Rob Ford gets the stencil treatment

Lest we be accused of Rob Ford bashing by drawing attention to this stencil near Dovercourt and Dundas, I'd like to pause for a moment to consider what's actually going on here. My reason? Like the last bit of snoetry we wrote about, this once again strikes me as an apt metaphor for just how divisive a figure our mayor has become (or always has been).

The original message Gregory Alan Elliott carved out in the snow, one will recall, was mostly positive (or at the very least neutral). It read "Rob Ford is not my enemy," but was subsequently altered to the following: "Rob Ford is not my enemy." And it looks like something similar is going on here.

I seriously doubt that the sloppily handwritten "Nope" is the work of the same artist who did the original stencil (see below), which, while somewhat reminiscent of Shepard Fairey's now famous Obama poster (and the perhaps the Joker?), appears to mark Rob Ford's ubiquitous presence in and around Toronto more than offer commentary on his politics or effectiveness as a mayor. I don't remember David Miller getting this treatment (though it's possible that I just never saw it).

Who knows how many of these there are around town? Maybe it's the only one, but if nothing else, this is just more proof that Rob Ford has firmly captured Toronto's attention -- for better or worse. Check out the full image below. And thanks to Eric Parker who both took the photograph and brought it to our attention.