After the fiasco that was Anthony Weiner’s New York City’s Mayoral campaign, leave it to Canada to give us America’s next train wreck obsession.
Enter the Mayor of Toronto, a man who essentially admitted that he dabbled in crack cocaine. A man whose ridiculous sound bites have taken Canada by storm and recently made Rob Ford a celebrity in almost all of North America..
Going back to Weiner, we not only saw the self destruction of a man whose political career was on track to the top. We also saw his wife's, Huma, elite political career diminished while her husband publicly dealt with his shortcomings.
[sharequote align="center"]A large majority of this country loves a train wreck.[/sharequote]
But now the American public and the media have forgotten about Weiner, Eliot Spitzer and John Edwards and moved on to a large blonde version of Fred Flintstone who leads our neighbor to the north’s biggest city.
Ford has stumbled, bumbled and fallen into the public spotlight by confronting his detractors and coming up with outrageous explanations for his behavior.
Why do we care about this Canadian official?
Truth is we don’t; but America loves to watch the buffoon.
Not since Chris Farley’s Chippendale dance moves and his propensity to crash through furniture have we been as amused by a large white man.
We laughed as Farley struggled with his weight, with stardom and then backtracked when we learned the sad truth, that the sad, self-destructing soul was right there the whole time.
We didn’t want to help him; we didn’t want to think about it.
I’ll admit that I laughed as I saw Ford take a football handoff, turn right and stumble.
It evoked the emotion I felt when I watched Farley or John Belushi before him who struggled with the same issues.
We’ve taken the opportunity to laugh at Ford, but what do we do when he’s at his worst or dead.
Toronto Mayor Rob Ford sits in the council chamber as Councillors look to pass motions to limit his powers in Toronto on Monday, Nov. 18, 2013. Ford called the effort a "coup d'etat" and challenged the council to call snap elections. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Chris Young)
A large majority of this country loves a train wreck.
We watched Britney Spears almost self destruct and Lindsay Lohan turn into a joke.
But when do we start thinking about the dark side of the situation, when do we stop laughing and demand the man get help?
At the very least when do we start recognizing that beneath the humor or ridiculousness is someone with a problem?
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