I know, I know. Been a while. Excuse the shit out of me for having a life.
Anyway, anyone following #TOpoli knows what Mayor Stupid and Brother Dumbfuck have been up to recently. It's not as if they matter to the city's governance any more, given that Toronto Council has done the only sensible thing and neutered them, but unfortunately the verbal vomit continues to stream unabated from their pieholes to be licked up by their drooling base.
To wit: consider Mayor Stupid's *cough* subtle wink *cough* to the remaining homophobes still polluting the gene pool. He's never gone to a Pride parade, he says, and he's not going to change. Whoop de do. Not even bothering to lie about going to the cottage any more. (Probably unique for the Fords, whose default setting is to bullshit no matter what the subject matter.) And, with the unique predictability of flies landing on shit, along comes Brother Dumbfuck to insist that the Ford boys aren't homophobes — they just get all icky at the sight of "buck naked men."
And if that's not clear enough, witness Rob Ford's hissy fit about the Pride flag at City Hall's ceremonial flagpole. It shouldn't replace the Canadian flag, he sputters (it didn't). It's about patriotism and supporting the athletes, he says. Yeah, sure, Rob. I mean, dozens of other flags have adorned the ceremonial flagpole, but only when the rainbow flag goes up does Mayor Stupid object and pretend it’s all about the Canadian flag. Right.
So why are we wasting oxygen and electrons on this pathetic civic cancer? Well, could it possibly be that it's part of his "brain trust's" re-election strategy? You know, get the bigots and mouth-breathers all het up about the Ho-Mo-Sekshuals and Les-Beens? Again, no great insight there.
Enter TDSB Trustee Sam Sotiropoulos. True, not that many people pay attention to school trustees, at least not to the same extent that they watch city council. Well, Sammie's decided he wants to change all that, so he's been popping off about his own obsession with buck naked men. (Maybe he and Dougie need to get a room or something. God knows they spend enough time thinking about it.)
https://twitter.com/kristynwongtam/status/432758606283292672
Well, not surprisingly, Sambo's been called out for this and
other stupidities. This is a guy who makes policy about education, mind. And his response — surprise! — has been to play the victim card, and insist that people are trying to stifle his freedom of speech, and bullying him, and being all "homosexist" and everything.
Deep sigh.
For starters, this isn't a free-speech issue. There is no right not to be criticized. You don’t get to silence people who disagree with you. You can say whatever you like, but if you say stupid and hateful things, you don’t get a free pass. Calling you on your ignorance isn't censorship. Let's move on.
Sammie then doubles down and bleats that he's against ALL forms of discrimination, and what about the poor white kids of Canadian descent?
Oh, dear. Here's where it gets a little, you know, "nuanced."
(Protip to Sambo: don't go looking that up on Urban Dictionary. It'll just bring you more grief.)
To insist, as Sammyboy disingenuously does, that
all forms of discrimination and exclusion are equal, and have an identical impact and merit equal condemnation, is to ignore decades — centuries, even — wherein gay people have been marginalized, victimized, attacked and even murdered by straight people. Or wherein people of colour have been marginalized, excluded, exploited and lynched by the dominant class — i.e., straight white males. It’s the height of ignorance, and a well-established far-right trick, to get the oppressors to see themselves as victims.
And his obtuse and wilful disregard for these historical truths can’t help but raise questions about his motives (not to mention his role as an educational official, but we’ll leave that alone for the moment). What, exactly, is he trying to accomplish by repeatedly braying about naked men at Pride parades, if not to sound the same homophobic dog whistle recently slobbered on by the fuckhead brothers? Not to mention singling out the only openly gay member of Toronto Council for this bullshit?
Sam is a nobody. And he’ll continue to be a nobody, regardless of what happens at the next election. The lesson here is, as we’ve seen, another illustration of the toxic Ford effect, and a consistent poisoning of public discourse. With their transparent nod to the knuckledraggers and their desperate and pathetic attempts to rally the drooling remnants of their base, the fuckhead brothers have given an implicit licence to other bottom feeders to come out of the woodwork and ooze their hatred and ignorance all over everything. And that’s the most insulting and dehumanizing thing of all — that our LGBT friends have to listen to this shit All Over Again.
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