Underdog #2

In spite of my comments in the previous blog about the importance of citizens being active in demanding answers from their government I am becoming somewhat uncomfortable with the media's attack on Toronto's mayor. I don't like Rob Ford, I don't like his policies, I don't like his approach to budgeting and I don't like his apparently absolute assumption that his way is not only the right way, it is the only the way. While he may be a great dad or even a great football coach, I think he may be a buffoon of the highest order with few if any redeeming political characteristics or values.   

None-the-less he is being picked on by the media and now by late night television hosts from the US. Three reporters have reported that they saw a video of him smoking crack cocaine. To be clear it was  two reporters (who report to an editor and a board) and one on-line reporter from a self published internet publication who saw it. No one else has. People both in the media and within the political world of Toronto are demanding that Ford stand up and either deny the validity of the video or else admit that he has a problem.  He did that the first day and has since chosen not to talk about it on apparently the advice of his lawyer. Given that he frequently seems to open his mouth before he engages his brain, that was probably good advice.

There are, in my mind, two separate problems with the attacks on Ford. One - only three people have seen the video. If it does exist and even if it is a clear as the three reporters indicate, that does not mean that it is true. I suspect that even I could, given the sophistication of computer software available, make a reasonable realistic video. Do you remember the video that went viral last year of an eagle swooping down on Mount Royal in Montreal and snatching a child? It was totally untrue. It had been manufactured by some students. I suspect one can make almost anything look true for 90 seconds.

I have read that there are a number of relatively sophisticated processes that one can do to determine if a video has been tampered with or manipulated. I think we need to check out the video before we decide to hang the guy from the nearest light post. So given the fact that in Canada someone is innocent until proven guilty - I think we need to cut the mayor just a little bit of slack.  Is there anything that he could say to prove his ignorance? I don't think so. I think he could deny substance abuse until the cows came home and people would still want him to say more.  We need to see the video before we make a decision.

However the second and in my mind far more serious problem with all of the hullabaloo to get him to speak on this issue is what happens if the tape is purchased and it is found out to be a hoax? All of the right wing ultra conservatives will stand up and cheer, all of those who are sitting on the fence in terms of Ford's values and policies will swing over to his side, and all of those who are secretly inclined to cheer for the underdog ( I know I am not the only one) will feel vindicated and support him in the next election.

If the video is proven to be false then we have just given him a free get-out-of-jail card for the next time he screws up. He will become the mayor who can do no wrong and when he does mess up (and you know he will) no one will believe it. So back off just a little bit and wait for the proof. People don't need to work so hard make Rob Ford stumble. It he is given enough slack  he will do it all by himself.