[URBAN NOTE] "In Defence Of Rob Ford, Or, Against The Mob"

[rfmcdonald]

John Moyer's blog post makes some salient points about the way in which the Crackstarter fundraising campaign started by Gawker to raise funds for the alleged crack video is unsettling, voyeuristic spectacle driven by the mob.

It’s not about justice. No-one is seriously talking about jailing Ford over this. Further, the sort of young, hip people who oppose Ford and understand enough about crowd-funding to actually give money to it are probably the same sort who have flirted, at least once, with things like illicit drugs. I’m not saying “glass houses” because I’m not Mayor of Toronto, a person you really don’t want publicly abusing drugs, but we’re not seriously saying Rob Ford is a drug-dealer out to destroy Toronto. At worst (and most likely), he’s someone with a history of substance abuse that now includes some crack. Yes, that’s bad for a Mayor, but remember: he’s got plenty of other reasons not to be Mayor. This isn’t a make-or-break issue for re-election. Even if he’s never touched a gram before in his life, his handling of this case alone is reason enough not to re-elect him.

Second, this isn’t about politics. Whether or not Ford smokes crack is irrelevant inasmuch as it affects his ability to lead Toronto. If he in fact is a smart, capable man who’s been dulled by drugs, then getting him off them might, in fact, net us four more years of him. No thank you. If you opposed Ford before the crack, then you still oppose him, pipe and all. His policies are either good or bad, crack or not. While yes, character is very important in a leader, let’s not kid ourselves. Plenty of leaders do bad things and so long as they lead well, we tend not to care right or wrong. We aren’t in the habit of electing our saints, and it’s foolish to pretend otherwise.

I’ll admit to one concession: drug abuse is a big deal-breaker for many in our elected officials, and I don’t necessarily disagree. I wouldn’t want a junkie in charge, but so far as the video alleges to prove, one hit of crack does not a junkie make. Until a habit is proven or confessed to, it remains like all of Ford’s tenure: a bad mistake.

If it’s not about politics or justice, then I can’t see it being about anything more than a personal dislike verging on hatred. The Crackstarted is asking for money to give to a drug-dealer! And it’s asking you for that money! Not the police, not the city, not the government, and not even the Ford family; you. Do you, it asks, hate Ford enough to want to give up your money to see him humiliated? Not kicked out of office, because it legally can’t (unless he’s thrown in jail, which this video alone will not do), and not an invalidation of his policies because, remember, if you’re in the urban core then you already invalidated them by voting against him; no, all it can do is have the man humiliated.