May The Schwartz Be With You!

I sometimes get a bit surprised or have an eyebrow raised whenever someone tries to use his or her professional stature to try and evoke an appeal using emotions by twisting certain things here and there. And at the same time take advantage of the human mind to try and invoke negative feelings subconsciously so. But isn’t that what lawyers do anyway? Ok, I’ll refrain from bad lawyer jokes here.

Right now I am trying to figure out this Schwartz letter.

Is this a personal letter or an official letter coming from a law professor whose letter has Syracuse University’s letterhead with the logo on it? Is this an approved use of the letterhead for external communications with PepsiCo, NAD and AGBell and that Prof. Schwartz is representing Syracuse University on their behalf his opinions about AGBell’s letter to PepsiCo? Or is this a personal letter only on his own behalf and not the university? What are the reasons for using a letter with Syracuse University’s logo on it as the letterhead in the first place?

My next question (and I’m just merely pointing them out here folks so don’t try and read too much into all this…again….just dissecting it) is the use of the acronym “AGBAD” in Schwartz’s letter. Why “AGBAD”? Is this an attempt to somehow place into the minds of PepsiCo officials, subconsciously so, that AGBell is really B.A.D.? Not once, but eight times in the letter with the acronym “AGBAD” in a not so easy-to-miss capital letters? Peppered visibly so throughout? If Schwartz had not noticed not too long ago, in fact yesterday, NAD produced a letter addressing to AG Bell as “AGBell” and certainly not “AGBAD” eight different times. Yet Schwartz’s letter was CC-ed to AGBell, NAD and PepsiCo which may make it even worse. I am sure that Schwartz will get a letter from AGBell apprising him on the correct use of acronym and not “AGBAD.” I suppose Schwartz might try and plead innocent or ignorance on the proper use of an acronym or abbreviation for the Alexander Graham Bell organization. But doing so would not be very professional-like or even believable coming from a Deaf university law professor.

So, I guess this letter of his is really more of an emotionally-laden filled letter type rather than a professional letter coming from a university professor while using the Syracuse University letterhead in his letter on Syracuse University’s behalf? Or is this really a personal letter that has nothing to do with Syracuse University? This needs to be explained to me and the readers.

Perhaps the letter would be more receptive and believable had Schwartz used “AGBell” or the full title “Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing” instead? The use “AGBADHH” might be okay to use but AGBell’s internet address is http://www.agbell.org/ and not http://www.agbad.org/ so I guess the proper use of the acronym is really “AGBell.”

Next is the invocation of the ever so famous use (but overly used) of a Nazi’s comparison in an argument known as “Godwin’s Law.” When it comes to demonizing an organization, a company or a person it’s best to insert a Nazi slant and somehow equivocate Hitler’s action of genocide against deaf and hard of hearing people of the past to that of, for example, AGBell’s philosophy and actions of today. And all this is coming from a Deaf university law professor? What else is new? Will Schwartz plead ignorance on that one, too? It really does beg the question here which is why I'm writing this.

And now we have Schwartz frowning about the myth-making comments when he did the same thing himself in his own letter, ironically so. There is no “millions of deaf and hard-of-hearing Americans” who “see their deafness as a rich cultural phenomenon rooted in American Sign Language.” It’d be misleading and imprecise since how many millions are there in “millions” of deaf and hard of hearing American people that use ASL? Two? Five? Ten? Maybe it’s one hundred millions? That'd be nirvana for some people. Actually, it’d be more like less than a million according to my own 14 page research result that I did some 4 years ago questioning the number of culturally deaf people in the United States that use ASL. It is certainly not “millions” which can easily stretch the imaginations of anybody’s mind making it appear bigger when it’s not. Schwartz might want to come down to earth a little bit and at least use something that’s a bit more believably factual. Not doing so is kind of like hearing a famous misquote of Carl Sagan’s “Billions and billions of stars in the galaxy.” Exactly how many billions are there anyway in "billions and billions"? Exactly how many “millions” are there in millions just to be fair?

As far as I can tell, imho, this Schwartz letter was purposely made known for the Deaf community and public in the express purpose to continue with the aggrandizing, scape-goating, baiting and slamming of an organization that has a different philosophical belief. I may be wrong but please point them out for me if that is the case. This Schwartz letter does not at all help with any future fruitful dialogues between AGBell and the Deaf community where philosophies differ greatly. It just made things worse...probably.

What also doesn’t help in this situation is seeing an emotionally-laden letter coming from a Deaf law professor who uses a letter containing a letterhead of a university logo making a personal case either for himself or onSyracuse University’s behalf on the opinion about AGBell (tell me which one, Schwartz, so all this can be cleared up for my readers here). Again, does Syracuse University agree with Schwartz’s opinion in his letter since it is a letter with a letterhead of Syracuse University’s logo? But the question now is how would the public see this letter when compared with that of NAD’s letter now that they are made known public? Is it professionalism that the public sees or paranoia filled with hyperboles for the sake of stirring the pot even more?

This drama is certainly getting stranger by the minute. It may be “ballsy” but certainly not Spaceballs....yet.

May the Schwartz be with you!