News   Apr 24, 2024
Latest Iteration of 50 Eglinton West Proposes 46- and 58-Storey Towers
 861     1 
News   Apr 24, 2024
Sustainability Month: Mass Timber Construction Showing Long-Term Economic Benefits
 1.2K     1 
News   Apr 24, 2024
Aspen Ridge Freehold Townhomes at Crosstown in Master-Planned Community
 598     0 

Rob Ford's Toronto

Status
Not open for further replies.
AlvinofDiaspar said:
Just tell them to look up a) where the next Ford Fest is taking place; b) who are the owners of the site; c) development proposals for said site; d) lobbying activities around developing the site and e) which councillors are lobbied and their relationship with the organizer of the Ford Fest et voila!

AoD
Click to expand...

Thanks, I've been informed that another member is already on it.
 
Early in Ford's term a group of young political groupies busy on social media could always be seen hanging out together at council meetings. I remember some article nicknaming them "The Scoobies" for their ability to dig up dirt on Ford. Matt Elliot was part of it, and probably MetroMan, although I wouldn't recognize him to see him, and Goldsbie would have been a hanger-on. There was also the Code Blue people, and work by more established people like Ken Greenberg and Paul Bedford. By dynamic I guess I meant I hoped for political growth out of people like that, a grassroots that could have encouraged new candidates who had been involved in the community. Even Soknacki could have seemed more dynamic if he had more active visible support beyond Twitter behind him. I expected that there'd be greater organization finding and supporting new candidates like Domise. As well as he's doing, he's mostly doing it on his own. Such organization might also ensure that there wouldn't be three good new candidates running in that one riding against Mikey. More dynamic grassroots might have also targetted incumbents like Mammoliti, Shiner. But come election time a lot of that seemed to retreat back into observing and exchanging snark over Twitter with each other. Neville Park, one of that group of young people who kept watch on council, did run for the seat to replace Vaughan, but she did so as a joke candidate.
 
I believe that if Ford was not in this election from the start, Socnacki really would have had a good chance of winning. I know I'm not the only one who would have voted for him if not for the anyone-but-Ford responsibility we seem to have been burdened with.
 
well Tyson is pretty screwed up. I believe he himself has said he's bipolar. Add to that a career of blows to the head and whatever substances he's ingested.

I don't say that to excuse him. But one day the public is going to have to do something about its fascination with turning people who might be truly unwell into stars/sideshows and goading them on for our own entertainment. Everyone going to Tyson's live show is, on some level, hoping to see him have some kind of 'crazy episode' like that. What else is there? I doubt anyone thinks he's a great orator.
 
Kat_YYZ said:
I don't say that to excuse him. But one day the public is going to have to do something about its fascination with turning people who might be truly unwell into stars/sideshows and goading them on for our own entertainment. Everyone going to Tyson's live show is, on some level, hoping to see him have some kind of 'crazy episode' like that. What else is there? I doubt anyone thinks he's a great orator.
Click to expand...

Now I am not going to discharge him of his own responsibilities - he know his own rep, he chose to capitalize on it. Live by the sword...

If you don't want your past to be held to scrutiny, then stop choosing to go in front of the media using your past as leverage.

AoD
 
typezed said:
I've been griping all along about how disappointing it has been that the best Toronto could do to combat Ford was dredge up a couple known but lacklustre names like Tory and Chow. Somehow I thought the shock of Ford would have inspired a more dynamic response.
Click to expand...

maybe that dynamic response is buried in the "less than 1%" pool of candidates -- the ones that get even less coverage than Socks. But most people don't want radical change; most people are afraid of change. Their thinking is: Let's just get back to a "normal" mayor after Ford for now... we'll see about dynamic change next time. It's just too big a jump all at once. After watching him as deputy mayor for 9 months, most would probably like to vote for Kelly if they could. They're used to him, he's milquetoast and conventional. Perfect antidote to the Ford circus. You need them to get sick of 'milquetoast and conventional' before you can convince them to go to something else.
 
Kat_YYZ said:
I don't say that to excuse him. But one day the public is going to have to do something about its fascination with turning people who might be truly unwell into stars/sideshows and goading them on for our own entertainment. Everyone going to Tyson's live show is, on some level, hoping to see him have some kind of 'crazy episode' like that. What else is there? I doubt anyone thinks he's a great orator.
Click to expand...

It's similar to the phenomenon of Charlie Sheen's appeal when he was on his "Winning" bender. Media coverage was super-saturated, and no one knew what crazy thing he would do or say next, so that just kept the media coverage at a high level until he finally settled down. As we've seen, it works for RoFo, media coverage is there in case of another unpredictable moment of candid admissions or drunken stupor, giving him all kinds of extra coverage, even when something else was going on. As a reporter, would you rather be a firsthand witness to a potential Ford train wreck getting guaranteed airtime, or standing on street corner listening to Soknacki quoting numbers like he was reciting pi to the hundredth decimal place?
 
Last edited:
Kat_YYZ said:
well Tyson is pretty screwed up. I believe he himself has said he's bipolar. Add to that a career of blows to the head and whatever substances he's ingested.

I don't say that to excuse him. But one day the public is going to have to do something about its fascination with turning people who might be truly unwell into stars/sideshows and goading them on for our own entertainment. Everyone going to Tyson's live show is, on some level, hoping to see him have some kind of 'crazy episode' like that. What else is there? I doubt anyone thinks he's a great orator.
Click to expand...

Mikey is a thug, bipolar or not, there are drugs, and there is no reason for an attitude... you make the decision to join the circus then deal when you find out you are just a clown.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Back
Top