Dear Urban Diplomat: how do I get my Ford-hating coworkers to stop mocking me?
Dear Urban Diplomat,
I’m a supporter of the Fords. When people badmouthed them at work, I stood up for them. Now that Tory’s mayor, my colleagues continue to rip on me. My boss is in on it too, so I have nobody to complain to. I feel like my only option to get respect is to ask one of them to go outside and settle it. Should I?
—Ford National, East York
Holster those pythons. Your eagerness to get physical with one of your colleagues suggests that you’re playing right into the brawn-over-brains stereotype that gives Ford Nation haters oxygen. Try the tactic that works on the playground: ignore them. If that’s not your style—and I sense that it’s not—issue some fact-based return fire. There’s lots of material, including but not limited to Tory’s litany of defeats, comma- and period-free sentence structure and iffy SmartTrack funding plan, plus all manner of snafus lurking around the corner. Or just wait for it all to pass. Tory has promised a return of “boring” to municipal politics, so city hall–related zingers may soon be passé.
Send your questions to the Urban Diplomat at urbandiplomat@torontolife.com
![](http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https://torontolife.com/city/urban-diplomat-ford-national/&title=Dear Urban Diplomat: how do I get my Ford-hating coworkers to stop mocking me?&picture=https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/urban-diplomat-ford-nation.jpg&description=[caption id="attachment_304899" align="alignright" width="292"] (Image: Nisarg Lakhmani)[/caption]
Dear Urban Diplomat,
I’m a supporter of the Fords. When people badmouthed them at work, I stood up for them. Now that Tory’s mayor, my colleagues continue to rip on me. My boss is in on it too, so I have nobody to complain to. I feel like my only option to get respect is to ask one of them to go outside and settle it. Should I?
—Ford National, East York
Holster those pythons. Your eagerness to get physical with one of your colleagues suggests that you’re playing right into the brawn-over-brains stereotype that gives Ford Nation haters oxygen. Try the tactic that works on the playground: ignore them. If that’s not your style—and I sense that it’s not—issue some fact-based return fire. There’s lots of material, including but not limited to Tory’s litany of defeats, comma- and period-free sentence structure and iffy SmartTrack funding plan, plus all manner of snafus lurking around the corner. Or just wait for it all to pass. Tory has promised a return of “boring” to municipal politics, so city hall–related zingers may soon be passé.
Send your questions to the Urban Diplomat at urbandiplomat@torontolife.com
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“I feel like my only option to get respect is to ask one of them to go outside and settle it”
Yep, sounds like a Ford voter. “My words use not good so I use fists”
It takes courage to admit to supporting Rob Ford in certain circles. Most people assume the worst about Ford’s supporters. I think the wise thing is to keep quiet about it. Hard to imagine anyone believes or supports Rob Ford these days. Ford National has my sympathy, although I suspect this is not a real query, rather it is a joke by Ford National. Most of us are happy the circus has ended at City Hall. Tory is not perfect, but he doesn’t have obvious major character flaws such as a crack addiction.
just like a mouth-breathing Ford supporter to assume that the only way to solve a problem is to “go outside and settle it”.
lol losers. If you don’t wanna get bugged for being a Ford supporter, grow a brain and you won’t be one anymore. Then people will leave you alone.
Why did you make him from East York?!
His support for Rob Ford was probably more than just reactive, and now he’s simply reaping what he sowed. It sounds like what he actually needs is a sense of humour. Anyone who has been in the minority understands quite well that a sense of humour is required to get by in many situations. I’m sure anyone in a room full of Ford supporters would feel the same way.
Dear Urban Diplomat, I have a coworker who is a Ford Nation member and would defend the ex-mayor’s bad behaviour without offering at least some concession or acknowledgement as to why Rob Ford is not an example of what a good leader ought to be. On top of that, he is arrogant about his support and tries to pick a fight with the rest of us when we disagree with him. What should we do?
– Level Headed, Toronto
Easy, stop being an idiot and stop liking Ford.
Yeah, I’ll take “advice letters that Toronto Life interns have their friends email them to justify their job” for $200.
And I’m loving the “mouth breather” comments by the mensa candidates here who are falling over themselves in order to live up to the stereotypical picture of the stupid yet condescending Toronto Life reader.
Face the truth- they’re gone and it’s over. Put your ‘Ford Nation’ flag in the garbage- where it belongs.
Good lord, who exactly is going to read these answers to the guy?
Get over it. As you have no doubt found out (as we all have) that Ford didn’t actually get much done as Mayor, time to cut the cord dude
Also I totally think you should challenge all of these co-workers to a fight. Might not get you the respect you want, but some of your co-workers may visit you at the Don
Dear Level Headed,
if he’s a true Ford fan, he’ll have a heart attack before the first punch.
Problem Solved
-UD
If people are bullying you for your political beliefs, that’s not okay, and you should feel free to go to HR about it.
On the other hand, I suspect that there’s a strong chance that some of the “ripping” you experience is in the form of people pointing out actual facts regarding the ridiculousness of Ford’s time as mayor. Don’t take other people’s disagreement with you personally- it’s not you they disapprove of, it’s the Fords. Prove to them that you can be as reasonable and open-minded as any liberal by listening to their criticism, and acknowledging that yes, Ford was a pretty despicable mayor.