City
New website gets Rob Ford cycling, sort of
Rob Ford, cyclist? If trying to picture that makes your brain hurt, perhaps a little animation will help. In response to the mayor's generally negative stance toward cycling, the folks over at Duke's Cycle and ad agency DentsuBos have put together a new website called RideForRob.com where vistors can "donate" their rides to an animated facsimile of Ford who in turn gets fitter and fitter as the kilometres accrue.
According to a press release, the point of the campaign is "to demonstrate the fitness benefits of bicycling in the city" and to change the mayor's attitude toward cycling in general. It also serves as an opportunity to make light of Ford's stature and his failure to meet his weight loss goals earlier this year. I've never been much a fan of this, but I suppose the moment the Cut the Waist challenge got underway, the subject became fair game.
The website's donation form works on the honour system, so it's quite possible that Ford's avatar will get real thin, real fast and the whole exercise will be over before you know it, but in the meantime, it's worth a few smiles. And, hey, now you know what Ford looks like on a bike. Sort of.
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Besides, if you actually looked at the website you'd see it was a very positive message.
In fact, I have:
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/ben-johnson/rob-ford-weight_b_945943.html
1. 'demonstrate the fitness benefits of bicycling in the city' - this can be done without making it personal.
2. 'change the mayor's attitude toward cycling' - not sure a website or campaign will do it. Aside from that, I suspect Ford doesn't actually care one way or another about cyclists other than to score points with a certain part of the electorate who think bikes cause congestion instead of alleviating it, and mostly in the parts of town Ford never goes to anyway.
3. I don't think Ford's a good mayor; I ride a bike; I think his attitude to biking is misguided. Those three things don't always necessarily go together, and I resent the use of cycling in itself to harass him about his policy and his health at the same time.
4. The animation doesn't look much like him and perpetuates the idea that cycling, whether for exercise or transportation, is uncomfortable and exhausing.
Let me know which part of your bio qualifies you to make a statement like "Rob Ford is of such bulk that I believe genetics alone are not to blame".
Failing to meet his target wasn't the problem...the problem was he gave up. People expect better effort from their leaders.
But do you think Rob Ford was "born to be fat" and that he's battled his weight by healthy foods and exercising his whole life?
There are people that are born to be bigger, and there are people that take no responsibility for their own health. I hold no ill will for the latter, but one can see the former are irresponsible.
Rod Ford can, and should, be judged for his ill-health. This is nothing like homophobia--which is a practice of discriminating against a person for something that is beyond his or her control: their sexual preference.
The guy refuses to see long-term when it comes to his own health and it speaks to the way he governs.
Sorry but the carbon dioxide released into the environment to produce and transport the copious amounts of food necessary to satiate obese people's gluttonous appetites (not to mention all that extra methane coming out their asses) exceeds what is acceptable in the new climate of enviro-awareness. For the good of our children's future obesity must be eliminated.
Until he made it everyone's business as a PR stunt and crash and burned.
Besides all of this, attacking his poor ideas (coming from a capitalist and suburbanite) is so easy and has become so repetitive that it's easier to revert to making fun of his weight.
Just you wait. As the weather continues its exceedingly unusual behavior and the water level begins its encroach on coastal civilization the panic will set in and many very stiff fingers desperate to reverse the damage will be pointed in every which way that wanton over-consumption exists. Obese people will be the most visually obvious offenders of this "gluttony of old" and if not eaten will probably end up in some kind of mandatory fat camp.
What? Of what relevance is this? Or are you just bringing up the fact that he's a completely out of touch millionaire who pretends to be a regular joe?
Your comment is automatically rendered invalid because you actually tried to add a hashtag to it. This isn't twitter.
Being gay (or at least living it) is much closer to a choice than being fat. Homophobia and fatphobia are both wrong and (if you ask me), things that are ethically wrong can't really be measured. Additionally, if someone did choose to be gay, that would not make homophobia directed toward that particular person ok, righ?
So stop it with the snarky body bullying and concentrate on Rob's wacko right-wing policies and disrespect for the electors.
I'm straight, but I certainly didn't choose it. I was just born this way. I can remember being 5 years old watching Wonder Woman or Daisy Duke on TV and getting erections even though I had no idea why. And while I don't have a problem with homosexuality, it would represent a pretty poor choice.
"Let's see, I want to choose a sexual orientation that will expose me to discrimination, make me a target for harassment and violence, one that will significantly increase the odds of being bullied, committing suicide as a teen or suffering from depression. One that will prevent me from being able to marry the person I love in most places on Earth. On top of that, it could cause problems in my family, and I'll have to suffer through idiotic statements from strangers on the internet." Yeah, great "choice".
I'm not saying that all fat people are that way because of poor decisions and a lack of exercise, but a lot are, and there are steps they can take to change their situation. Being fat and being gay are not comparable.
I loathe Ford's policies which are ill-conceived. I would hate for him to have a second term based a sympathy vote.
But Kayla, Erin and Ben as somebody who lost 75 lbs I know how idiotic and hateful people can be when one is overweight. I also know how difficult it is and how many factors are involved Some of the comments here are appalling.
As for OhYeah..I can only recommend that you get a newspaper subscription, a highlighter and spend your free time using both before you go near a voting booth for any reason. Otherwise just spoil your ballot. It is a better way to exercise your democratic right if you aren't familiar with the issues.
If Ford feels that exercise and nutrition is no big deal, he's policies are going to reflect that. We're seeing that now, his mentality is in line with 1970's USA. Are we Americans in the muscle car era or Canadians in the 2010's?