Is it bad for a city councillor to spit on himself?

As Vancouver readies for an election in October, an undated video of a current city councillor spitting on himself onstage went viral in some corners of social media. The councillor in question is Sean Orr, who fronted the hardcore punk band NEEDS. Needless to say, many commenters were quick to bemoan the display. “Cry, the beloved Dominion,” wrote Howard Anglin. (Others were simply confused, as I was, about the councillor’s apparent second belly button.)

I don’t know much about Orr beyond his page on the City of Vancouver website:

Sean Orr is a housing activist, working-class dishwasher, and columnist who has been writing about Vancouver for 20 years. He’s known in Vancouver for being an outspoken and sincere advocate for people. He’s not afraid to be outspoken or fight for what is right.

[…]

As a private citizen well known for his public affairs advocacy, Sean Orr is respected for always siding with the oppressed and the marginalized, and for courageously taking on bigots and bullies of all types. He looks forward to carrying on this work with a new role and new platform at City Hall.

Yes, his politics are not especially hard to infer, but again, I know nothing about Orr beyond how he describes himself there. I don’t know if he’s a good city councillor or an effective advocate for his constituents. And I’m not sure this video of him performing onstage really changes that.

Look, I get it. People can say that what politicians do outside politics is irrelevant to their ability to represent their constituents, but no one really believes it. Having your city councillor drooling all over themselves is weird! I am sympathetic to the decorum argument.

But I also don’t want a political class made up of people who have been preparing to lead ever since their first run for class president. A common criticism of Pierre Poilievre, leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, is that he was elected to Parliament at 25 and has been there ever since. If we demand that our politicians have a life outside of politics, we cannot be too surprised when some of them genuinely have a life outside of politics.

Of course, what most people probably mean is lawyer/doctor/farmer/small-business owner, not the lead singer of a hardcore punk band who spits on himself. Fair enough. The standards for decorum do not end at the doors of the city council chambers.

But this was a hardcore show, not a city council meeting. I don’t know if I would have much in common with Orr, but plenty of Vancouverites plainly do. There is nothing particularly unusual about one of them ending up on city council. I don’t think holding public office requires politicians to pretend they had no life before politics.

Something I’ve heard said about old-school actors is that they led more interesting lives than the actors of today. Steve McQueen joined the Marines, cut timber in Canada, and worked at a brothel, on an oil rig and with a carnival. He was also forced into a chain gang after being arrested for vagrancy. He led a full life before he became the King of Cool. He was not grown in a vat at Juilliard.

Politics probably benefits from the same thing. There is some value in electing people who did not spend their twenties preparing to join the political class. That doesn’t mean anything goes. Spitting on yourself is still gross and unbecoming. But I would feel differently if he were doing this at a city council meeting, or at an event he was attending in his capacity as a councillor. Being onstage with his band is about as clean a break as you can get from his role as a councillor.

So: is it bad for a city councillor to spit on himself? I mean, yeah. But I’m just not sure it’s bad in any way that matters to whether he should be a city councillor.

The supernumerary belly button remains unexplained.