Social Motivator: Society’s Motivation

I don’t want to sound judgmental here, but people need to chill. It’s 8:24 PM on the night of the Municipal Elections both here in Markham, and for our neighbours to the south, Toronto. Facebook basically looks like an anti-Ford hate center. Rob Ford was the candidate who won the office of Mayor for the city of Toronto, and people have shown themselves to dislike him a lot. The thing with politicians though, is that they are just people; more of us look worse than any of them than we’re willing to admit, and those of us that do act all “holier than thou” don’t bother acting on that fact. If you really think so poorly of a certain candidate, then why don’t you go run for office?

I don’t want to say that I care either way; I have my biases, but I’m going to be fair about the decision. Toronto’s voting public elected a Mayor, and his name is Rob Ford. He won by a landslide on the merits of his plans for the next few years, while he is in office. The things he’s done in the past may not have been good for his image, but despite the fact that he is a horrible person, there are people who are much worse than him, given much higher positions of government, and who have done a lot better on a much larger scale.

I hate to use this example, but Adolf Hitler, upon rising to power, did wonders for the world on an economic level. He may have had social issues, but Rob Ford certainly isn’t anywhere near him on that scale. There are a few things people need to realize about the election. First off, this is the way democracy works; the majority voted for one person, and that’s the person that represents the majority. If you don’t like it, that’s fine. Do I think it means you should leave the city? No, because that’s just irrational. Secondly, society will always look at the negatives of someone at the top. It’s what we did with George W. Bush. That man may have been raised by monkeys, but considering we didn’t give him the benefit of the doubt at all, it raises the question of whether we’re doing the same thing despite realizing the economic potential we have at this point. 

I say, this is the way the people voted, and you can disagree, but anything beyond an intellectual discussion about why you think someone else should have won, is just a waste of breath.