PAGE 10
opinions
House of crack
CITLALLY MACIEL
News Editor
AND SO A NEW YEAR and a new
semester have begun. Hopefully everyone had a fun but relaxing break. As
promised, I did some leisure reading
and f inished watching season one of
House of Cards (among other shows that
I had neglected because of…well you
know, law school). Surely, there is no
need to describe the plot. Suff ice to say
that House of Cards is, generally put, a political drama.
It is a story of ruthless politicians who will do anything
in order to attain and retain
power.
When it comes to politics,
the show implies that nothing
is free, that every favour has a
price, and that friendships and
allies are only as good as the
next unf illed favour. In House
of Cards, an important ally is
the media. Supporters can be
won through positive portrayals of a given politician, but
most importantly, enemies can
be destroyed through damaging exposés. Consequently,
while the media can be a politician’s best friend, it can also be his or
her worst enemy.
Even when no politica l contacts
exist, the media searches for information because breaking the next big
story is what drives it. In the show, loyalty seems to be irrelevant or nonexistent. Yet, things are different in real
life. A duty of loyalty has been placed
upon journalists, just like it has been
placed upon many other professionals (at least in theory). Doctors owe
it to their patients, lawyers to money
( just kidding!), and journalists owe it
to their audience. For journalists, this
duty entails presenting information in
an objective manner without regard to
their personal opinion or that of others.
Their purpose is to search for the truth
without regard to any personal agendas,
and to present the truth as it is without
distortions, embellishments or omissions.
Watching House of Cards would not
have given rise to this piece had I not
heard in the news that Rob Ford was
f irst in line to register for the upcomMonday, November 18, 2013
ing municipal elections. My f irst reaction was pity because his move looks a
little desperate. I wonder if he knows
that winning the elections is not about
who registers f irst. But then fear struck
me as no other individual has registered (at least on that f irst day) as a
contender. Certainly, elections are not
democratic when someone wins by
default. And then, the reactions to the
media reports followed. Ford ’s public
ALL THE GOOD CAPTIONS ARE TAKEN.
statements regarding the worthiness
of his candidacy continue to be based
on the assiduous premise that he has
saved “taxpayers’ dollars.” Similarly, his
brother Doug Ford (who is apparently
running the campaign) continues to
def lect attention away from his brother’s dishonourable behaviour, focusing
instead on the “saved dollars.”
Unlike the politicians in House of
Cards, no journalist seems to be on
Rob Ford’s list of allies. Although Ford
seemed to have a good relationship
with a few media outlets, such relationships came to an end after the drug
scandal. Most importantly however,
is Ford ’s feud with the Toronto Star.
From day one, the Star has focused on
Ford’s slip-ups, almost as if the newspaper has made it its mission to cause
Ford’s downfall. The news uncovered by
the Toronto Star may indeed frustrate
Ford’s plans of being re-elected.
Ever since Ford admitted to having
used illegal drugs, one of the questions
has been whether such behaviour is
even relevant. While some people f ind
it deplorable, others feel like it is part
of his personal life and instead invite
people to focus on what Ford has done
for Torontonians.
There is no easy answer, when a
question is framed in terms of matters
of personal vs. public life. It is often
diff icult to say where the line must be
drawn. For instance, judging objectively
and putting moral or religious values
aside, it is hard to say whether politicians who cheat on their partners (a very common example)
are unworthy of holding off ice.
While adultery may say a lot
about a person’s character, it
does not necessarily lead to the
conclusion that the person will
act dishonestly in every single
aspect of his or her life.
Certainly, life is not black
and white and so things should
not be oversimplif ied. However,
it is impracticable and unreasonable to say that drug use is
strictly a private matter. Firs tly,
consumption of illegal drugs is,
by def inition, criminal behaviour. If a mayor’s criminal activity of another nature would
not be tolerated, why would we
tolerate illegal drug use? Second, stating that drug use impairs or affects a
person’s ability to perform daily activities, including their job performance, is
stating the obvious. Even if (as some
say) Ford has managed to do his job as
a mayor despite the drug use, now that
the cat is out of the bag, Toronto has
become a joke around the world. It is
hard to imagine that Ford’s behaviour
has not had an impact in the credibility
and worthiness of the city as a whole.
In House of Cards, journalists assist
politicians in destroying the political
careers of their enemies. They do it for
their own good and without regard to
their audience. Torontonians should
certainly be grateful to those diligent
journalists for doing their job, namely,
uncovering information that is of great
signif icance to all of us. However, there
are those who have decided to make a
circus of the situation. Attention should
not be given to them. We have a very
important decision to make and must
not welcome meaningless distractions.
The Obiter Dicta