When the Deaf Community Eats One of Their Own

Ok. My blog title is a bit misleading but it comes pretty close on what we have been witnessing over the last few days ever since a well known Deaf blogger made the faux-pas blog post of the year that angered so many deaf and hearing readers. A move that prompted blog readers to contact companies in protest to get their banner ads removed from this particular Deaf person's blogsite. And why? It turns out that it was a blog post that essentially insulted, according to many who have complained in disgust, or made light of the Virginia Tech massacre. And as a result, numerous banner ads were removed en masse.

This is an unprecedented reaction when you get so many deaf/Deaf/hh/hearing readers contacting companies to get them to remove their banner ads from a popular blogsite. Although this reaction would not be entirely unprecedented in its own right for a Deaf community to basically go after a Deaf person. Or "eating one of their own" as you could say. That honor of such an unprecedented reaction of "eating one of their own" belongs to the recent protest at Gallaudet University. A feast that lasted for months. But that's another story for another time.

This isn't about "pushing buttons" which this Deaf person is famously known for but about the complete failure to present the proper frame of mind by being a bit more sensitive and cordial when it comes to such a horrible event like the Virginia Tech massacre. Failure to be that much more "cordial" in light of certain events would eventually lead to the continued painting of a negative picture of what a Deaf community would look like to outsiders. Thinking it would be about a bunch of whiny, selfish and entirely insensitive group of Deaf people. A stereotype that would be hard to get rid of. But ironically it was the Deaf community who put this particular Deaf person on a pedestal and paid homage to this guy with accolades, praises and wonderment. Right now it seems that many blog readers are facing a realization. Either expose the hypocrisy and remove the mask of that person or hope that the person will start that long list of apologies on the road to recovery. Shouldn't this be a time of healing and recovery?

All in all, there are consequences to one's own actions. Especially so when it comes to writing in a public setting over the internet about people or events. Even I am keenly aware of this and I know better whenever I blog my own posts.

Bottom line? It pays to be cordial and forthright.