u/MaplePoutineCitizen

While I'm genuinely trying not to echo a Mayor Fisk-esque monologue from Daredevil: Born Again, here, I can't help but to feel that Toronto is devolving into a state of comic book level chaos.

People often rag on this sub for being too negative, but a lot of the experiences reported here just seem to be getting more and more common:

- Cost of living is out of control

- Affordable housing is basically non-existent

- The job market is a joke

- The TTC is a world class dysfunctional mess

- Basic etiquette is out the window

- Dog owners have abdicated their intelligence

- Teenagers are outright violent

- Things will get built with little to no city planning in mind

- Bureaucracy grinds everything to a halt

- Roads and sidewalks are an elaborate game of dodging bullets because everyone "NEEDS" their Slurpee delivered at lightning speeds

- City Hall's is mismanaging millions of taxpayer dollars with the public seeing little return

- The Ford government is sticking its nose in everything because Doug's ego is still bruised from not having won the mayoral race

- Homelessness is on the rise and the general public is increasingly dehumanizing people who have nowhere to go

If you have things happening in your life here that bring you joy, I'm happy for you. Regardless, we need to stop pretending like major systemic flaws don't exist here and and actually put some focused effort into solving these issues.

It would bring me immense delight to watch the joint venture between Ontario's self-proclaimed king and this soulless megacorp have to eat their losses and be laughed at for generations to come. The renovated waterfront area actually looks pretty nice, assuming the final design will match the concept art.

In the ashes of this laudable decision, I hope the next Premier and Toronto City Council decide to build something that will service the public at large: an expansive new Science Centre. Not just any Science Centre, but a world-class successor to the previous incarnation. A monument of scientific marvels that will serve generations for centuries to come. One that's equipped with a world-class planetarium to make up for the other disgraceful decision as of late to service a new nothing burger building under the UofT ecosystem.

Yes, Thermea has a 99 year lease on the space, and hopefully they feel desperate enough to offload the space at a bargain to a more worthy institution.

It's cherry tree season! Under normal circumstances this would mean a respectful appreciation of natural beauty and taking a break from hectic life to admire the fleeting aesthetics of spring amidst an increasingly digitized world. Not in Toronto, though! This is when we double down on reprobate behavior and living for social media reaches its peak.

Allow me to be the bearer of bad news to everyone swarming around the trees to get the perfect picture: none of your followers actually care about your pictures. They're not unique by any means, and it just signals that you chase trends rather than bothering to develop a personality. You have the exact same picture as everyone else with a different face. Nobody actually cares that you were there, and you gain no social capital whatsoever.

"Why do salty?" some people here might be wondering? Because I love cherry tree season so much, and my enthusiasm goes to hell every time I try and go see them and encounter the social media circus.

And before someone says "Well that's just part of the experience", no, it actually isn't. The point is to go there and admire the trees with your own eyes. Maybe you have a picnic nearby and soak it all in before all the petals fall for the year.

Between this and the Distillery Winter Village, it feels like a good chunk of the people in this city wouldn't know how to live their lives if it didn't involve posting on social media. The trend chasing here is Black Mirror levels of dystopian.

Also, apparently basic literacy is severely lacking in this city, since no matter how many signs there are saying "***DO NOT TOUCH THE TREES***" there are a lot of people touching the trees. Maybe instead of taking pictures people should brush up on their reading. Just a thought.

For the record, I have never voted for Ford, actively informed everyone I know about the harms his re-election would cause, and convinced others to go out and vote.

Sure, this is a ranting sub, so rant away, but if the goal is to achieve meaningful change in real life behaviors have to shift.

I'm willing to bet good money that a sizeable chunk of people now complaining about Ford and how "we need to do something" didn't vote in the last election.

If you want to learn more about the results and pitiful voter turnout, I invite you to check out the following resources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025\_Ontario\_general\_election

https://globalnews.ca/news/11052258/ontario-election-2025-voter-turnout/

If you are one of those "I don't believe in voting" or "my vote doesn't matter" people, you are partially to blame for this disaster we collectively find ourselves in. All of your bluster online and in front of Queen's Park is worth nothing compared to the 15 minutes you could have spent for one week out of 4 years to make your opinion known where it actually matters.

There was advanced polling and mail-in voting, and unless you were physically incapable of doing either there's no excuse.

I'm sorry to inform you that we live in a democracy, and aside for Ford getting convicted of a crime there's little to nothing that can change. We're stuck with him for the remainder of his term, and that's that.

What you can do, however, is make sure you show up in the next election to vote him out of office. Furthermore, you can tell everyone you know about the importance of voting and explaining how Ford's policies are harming your way of life.

I think I just discovered the bottom of the barrel for the crazy society we now live in.

I understand conducting background checks for volunteer positions, as there are major safety considerations often involved. However, going through the same resume, cover letter, and interview process for a position that you aren't earning any money for whatsoever is a level of dystopian insanity that I don't think even George Orwell could bring himself to write.

What are the people who are running things consuming that leads to this level of delusion?