[wild goose chase]

At least Ford supporters aren't as overtly racist, given how diverse the base is.

Is there even an example similar to Ford Nation in any US city where a racially/ethnically diverse population supports a right-wing, (sub)urban populist politician?
I don't even know of any American right-wing populist politician whose support base gets to be as diverse as Ford's, whether in cities, suburbs, or otherwise.

 

[Videodrome]

Is there even an example similar to Ford Nation in any US city where a racially/ethnically diverse population supports a right-wing, (sub)urban populist politician? I don't even know of any American right-wing populist politician whose support base gets to be as diverse as Ford's, whether in cities, suburbs, or otherwise.

I can't think of any. A lot of Ford supporters also vote Liberal or NDP, despite supporting a guy who consistently votes conservative.

True but I bet the FF Nation pushes the bounds for the "typical" Canadian, then again even Dougie doesn't know the difference between prejudice, discrimination or racism, just ask dem little red apples.

Rob tossed around casual racism, while Trump is much more overt.

 

[r937]

In Memoriam
https://afuitbs.com/2016/02/19/in-memoriam/
by Cityslikr

 

[adma]

A timely reminder today of what the media endured, specifically D. Dale, for reporting on Ford Nation here:

ddale8 9:37pm via Twitter for iPhone
I'm only gonna share one of these, promise, but this is how Trump's anonymous online army thinks.

Based Identitarian @skiguru
Shut it cancuck. You lie & you are a poor excuse for a man. Trump has the balls to protect freedom #Trump2016 twitter.com/ddale8/status/…

Constantly bombarding one with threats can't be very good for the mental health of anyone on the receiving end of these online armies...

Of course; but think of the sorts who turn the gun on themselves after blasting their wives' brains out with a shotgun.

In this light, it's worth considering how Graeme was a rather avid pro-Trump shill even by Fordista standards.
Plus (as aforementioned) the increasing death rate for middle-aged males without a college education, due to such causes as suicide, alcoholism, drugs.

Indeed, in my more conspiration-theoretical moods, I've wondered if to today's Koch-esque predatory capitalists, just as there's fast food and fast fashion, there's the ideal of "fast people", i.e. milk them for all their induced ignorance, and when they run dry, toss'em. And if said "fast people" seek to shorten their lives, then fine; less money to dole out for seniors' support, etc...

 

[sweetlou]

Indeed, in my more conspiration-theoretical moods, I've wondered if to today's Koch-esque predatory capitalists, just as there's fast food and fast fashion, there's the ideal of "fast people", i.e. milk them for all their induced ignorance, and when they run dry, toss'em. And if said "fast people" seek to shorten their lives, then fine; less money to dole out for seniors' support, etc...

Predatory capitalists are the latest face on an old phenomenon. See "cannon fodder" and also the Church, Catholic. The poors exist to grub out a living for the enrichment of the master class, give back what little they have in the name of patriotism or eternal life in heaven or the uplift of someone else's wealth, and then get culled with the herd.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannon_fodder

 

[Kat_YYZ]

I have never heard people make assumptions on his behaviour on twitter, I thought he was just a troll. I won't assume he was mentally ill or depressed, maybe he took his life for a specific reason. As far as raising a glass to him, that one girl who is really upset knew him in real life. Jude and Chris, not sure.

I would think they had plenty of interactions with Graeme during the 250+ day RFMG sit-in, no? CC was there all the time.

yes, i do

I can see from Cityslkr's blog post and from scrolling through old tweets that you and a bunch of other people had frequent interactions with Graeme: online, around City Hall, maybe elsewhere. (Of course the twitter conversations are now pretty one-sided and lacking context with Graeme's tweets now deleted).

I certainly noticed that there was a weird relationship where nasty tweets back and forth were ended with "well, have a good night!"

It reminds of that old cartoon with Ralph Wolf (actually Wile Coyote) and Sam Sheepdog, where they are fighting each other bitterly until the whistle blows to mark the end of the workday, and then they are cordial with each other.

 

[PinkLucy]

I do not want to sugarcoat the mentally ill in bleeding-heart terms; after all, more often than not they're the sorts of people whom we'd rather avoid at some level or another (smelly street people and the like); or at least, steer clear of recommending them asterisk-free as employers or as tenants or roommates or whatever else.

No. Just no.

Those may be the more visible people, but mental illness knows no bounds. High-powered execs, soccer moms, athletes, doctors, performers. Anyone in any position in life can (and unfortunately does) experience mental illness at some point in their life. It's too easy to categorize them as the type of people "we'd rather avoid", but that is just an incorrect stereotype. They are our family, our friends, our colleagues, and the last thing we should do is avoid them. That's one of the key points of Bell Let's Talk Day, and of the work that a number of people who have experienced mental illness do.

I speak from experience here.

 

[Thinker]

I would think they had plenty of interactions with Graeme during the 250+ day RFMG sit-in, no? CC was there all the time.

Yes plenty interactions with Graeme & RFMG - Graeme shouting at participants and pulling childish pranks and adjusting CH spotlights towards RFMG participants so it would shine in their eyes. (or at least he was suspected having done that) He liked to goad the RFMG members and send them nasty twitter messages and leave them long enough to be seen only to delete them later. Inside whispers from city hall staff: He was not on their list of favorite people.

 

[wheeler98]

I'll just leave this right here....discuss.

from Rock Of The Westies

Like a corn in a field I cut you down
I threw the last punch too hard
After years of going steady, well, I thought that it was time
To throw in my hand for a new set of cards

And I can't take you dancing out on the weekend
I figured we'd painted too much of this town
And I tried not to look as I walked to my wagon
And I knew then I had lost what should have been found
I knew then I had lost what should have been found

And I feel like a bullet in the gun of Robert Ford
I'm low as a paid assassin is
You know I'm cold as a hired sword
I'm so ashamed, can't we patch it up
You know I can't think straight no more
You make me feel like a bullet honey in the gun
In the gun of Robert Ford

Like a child when his toys have been stepped on
That's how it all seemed to me
I burst the bubble that both of us lived in
And I'm damned if I'll ever get rid of this guilt that I feel

And if looks could kill then I'd be a dead man
Your friends and mine don't call no more
Hell, I thought it was best but now I feel branded
Breaking up's sometimes like breaking the law
Breaking up's sometimes like breaking the law

And I feel like a bullet in the gun of Robert Ford
I'm low as a paid assassin is
You know I'm cold as a hired sword
I'm so ashamed, can't we patch it up, oh
You know I can't think straight no more
You make me feel like a bullet honey in the gun
In the gun of Robert Ford

And I feel like a bullet in the gun of Robert Ford
I'm low as a paid assassin is
You know I'm cold as a hired sword
I'm so ashamed, can't we patch it up, yeah
You know I can't think straight no more
You make me feel like a bullet honey in the gun
In the gun of Robert Ford

Songwriters
JOHN, ELTON / TAUPIN, BERNIE

 

[John_Dee]

The recasting of him as a victim is also highly problematical - and mourning his death as a commentary to mental illness is again transposing an event into some cause that's kind of after the fact, with a load of baggage attached. The whole thing has the making of bad taste in one's mouth.

Agreed. Is there really any point in making more of McEastern's death than what it was? Sure, it's conceivable he was technically mentally ill - anything's possible, right? - but I'd say it's far more probable he was nothing more than what he appeared to be, i.e. a stupid, mean asshole. Perfectly sane people are driven to extreme actions like suicide all the time. By all accounts, dear Graeme was a nasty little bully who got his sense of worth from sucking up to a pair of far bigger bullies in the repugnant form of the Ford brothers. Sad for his immediate friends and family, one supposes, but there's no reason for the rest of us to start blubbering over him. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

 

[tiffer24]

Perfectly sane people are driven to extreme actions like suicide all the time.

If by perfectly sane you mean mentally competent, this is just not true and really indicative of the many myths still surrounding mental health issues. Not to say that Graeme gets a free pass, just to recognize that many people, including Rob himself, probably suffers from numerous mental health issues.

 

[Roy's Square]

It may have taken me a while, but now I am curious exactly how we came to know the circumstances of Graeme's death.

It seems an odd detail to have come out so quickly. And it's telling that the people who supposedly cared enough about him to be among the first to be informed of his passing, didn't care so much about his privacy or his reputation.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Agreed. Is there really any point in making more of McEastern's death than what it was? Sure, it's conceivable he was technically mentally ill - anything's possible, right? - but I'd say it's far more probable he was nothing more than what he appeared to be, i.e. a stupid, mean asshole. Perfectly sane people are driven to extreme actions like suicide all the time. By all accounts, dear Graeme was a nasty little bully who got his sense of worth from sucking up to a pair of far bigger bullies in the repugnant form of the Ford brothers. Sad for his immediate friends and family, one supposes, but there's no reason for the rest of us to start blubbering over him. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

I see it slightly differently - I don't celebrate his passing any more than I mourn it. He made a choice, it is his choice - and I don't think he is public, or on that matter important enough to require some grand gesture of public commentary loaded with causes du jour (mental health, suicide prevention, etc). Doing so is ethically wanting, for one. It is his life, he has every right to make the decision that he did without the rest of us loading it up with our beliefs. That's not absolving him of his behaviour as a proxy of the powers that were - it's an entirely separate matter.

AoD

 

[EagleEye]

It may have taken me a while, but now I am curious exactly how we came to know the circumstances of Graeme's death.

It seems an odd detail to have come out so quickly. And it's telling that the people who supposedly cared enough about him to be among the first to be informed of his passing, didn't care so much about his privacy or his reputation.

All we know if that Tom Beyers said it, then a friend of his on twitter confirmed it with Karla Ford. She said he took his life. Then she blamed the people on twitter for being mean to him when in fact, he could have acted professionally like Amin and not said anything.

Someone mentioned his behaviour at the sit-in. He was nice enough at first. But it turned the night of the debate where he was taking pictures of everyone in the audience who booed Ford.

http://robfordmustgo.com/forum/52/rob-ford-and-photo-and-video-intimidation

One person, no, it was the usual intimidation and I doubt Ford orchestrated it since he was part of the debate.

 

[Videodrome]

So, this is basically an example of St. Rob of Etobicoke , just with one of his former staffers.