#TOpoli Dipshit of the Day: @TrusteeSam Sotiropoulos, grubby little homophobe

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.

Related posts:

• Just how fucking stupid are Ford supporters, anyway? | #TOpoli
• Via @cityslikr: #Fordfest, integrity, and the slow but steady fouling of the public sphere | #TOpoli
• Mayor Stupid on the Danzig shootings

Via @cityslikr: #Fordfest, integrity, and the slow but steady fouling of the public sphere | #TOpoli

Another week, another stinking turd left floating in the pool of public conversation by Team Ford.

This time, it's the gathering of slack-jawed rubes best referred to as Ford Asspimple and the cynical hustlers lining up to herd them at Mayor Stupid and Brother Dumbfuck's annual fuck-the-rules shindig. Only difference this time is that it was in Scarborough.

I doubt anyone has the patience to go through the details, yet again, about it being an illegitimate early campaign event or a misuse of public resources. The Twin Morons obviously don't give a shit, and they've gotten away with everything so far, so why wouldn't they continue? Any attempt to hold them to the same standards as everyone else just plays into their victim narrative and fires up their base, so why bother?

Well, there's a very good reason to bother. Our friend @cityslikr makes a compelling argument over at his place today:

It enables flagrant disregard of any attempt to keep a level playing field for all members of the council and to reduce the influence on city business by unelected outside entities. Allowing the administration to continue conducting its dubious practices in order to not enflame the mayor’s base is as big an affront to democratic oversight as assuming the rules don’t apply to you is.

While I can't argue with him on that, we have to acknowledge that it's not without its complications. Yes, opening up the can of worms will consume energy, attention and oxygen, but really, does that make it OK to just shrug it off? As @cityslikr argues,

it’s inexcusable for the rest of us to shrug it off as part of the game. 

And that's the worst insult: after three years of this shit, we're left with scandal fatigue, cynicism and the temptation to just throw up our hands and ask rhetorically, in the best Tony Soprano fashion, "whaddayagonnado."

There's a larger and more worrisome issue here. It's not just about Team Ford's obvious appeals to stupidity and resentment, divisive agenda, or continual disregard for the rules. Fundamentally, Team Ford's worst crime is in the effect it's had on public conversation itself.

For the last three years, Team Ford's been cultivating a sour and enervating cynicism about politics, about citizenship, and about the efficacy of government itself. Amplified by the brayers of the tabloid press and the yellers of talk radio, the current administration has exploited resentments, played up divisions, pissed on the whole notion of being truthful, trumpeted its petulance and inability to build bridges, and turned ignorance, name-calling and stupidity into its standard operating procedure. It's taken a giant crap on the very notion of public life and public service, and in so doing, diminished our own expectations of our government and ourselves as citizens.

I've written before about the toxic effect this bunch has had on public life. Here it is again, in stinking Smell-O-Vision.

Related posts:

• Mayor Stupid, the Star, and another question | #TOpoli
• @cityslikr on Team Ford's bullshit, and our complicity therein | #TOpoli
• Ford's right-wing governance: no vision, no soul, no future

Fiscal demonization of @OccupyTO continues on CTV | #classwarfare

Like clockwork, the corporate media are swinging into action. Or perhaps like robots.

Either way, the narrative is being reinforced and amplified. Just now on CTV a "news" report is pegging the cost of Occupy at something over $714,000. Police, EMS, landscaping, etc.

The Sun's effect on our national conversation is obvious, but what about the Globe?

It's a straightforward question: what are people talking about? What's capturing their attention and imaginations? Public conversation. Nothing gives you a better sense of a community or a society than gauging what people are talking about. (24/7 on Kim Kardashian? That's got to tell you something.)

It's been one of this little corner's favourite hobby horses for as long as I can remember. Public discourse. National conversation. Provincial. Municipal. Whatever. You want civic ambition, you need to look at the quality of the conversations people are having. (I'm focusing on civic ambition because in a recent piece, the Globe's ideologically reliable urban-affairs curmudgeon Marcus Gee was complaining about the lack thereof. More on that in a minute. )

@marcusbgee calls Ford on his bullshit, but who helped put him there? | #TOpoli

So a few people – Thor and Nancy for starters – are linking to this piece from the Globe's ideologically reliable urban affairs curmudgeon, who's arguing, not without reason, that Mayor Stupid should have known all along that he couldn't guarantee that there wouldn't be any service cuts or layoffs.

One hesitates to accuse Mayor Stupid of lying, chiefly because it's obvious that he can't tell the difference between true and false. You know those people who are so out of touch that they don't even know what the facts are? The kind who pull facts and numbers out of their asses and know they'll never really have to account for it? The kind who just dispense with facts entirely and go with their gut because ... well ... just because. Shut up and fuck off.

Another day, another embarrassing eruption from Mt. Ford | #TOpoli

Honestly, where do you begin?

First, Mayor Stupid's dismissing all the folks who spoke at last month's city hall all-nighter as left-wing, NDP, special-interest types trying to protect their free money. No surprise there, really. It's not as if the guy's got the intellectual wherewithal to comprehend the notion of "community" or anything.

Giorgio Mammoliti: the pride of #TOcouncil | #TOpoli

Someone suggested during yesterday's marathon that the Fords can't help being ignorant and stupid. They are what they are. But this guy, by contrast, does it on purpose.



Did I say he makes the Fords look good? This guy makes the cast of Jersey Shore look good.

Related posts:

• David Olive (@TheGrtRecession), Team Ford, and that whole 'deserve' thing again
• Core Services Review: Rob Ford is a hazard to Toronto's public health / #TOpoli
• Ford's right-wing governance: no vision, no soul, no future

@cityslikr on Team Ford's bullshit, and our complicity therein | #TOpoli

Which Lie Do You Buy? « All Fired Up In The Big Smoke

A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.

– Winston Churchill

So over at his place, @cityslikr's on about the fact that politicians have an uneasy relationship with the truth, and the cynicism and disengagement that breeds.

Kate's royal ass cheek: #sunmedia triumphs again, @davidakin makes sure we all know about it

Sad, isn't it. When this is what occupies our imaginations and dominates public discourse, is it any wonder that so many people don't bother to take the responsibilities of citizenship seriously? Look at the energy it's consuming, for Chrissakes.  (Yeah, I know. Mea culpa. Now piss off.)

The capacity for critical thought - how do we build it?

Just as we wind down the first half of 2011 in preparation for Canada Day, three disparate blog posts are jumping out at me:

• At Sixth Estate, Government of Canada Issues Statement Opposing the Alphabet
• At Politics and its Discontents, Sun News Network – Full of Sound And Fury, Signifying Nothing
• At Porcupine Blog, The Hegemony of Authoritarian Ideology and the Vancouver Hockey Riot

'Respect for Taxpayers' is a load of crap

True, I may be undermining weeks of arguing for engaging the people we disagree with in a spirit of openness and respect. And name-calling isn't going to help us show them how they're actually voting against their own interests, or reveal the corporatist / continentalist / ruling-class Divide-and-Conquer strategy. Class warfare's tricky that way.

@marcusbgee is right about Bloor Street, but for the wrong reasons

Ah, Marcus. The Globe's ideologically reliable municipal-affairs curmudgeon is kind of like a stopped clock that way.

Of course, the analogy only goes so far, because you don't have to ask a stopped clock why it's right twice a day, and that's a degree of frequency and predictability that ... well, let's just say it's not in the same postal code as Marcus.

@thekeenanwire, #TOpoli and that whole 'deserve' thing, redux

Go and read this piece from Ed Keenan in The Grid.

He's right of course, and you don't need a master's degree in public administration to know that public services cost money. And you don't need cheap childish gimmicks, either.

The troublesome part is that something so blindingly self-evident seemed to elude a majority of Toronto voters last fall. They were all too willing to buy into Rob Ford's bullshit about mountains of wasted cash and municipal inefficiencies and gravy trains, and worst of all, the idea that under David Miller, things were just so irredeemably awful that the only thing to do was to blow everything up.

The night before the election: what we can expect

Imagine a government that doesn't operate for the benefit of a handful of CEOs and international investors.

A government that cultivates the best in its citizens, that represents everything good and decent and caring about the nation it serves.

A government that recognizes that as humans, we are all fallible, but that as citizens, we have obligations both to one another and to something bigger than ourselves.

A government that values and preserves all the myriad threads that tie us together, that allow us to pool our efforts and act collectively for the greater good.

A government that safeguards our right to disagree with one another, and with the institutions of government itself.

A government that sees us as intelligent thoughtful adults, and speaks to us, with us, and for us accordingly.

A government that aspires to reflect the better angels of our nature.

In return, all that's asked of us is genuine engagement, thoughtful participation, and a commitment to something beyond ourselves: our neighbours, our communities, our society, our country. Both we and the institutions we build share and reflect certain values: democracy, stewardship, transparency, decency, accountability, citizenship, civic engagement, civil society, fundamental freedoms, civil discourse, and mutual support and respect. This is our character. This is who we are.

This isn't some idealistic fantasy. This is something we have a right to expect.

Tomorrow, let's go out and get it.

Let's hear from a couple of Sun News Network fans

Because really, it's not fair of me to single out Sun readers.

Especially now that there's a TV network for them.

Rise up against the toxic Harper effect: whatever it takes

As I said yesterday, credit where it's due.

Props to Iggy's speechwriters for the Rise Up reference to Harper's slow poisoning of our body politic. And because it's not the Parachute Club, but from a Springsteen tune ...



In deference to the Boss. I'm all about the equal-opportunity Rise Up references.

Related posts:

• Meme for the week: Harper – too dangerous to govern
• Suzanne Trepanier on what Harper's boys did to Remy Beauregard
• What's worse? The lies, or the insult to our intelligence?

Meme for the week: Harper – too dangerous to govern

I had to think about it long and hard over the weekend, in part because I got ahead of myself on Friday when I suggested that the meme for the week might be voter suppression, à la Rove.

There's no reason not to keep repeating that message, because it's such a wonderful illustration of the Harpobots' attitude to democracy, to elections, to fair play, and to governing. Voters in a given poll not likely to go your way? Rent a mob, barge in with a bunch of thugs, start screeching over-the-top accusations of illegality, and try to make off with the ballot box.

Shit Harper Did #FTW

Have I mentioned that I love love love love love these guys?

ShitHarperDid.com. Best thing to happen to democracy since the Vote Mob.



Keep it up, you crazy kids!

Related posts:

• The latest video from Enough Harper
• @MargaretAtwood buries another one
• Come on, now. Harper's no chicken

A note from Sheenagh McMahon

The gutsy woman who got in John Baird's face yesterday has a message for us.

Follow the links. It's worth your time.

She's also very graciously allowed me to reproduce her e-mail messages to me. I can only stand back and applaud. While I wank on about citizenship and civic engagement from behind a keyboard, this lady's actually walking the walk. (h/t CuriosityCat)

What are we speaking of, when we speak of democratic infrastructure?

OK, so I was on the Tweeter today, and I was being a bit of a smart-ass (All together now: Really, OB? We're shocked. Shocked!) about the leaders of the three main parties.