Yes, us, the many. us, the precocious youth of Toronto and it’s surrounding boroughs (but really us of Toronto), and us, the apathetic empowered. With a turnout of just over 50 per cent in the last mayoral election, we have only ourselves to blame for the clusterfuck that is turning our city, and through guilt-by-association-because- people-in-china-don’t-know- what-a-Scarborough-is, the entire GTA into a global laughingstock. We chose not to vote, and now we are here.
I don’t know anyone who voted for rob Ford. Does anyone know anyone who voted for Rob Ford? But he is our mayor. Our vaguely homophobic, racist, and now confessed crack-smoking mayor. I think this stems from this fact: I don’t know anyone who voted for Rob Ford, yes, but i don’t know many people who voted, period.
A quick rundown of my Facebook presents a myriad of responses to Rob Ford, ranging from the hypocritically outraged (“I can’t believe this tool is running our town”) to the insipidly ironic (“Rob Ford’s a goddamn hero who took the valuable lessons taught in Scarface to heart and should be an inspiration to us all”).
It’s easy to get caught up in the idea of stagnancy, the concept that no matter who we vote for, things will stay the same, so why vote at all?
But change starts at a grassroots level, and it’s hard to get more grassroots than municipal politics, except in Mississauga, but Empress Mccallion is the exception to the rule.
If you didn’t vote, it’s easy to bitch and moan after the fact.
It’s easy to blame all the frumpy tight-holes in the outlying (read: conservative blue) parts of Toronto that voted in Rob Ford, but that doesn’t change the fact that you are the most essential part of the problem. Because you didn’t vote.
And after the fact, you didn’t protest. You didn’t make it known to your councillor or to the people who can enact change to make life better for you that you don’t want Rob Ford in your life (armchair activists take note: retweeting “#robFord #Sucks” is ineffective). You didn’t take to the streets and make it known that this is NOT the guy you want running your city.
So let’s not shit where we eat, and do something as simple as voting him out if and when the time comes, because no one’s so goddamn postmodern they can’t tick a ballot box to make their lives and the lives of everyone around them that much better.
If you’re one of the alarming few who did vote, I’m sorry. You’re cool. You totally earned your ironic comments and not-so-disingenuous outrage. The truth is, all of us are affected by this, and this is our issue. We’re the ones who determine if Rob Ford gets to keep his job or not. I always thought Rob Ford had the stature of a good department store Santa.
Abdul Malik
Arts Editor
