Desi Today Magazine
Rob Ford’s personal proclivities and preferences are deserving of, at most, a minor back-page editorial comment from a community paper in Toronto. After all, wasn’t it Pierre Trudeau over four decades ago who proclaimed that “the Government has no business in the bedrooms of the nation”? By extension, the electorate has no business, and frankly is unaffected by, the personal drug habits of Mayor Rob Ford. There are no exceptions to this rule, at least not if we would like to live in an enlightenment-based society that values free will and choice.
After all, how many of us would like to have our personal choices examined under a microscope? Legality is not an indicator of relative moral value. There is no moral superiority from rendering alcohol manufacture, distribution and consumption legal while simultaneously rendering marijuana manufacture, distribution and consumption illegal; in fact, if we were to perform a social cost-benefit analysis, the roles of alcohol and marijuana in our society would be reversed. In fact, the social consequences from all illicit drug consumption pales in comparison to the social consequences stemming from second-hand cigarette smoke alone; and very thorough research has been conducted on these matters by none other than the RAND Corporation (a division of the Pentagon).
The only thing that matters, and specifically for Torontonians, is what sort of advocacy Rob Ford participates in and what policies he promotes. That is it.
And quite frankly, there is more than enough to write home about with respect to his policy positions, which neglect the majority of his constituents; the working class and working poor (not to mention the poor).
Focusing on his personal proclivities is not only a complete waste of everyone’s time, but is insulting to those who the “fourth estate” ought to represent; namely the majority of Toronto’s (and the World’s) population – the working class and the working poor (not to mention the poor).
This continued fixation on gutter politics, tabloid journalism, negative ad campaigns, is appealing for one reason; it draws a large audience to the mainstream media’s clients. And this is very revealing; the mainstream media sells a product – its audience – to other for-profit corporations – advertisers. As a result, what would one expect from the mainstream media other than the drivel (i.e. Rob Ford’s personal life) and propaganda (i.e. articles that will not be contrary to the interests of their clients) they produce.
