ours, and they still have great divisions.

BS.

So Brookly and Queens are not party of NYC? How are Scarborough and Etobicoke any different than those two boroughs?

 

[toraerach]

Further, with all this hate and vitriol spewing online I have a very uneasy feeling something bad is going to happen this year. Not to compare to adma's theory if Ford attended the parade, but just something bad.

Yes, I've been feeling a bit on edge as well. Rationally, I don't think that anything particularly eventful will happen this year, but I do have this gut feeling that something bad is going to go down.

On the other hand, if there's any silver lining to be had from this whole episode, it's that the divisiveness of recent years within the community has cooled down a bit. In effect, Ford has solved one of Pride's lingering identity questions: Pride is still political, even if it is mostly just a corporate-sponsored party.

 

[Tulse]

to suggest that the Pride parade will some how suffer because Rob Ford is not showing up is ridiculous.

I don't think a lot of folks are suggesting that Pride suffers if Ford doesn't show -- I think the main complaint is that it makes Ford look homophobia and small-minded, and that isn't good for the city as a whole.

Personally, I'm not a fan of the parade either. And that has nothing do with gay rights. I just don't like the debauchery on display. I don't see what it (the parade as constituted today) has to do with gay rights at all. It may have been about that at one point, but it's certainly not that today. It my books, that parade simply sends the wrong message about LBGT people. It makes them out to be the some crazy cross-dressing, flaming nutjob who likes to play with water guns.

Perhaps some gay people like to celebrate the fact that they can debauch, cross-dress, and play with water guns without fear of being literally killed.

If you don't like the atmosphere of the parade, as a private citizen you are well within your rights not to go. But as mayor of the largest city in Canada, Ford should attend one of the largest economic events in that city. It's his frickin' job to promote the city, regardless of his personal queasiness about drag queens.

 

[toraerach]

Personally, I'm not a fan of the parade either. And that has nothing do with gay rights. I just don't like the debauchery on display. I don't see what it (the parade as constituted today) has to do with gay rights at all. It may have been about that at one point, but it's certainly not that today. It my books, that parade simply sends the wrong message about LBGT people. It makes them out to be the some crazy cross-dressing, flaming nutjob who likes to play with water guns. That's a far cry from the friends and family I have who are gay. So I find it understandable that somebody might not want to attend. Perhaps Rob Ford should simply consider some alternate venue to do with gay rights this weekend. I'm sure there's some plaque or dedication or something else in the city this weekend.

The Pride Parade I know is made up of religious groups, unions, other work groups, volunteer organizations, supportive politicians, community leaders, ethnic organizations, student groups, etc. It's teachers, bank tellers, proud parents, social workers, police officers, and a hundred other types of people. It represents the vast diversity in Toronto's LGBT community, including those who don't act "normal." Debauchery, if that's what you want to call it, is a part of life. Frankly, Toronto could use more displays of it, so long as it's not harming anyone. The people who get their ideas of Pride from the drag queens and leather-bound stereotypes from the media have no one to blame but themselves for not knowing what Pride or the gay community at large is really all about. Pride should be unapologetically loud and flashy and vibrant - it's a celebration of a community that would be no where were we not loud, flashy, and in-your-face vibrant in the past.

That said, there's absolutely nothing particularly debauched about raising a flag at City Hall and reading a proclamation, but Ford skipped that, and skipped Family Pride, and a host of other lower-key events that he could have attended. And, even though this doesn't seem to have pissed anyone else off, he's skipped a host of unrelated Canada Day events going on throughout the city right now. He really does not seem able to grasp what it means to live life as a public figure where you are expected to show up, and where you are expected to lead a transparent, public life.

 

[tkip]

People are getting carried away with predictions of assassination attempts on Ford or suggesting something "bad" will happen at this year's Pride. Actually, more than being carried away. Seems like that some of you want something bad to happen, so you can then pin this on Ford. But that's just my opinion.

My thoughts on the Ford missing in absence? He should have attended one of the events but skipped the parade. Participating in the parade isn't necessary. And maybe Ford has a genuine issue with the parade regarding people's behavior. I certainly know many people who do/did and several were gay.

A older lesbian co-worker of mine told me a few years back that she thought that the Pride parade didn't represent the gay community at all and actually gives the impression to the general population that gay people, mostly gay men, are sexual deviants and pervs. Her opinion. Not mine. She openly felt that too many in the parade are there to shock people.

The previous post brought up the important point of noting that Ford missed several Canada Day events as well so people should take this evidence that maybe Ford isn't a closet gay hater after all. Maybe he's just not that interested in going to events or events that don't hold his interest which I admit, is something a mayor can ill afford.

 

[adma]

Having lived in Ottawa during the Larry O'Brien period, I am not inclined to count him as a failure. He made an unpopular call, cancelling the light rail project. But it was the right call. That project simply made too many compromises. At the end it was some weird line that didn't serve commuters in the East or West, and wouldn't have done much for commuters in the South, unless you lived in the new built sprawl outside the greenbelt. It wasn't grade separated through downtown and by the City staffs own estimates would have resulted not only in no operational savings, it would have actually sucked up all expected future operational cost increases. It also flat out promoted sprawl by rewarding those who chose to live in sprawl suburbs rather than those commuting within the greenbelt. For his courage in pushing for a proper reset, the guy has been lumped in with people like Ford. All because of the folks who just wanted to see something get built, regardless of the significant long term detrimental impact.

I have a feeling, years from now, when the light rail is in service, properly serving East-West commuters (the bulk of transit rides in Ottawa), people are going to be quite grateful that Larry O'Brien had the guts to make an unpopular call.

Though note that I referred to "disastrous conservative mayors" in quotes, i.e. not my opinion, so much as that of, sarcastically speaking, their "certified grassroots opposition". And of the three I referred to, O'Brien *was* the biggest failure; after all, unlike Lastman and Katz, he failed--soundly--to be reelected. Not because he was "conservative", but because he was tin-eared and inept in power--in that light, more like the Rae NDP than the Harris Tories. So why you single him out among my three puzzles me, unless it's strictly based upon the light rail issue--and if that's the case, one can just as well (probably rightly) claim that Premier Rae got a bum rap in various regards...

 

[adma]

Read the comments section of the Marcus Gee column--or any opinion piece about Ford--and you'll see the kind of polarizing, malignant hate that has descended onto Toronto since that dark day last October. The tolerant, peaceful sophisticated city that we thought we lived in and perhaps felt a bit complacent about was nothing but a sham. The truth is this city is as divided as any region in the U.S. and our political discourse is of no higher nature. Hate to say it, but the the Torontopia Enlightment is over.

Yet...those are on-line newspaper comments sections. You should have known they were like that by now, dum-dum (sxcuse my Great Gazoo-ism).

Though what makes Gee's column extraordinarily, dare I say meta-journalistically, interesting is in how he directed the spotlight right at said comments--something most reporters/columnists haven't done, perhaps on "best left unsaid" grounds. Which may be a "de-normalizing" turning point in how such comments are commonly regarded.

And it's through circumstances like that that my "potential assassination theorems" must be understood. It isn't through "advocacy"; it's through passive comprehension of what's really in the air out there. I don't have to do anything; my only weapon is a magnifying glass, for you to see for yourself--and believe it or not, even a lot of Ford's most vociferous lefty-pinko critics haven't "got it". They've been using too much of the same template they've used against Lastman, Rowlands, Eggleton, et al. So if you're shocked--shocked!--at what Marcus Gee hath exposed and wrought, don't say I didn't tell you so. True, many of us comprehend "do not feed or be taken in by the trolls" logic, this here being the Interweb--but not everybody does; and that's where the powderkeg lies.

What may appear as "advocacy" on my part is more of a preparation-for-inevitability(?) tactic--that is, should something extraordinarily, atypically-for-Canada ugly happen as a result of the Ford mayoralty, I'm prepared to hit a certain ground running. It beats being shocked--shocked!

Just like I turned out to be a little Stockhausen-ish re 9/11.