What do you consider news?
This is something I struggle with all the time, as so many people have vastly different opinions on the matter.
The question once again came to the forefront last week after reading some of the comments under an online article and a You Tube video of the Jimmy Kimmel Live interview of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford.
Most of the comments were one extreme to the other about Ford, he still has a whole lot of supporters and he also has a whole lot of people who are horrified he is still mayor.
But one commenter said the piece was not even news.
He or she (online pseudonyms, who can tell?) said we should be more worried about the situation in the Ukraine and serious global conflict.
Earlier in the Rob Ford scandal, before most of the videos had been exposed, another person on Facebok posted a similar comment.
Okay, is it just me or is this going too far to say this isn’t news?
I mean, sure, we probably pay too much attention to the sensational fails of Rob Ford on Jimmy Kimmel and his ongoing scandals, which are not the immediate threat to global stability Russia’s position on the Ukraine is.
Or Syria’s ongoing crisis.
No, those are obviously directly impacting the lives of a lot of people and have repercussions which will be felt around the world.
And there may be a disproportionate amount of attention or number of people focusing on Rob Ford versus those arguably more critical crises.
But come one, how can we not remain somewhat focussed on the incumbent mayoral candidate for our country’s largest metropolitan centre? He wants us to stop paying attention, which is another reason we really shouldn’t.
The man has continued to blatantly lie by making denial statements before proof of his wrongdoings were brought forward, then apologized when it became clear he was lying, and now he admits to probably having smoked crack cocaine and is believed to have associated with gang members. In one video, he fervently promises to kill someone.
So we should not be concerned his actions may have repercussions for the country and our politics should he be reelected?
How can we not watch closely to see if the public relations game “Ford Nation” continues to play wins him his power back as Toronto’s mayor?
It is naive to think having a mayor who seems to publicly associate with organized criminals and verbally attacks any press who print anything he does not like does not have possible implications for how a major economy in this country is run.
Toronto is a great city, it needs a great mayor, and we should all be interested in how this election plays out – though this may seem a bit farfetched from the end of the road in Fort St. James.
But on the bright side, as a mayor, he pretty much makes every other mayor in the country look pretty darn good.
Toronto may be a long way away, but some of your tax dollars end up there, so it seems like we should all care who is spending those tax dollars at the end of the day.
And besides, shouldn’t at least some of the news be entertaining?
