To the editor:
Re: “Rob Ford deserves our empathy,” Nov. 8.
Allen Garr misses the primary point completely when he exhorts us to “empathize” with Rob Ford rather than censure him. The sad fact of this matter at present is that Mr. Ford is not just Citizen Joe with a substance abuse problem (“traumatized” Dr. Maté would allegedly say, laughably), but an individual with enormous power and influence in a globally public role who also has a significant problem with judgment, character and trustworthiness, in addition to his well-publicized addictions.
When people in power show us that they do not deserve to wield it, they indeed should be persuaded to step down, and if that doesn’t work, to be cajoled, badgered, shamed, arrested, abandoned or worse if they will not remove themselves from the post they so undeservedly occupy. Mr. Ford is well up the continuum towards the most extreme examples of megalomaniac narcissism, who refuse to do what is right in order to be the boss. He will get my sympathy and empathy for his very human problems only when the power he clings to is wrestled from his grasping paws.
Finally, a note on the presumption of “trauma,” and I speak with over 30 years experience as a mental health therapist: One can quite easily be an addict without having been a victim of trauma, and one can be a victim of trauma without becoming an addict. Everyone has had their bruises, but let’s reserve the word “trauma” for those who are truly entitled to its use.
Peter O’Loughlin,
Vancouver
