Quote:
Originally Posted by isaidso
I watched the Rob Ford interview on Jimmy Kimmel courtesy of youtube. Of course he was going to get ribbed, but Toronto actually came out looking quite good. He shamelessly plugged the city, professed his love for the city, Kimmel echoed those sentiments, and the crowd applauded. When's the last time that happened on US television in front of millions of viewers?
I don't buy the argument that he's hurt Toronto's image, because people know better. If anything this has shattered people's perceptions that we're some stereotypically boring place where nothing happens. Toronto has moved past the point where things like this damage the city. Ironically, it seems to be doing the opposite.
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I honestly don't believe that's how stereotypes work. People form stereotypes based on a lack of information, so stereotypes will always exist except for people who have a decidedly rational thought process or have a greater level of knowledge of the city. There's no level that a city can reach where it becomes immune to this. There are even stereotypes of NYC and Paris. The people who already knew enough about it to not have a stereotypical image may not be influenced by the Ford situation, but for the ones who did harbour stereotypes, this would not have helped.
Most people, in the US at least, don't seem to have
any image of Toronto at all and only have an image of Canada. That image has traditionally been one of straight-laced, polite, sensible, simpletons. Ford has managed to shatter that image and replace it with one of dense, loud, bumbling, simpletons. Try as I might, I just don't see that as an improvement. The old image may not have been ideal, but this one is worse.
As for the people who were already educated about Toronto, the Ford situation still provided some new information. First, that a large enough proportion of residents voted for him to allow him to get elected, and second, even after all the scandals, that Ford has still managed to maintain his position due to either a dysfunctional political process, continuing support, or both. This doesn't provide a positive image for either the city's electorate or the functionality of its municipal government.
Really, the idea that Ford has actually helped or improved...
anything - reputation or otherwise - just seems like wishful thinking. It may not be all bad, but the bad is certainly equal to or greater than the good.
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