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Rob Ford's Toronto

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hper said:
Wondering if Rob Ford has actually become a genius of modern electoral politicking. Nobody wants a selfie with Olivia Chow. And even if they did, what social traction would it get? John Tory will likely denounce 'the selfie' in a ten-point memorandum as soon as he figures out what 'selfie' means. When he does he'll surely embrace it awkwardly. And it will be...awkward. Great Sun FP photos, though. Socknacki will still be trying to find focus on his Brownie while Stintz passively/aggressively photobombs a Polaroid SX-70 somewhere. We'll never know where.

Point is, Ford gets his fluorescent face out there through Twitter while doing the only thing he does well - getting bombed and having fun. Cost = 0. None of the other 'politicians' in the hurdy-gurdy, hari-kiri, late-night-news-cycle. 24/7 WTF world of modern political coverage could pull it off in a way that seems any way 'real' or 'genuine'. Ford somehow can.

Now, at this point, many are thinking "Go away, troll". Which is fine. Those that have the patience to continue, cool. The pre-framing of this whole electoral period has (drugs and gangs and lying and intimidation and cops in Cessnas, etc, etc. aside) is "Man O' The People", yeah? These images with Ford will spread. For good or ill (Ya takes yer chances - unless you confiscate people's phones, of course. Hi. Rob...er...Doug).

It's entirely possible that one of the brighter lights in the decidedly dimly-lit Ford camp has decided that getting next to popular local Twitter people like e.g., @Daph, @Melody, @TooBig (these are fictional, so Twitter will yield less than satisfactory results) will spread 'Celebrity'. And that will fuel success. I suggest that Ford has been the most successful at leveraging new/social media so far. In a seemingly natural, effortless way. The others have to surmount- what's that George Clinton lyric? - Oh, yeah:

So, wide can't get around it
So, low you can't get under it
So, high you can't get over it

That's the one. 'One Nation Under A Groove'. We all know the Nation.

I just don't see any mainstream candidate 'working' social media better than Ford. Depressing? Without a doubt. So, remind your favoured electoral hope they have to be more than simply 'Not Rob Ford'. They have to be electorally viable in this stupid modern context. Because if not. it's late night talk and drunken selfies for Ford-More-fucking years.

/rant off
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I think you are overvaluing the role that social media and social media photography are going to play in the next election to an extraordinary degree. The vast majority of voters are not following Rob Ford sightings on Twitter (and why in God's name would they?), and have no idea that these images even exist. And even if they did, lacking any proper context, they would have no idea what they 'mean'. They certainly aren't going to make anyone more likely to vote for him.

The only reason they seem important is because every Friday and Saturday night there are people on this thread who spend their time monitoring Rob Ford's movements online, and Medievally parsing every sweat stain, flushed face, and hooded eyelid, looking for signs of specific forms of intoxication (is it oxy, alcohol or crack?), and ruminating on the physical evidence of his imminent demise. Every upload of an image on Twitter or Instagram from some 905 knucklehead posing with His Lardship is treated as breaking news, when it quite definitively is not. To me, there is a very low signal to noise ratio in the entire exercise.

The only user-generated media that really matters in the campaign is the stuff that does damage to the Ford brand--like the sightings on the Danforth, where he is unquestionably hammered. The 'positive' ones where Ford is looking 'normal' (for him), and is just his same old fat, unhealthy, bleary-eyed, flushed-faced self are beyond meaningless.
 
Joe Warmington also is a major kiss-ass star-f*cker. Read his tweets - he's always sucking up to celebrities. Kind of sad :/
 
basic said:
From MM's twitter:
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I think it's about time we stop listening to anything MM says at this point, eh? He was wrong about "imminent arrest" multiple times, he went off with some crazy shit about Russian mafia, and he's clearly enjoying his newfound Twitter celebrity status. If you do listen to him, take it all with a gigantic grain of salt, because his track record since he lost his source in the mayor's office has been abysmal.
 
thedeepend said:
The only user-generated media that really matters in the campaign is the stuff that does damage to the Ford brand--like the sightings on the Danforth, where he is unquestionably hammered. The 'positive' ones where Ford is looking 'normal' (for him), and is just his same old fat, unhealthy, bleary-eyed, flushed-faced self are beyond meaningless.
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The pics are positive because they give Ford validation. They help him to keep going, and to keep lying, to us, but mostly to himself.

On another note, Soknacki is getting into the social media selfie thang:
https://twitter.com/DavidSoknacki/status/452473115612688384/photo/1
 
Jimmi T said:
Is it public knowledge that Warmingtons an AA member? I wonder how that's affected his approach to Fords issues.
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That would explain a lot i think, in a very fucked way. An ex-alcoholic who enables and covers for someone still in the grip of the vise of booze is sociopathy defined.
 
thedeepend said:
That would explain a lot i think, in a very fucked way. An ex-alcoholic who enables and covers for someone still in the grip of the vise of booze is sociopathy defined.
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Aren't people in recovery supposed to be honest with themselves and others? Isn't that one of the steps?
Is he thinking that he can save RoFo, and push him along the path to recovery, by tasting his drinks and wiping his ass?
 
Maybe Joe is Rob's sponsor? That would explain a lot. And he did say "I tested his drink as i usually do".
 
newearthling said:
The pics are positive because they give Ford validation. They help him to keep going, and to keep lying, to us, but mostly to himself.

On another note, Soknacki is getting into the social media selfie thang:
https://twitter.com/DavidSoknacki/status/452473115612688384/photo/1
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True, they would temporarily buoy his spirits. But i would bet dollars to donuts that ROB HIMSELF has absolutely no idea of the social media images that are posted of him.

I have a very very hard time believing that Rob ever checks Twitter or Instagram. I have a very hard time imagining him knowing anything whatsoever about digital technology period.

In many ways, his entire problem (crack video) stems from the fact that he probably didn't even know that phones could now record video, or he was unaware of what that might mean.

The repeated occurrence of user-generated clips that damage him: Steak Queen, murder rant, the Danforth, the foul mouthed encounter on Bay St. from a few weeks back, are proof that Rob continues to NOT GET how smartphones work.

He doesn't understand that the world has changed, and you can't get away with the things you used to get away with any longer. Rob is the opposite of the master of social media--in fact, it's been his undoing.
 
euler said:
I think it's about time we stop listening to anything MM says at this point, eh? He was wrong about "imminent arrest" multiple times, he went off with some crazy shit about Russian mafia, and he's clearly enjoying his newfound Twitter celebrity status. If you do listen to him, take it all with a gigantic grain of salt, because his track record since he lost his source in the mayor's office has been abysmal.
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He was the one who said the TPS were ready to lay charges but that political interference was holding it up. Sounds like that's what happened.
 
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