Crackstarter - Gawker crowdfunding the Rob Ford crack tape: good or evil?

had cbc on in the background last night and caught a little bit of the news and the national, both mentioning ford's death obviously, and just found that both were way too deferential. they don't need to do a hatchet job on a guy who just died but casting it as an almost purely human interest story with the only marginally critical elements of the broadcasts being referring to him as "polarizing" or mentioning that he "struggled with substance abuse issues" is just way too polite, even for canada.

xp

Why? I've seen people get similar treatment and it, oddly enough, led to things like suicide, death from excessive drug and alcohol use, etc. Treating people like sacks of garbage for personal amusement ... ehhh, tends not to be something that has a positive or neutral impact on the life of another.

guy was a huge drug addict with an exploding scandal whether or not gawker -- and a whole shitload of other US based media -- decided to take an interest in toronto politics all of a sudden

i don't think cancer cares much about any of that. if you want to make a case that the added ridicule led to increased stress which sapped his body's ability to fight, idk, maybe talk to his doctors and see if you're on the right track

You know I'm at least little right, you just don't want to admit to yourself, because it's pretty sick stuff.

my god

xp lol. you're not right. if the mayor of the fourth largest by population city in north america has substance abuse issues it's a perfectly legitimate story for press to cover. the press coverage was even fairly sympathetic, i.e. "lol look at this incorrigible mayor who boozes like crazy and smokes crack"

You know I'm at least little right, you just don't want to admit to yourself, because it's pretty sick stuff.

― larry appleton, Wednesday, March 23, 2016 4:00 PM (7 minutes ago)

sick stuff. sad!

he wasn't exactly going to rehab and cleaning up his act before anything was published

he died of cancer. cancer doesn't read gawker.

cancer stopped reading after caity left iirc

gawker is cancer

for the record - i never laughed about any of the crack stuff. what make me sick was that a drunk driving pathological lair could hold office and have such a rabid following in the first place. he humiliated the entire city and reveled in the attention. that's what was sickening about all this. i was embarrassed. as well as insulted and angry when he refused to step down, he obviously was not going to get any work done at all (not that he was killing it in the first place). it was no secret he'd been doing this for a long time and he was not capable of changing. none of that is gawkers fault.

Pretty much this.

CP24 coverage was pretty awful in glossing any number of his gross and shameful incompetence in office, and his reactionary and regressive policies (god, remember the whole ferris wheel thing), not to mention his principally unrepentant taunting of both law and common decency, as "some people had political differences". Not surprised, but still disgusted, that him being wildly unpopular and controversial in the worst ways becomes "a marginal section disagrees with his politics (not to mention everything else)"

Also, You know I'm at least little right, you just don't want to admit to yourself is super trolly in its transformation of misunderstanding into self-righteousness, for any of the reasons listed above.

gawker is cancer

― Οὖτις, Wednesday, March 23, 2016 4:30 PM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

well, then we're halfway to curing it, then.

(then, then)

i am no defender of gawker, but if a mayor of a major city is out there smoking crack there is nothing for the media to do except report on it. this wasn't a conde nast executive situation.

nice of gawker to elect rob ford into public office

i am no defender of gawker, but if a mayor of a major city is out there smoking crack there is nothing for the media to do except report on it. this wasn't a conde nast executive situation.

Crackstarter. End of story.

Isn't Balky needing help with something

No

I'm going to smoke some weed, this shit's bumming me out. RIP Rob Ford and Balky.

Great piece:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/ivortossell/rob-ford-the-honest-liar#.sgOv3m1Q7

feeling this one a lot: http://tvo.org/article/current-affairs/shared-values/andray-domise-the-rob-ford-legacy-that-many-refuse-to-confront

I remember how we all laughed at him falling apart. Well, not me, it made me sick to my stomach.

"I remember when we all did that terrible thing. Well, not me, I'm awesome."

Wow, Domise is a great writer for a politician.

Just got a fundraising e-mail from Domise about a community project that started a while ago. I hope he runs in the by-election (when?), hope he wins, and I may volunteer again. But he should hold off on e-mails for at least a little while.

This is terrifying (from the Buzzfeed article above):
" hired as his personal driver a drug-dealing friend who was convicted of threatening to kill a woman, and who carried around a vial of bedbugs as a threat to his enemies; "

what's terrifying is how much support he continued to enjoy.

New Yorker piece about Ford as a blueprint for Trump. (New piece--there's a similar one that was written a year or two ago.)

http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-calculated-populism-of-rob-ford

A few months ago, I should say--it only feels like two years of candidate Trump.

Robyn Doolittle, lead reporter in the crack story who went on to write Crazy Town:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/my-relationship-with-rob-ford-its-complicated/article29397563/

Older brother--who, as I'm sure I've said before on this thread, I consider even worse--says a by-election should be called immediately (because that's what Rob would have wanted), and he's "not sure" yet if he will run.

I hope, but sincerely doubt, he'll sit this one out. The seat should be contested by the people who ran last time in an impossible situation: Ford had gone public with his cancer, so everybody running against him had to almost abstain from saying anything critical out of common decency. (I don't think he was in rehab yet.) Absent Ford, I think Domise will run and win, but there was another woman in her early 20s who did quite well too. Putting the ward and the city through another Ford election and another Ford term on council is disheartening in so many ways. (If nothing else, I assume this campaign would be substantially uglier than last time.) If he does run, he'll win. Ugh.

at least if he gets in as a councilor it means he can't run for the PC leadership. i really fucking hope that party has learned it's lesson with Hudak, that they need to move towards the center and not away from it. would love to be able to consider them an option again.
on the other hand, i don't think he stands a chance with the PCs, whereas councilor would be a cakewalk for him. but - the people of ward 2 made their bed when the voted in a very obviously sick (in every sense of the word) rob ford. they've basically being going without real representation for a decade now anyways – what's another two years.

Yeah, I'm of the second view: he'd never win provincially (an election, I mean--I guess he could get the nomination), so I'd rather have him go that route.

Little Nephew Jr. running; what a drag. Part of me wants Domise to take a chance, most of me says don't bother.

http://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/2016/05/04/byelection-to-be-held-to-fill-rob-fords-seat.html

lil guy

according to that article his birth name is Michael Stirpe

I'm glad they're rewriting the fact that it was a female reporter who investigated Rob Ford. Why have a woman be a lead character when a man could do it? Ammaright? https://t.co/Nx3holhuZW

— robyndoolittle (@robyndoolittle) April 10, 2018

srsly

caroline dhavernas is even canadian!

https://giphy.com/gifs/television-hannibal-3cXQ1pfu2Vf3O

Thermo and I are to blame.

at least if (Doug) gets in as a councilor it means he can't run for the PC leadership. i really fucking hope that party has learned it's lesson with Hudak, that they need to move towards the center and not away from it. would love to be able to consider them an option again. on the other hand, i don't think he stands a chance with the PCs...

― Mad Piratical (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Friday, April 1, 2016

Yeah, I'm of the second view: he'd never win provincially (an election, I mean--I guess he could get the nomination), so I'd rather have him go that route.

― clemenza, Saturday, April 2, 2016