Fordlandia, Update 430
I was off on a shoot yesterday and the volume of Ford news that has passed since my last writings is truly staggering. I’ve read some of the unredacted police interviews with Ford staffers, which are amazing. And then there’s “I have more than enough to eat at home”, and the council proceedings today.
But I don’t really have time to unpack everything, and you presumably know all about it anyway, so I just want to reflect on one aspect: I’m definitely feeling pity for Mayor Ford, in a manner I did not expect. This guy is the worst mayor in Toronto history, maybe in history general. He’s a liar and a hypocrite and a bully. But I also think of how he just wanted to play football and him as a teen huffing around the track alone, trying in vain to lose weight. How it seems he has always been bullied by his brother. How he must have felt obliged by his father’s legacy as an MPP to enter politics. How his family has misled and enabled him.
Most of all though this is a story of denial, both Ford’s self-denial and his followers’ denial about him. Ford is led astray by two primary self-delusions. The first is that he has a political future, and the second is that he doesn’t have an alcohol abuse problem (and perhaps other substance abuse issues). If he disabuses himself of the first delusion while holding onto the second, he could be in a lot of trouble and this could end very badly. I don’t want this to happen – partially because of some shoots of humanity yet emerging from my charred and blackened heartscape, partially because if he died it would really take the glow off all of the fun we’re having.
Ford more years!