Opinions vs Hate

Fans and followers of my blog, simply put, there are those who make the opinions and then there are those who try and shut them up rather than to agree to disagree. There are some people who cannot tell the difference between hating a blogging (i.e. acting jealously towards someone) and opinion (have not personal feelings towards the person but commenting on the subject matter). Why, when challenged of their sensibilities by those who dare to ask the hard questions, do many get angry and nasty instead of offering alternative arguments? If you look at some of JJ Puorro's responses you can tell he does a good job of simply disagreeing and stating his arguments rather than resort to the petty tactics of attacking a blogger for attack sake like so many are inclined to do. But once a fling or name calling is done in an otherwise good argument whether responding in a comment box or writing in a blog does the argument quickly become worthless. The argument loses out. It immediately becomes clear the focus is really about a vendetta-like mission whose obsessiveness becomes apparent through a series of veiled and not so veiled personal attacks in the effort to shut some people up.

Not a very smart thing to do.

In the world of blogging, it is impossible to please anyone. This is increasingly apparent in the Deaf blogosphere. Even if you become the nicest person in the world and say all the kind kudos and warm praises will you still find people who will take the time and effort to show their disdain and hate towards you. Simply because they don't like what they're hearing or seeing. And they'll use those reasons as a justification to hate you as a blogger and make their mission to target you specifically based on hate instead of simply agreeing to disagree.

For me as a hh/deaf blogger, I don't need to worry about other people's feelings towards me. People will either like what I have written or they don't. No point in worrying, afraid of stepping on somebody's toes. I'd rather remain true to myself in expressing on what I want to say and not be afraid to ask the hard questions however unpopular it may be. Not everything is a bed of roses. But I will continue to write as I wish as a hh/deaf blogger. I still have lots to contribute in the coming days, months and even years. No one is being forced to read my blogs. Yet some readers keep coming back and bray even more which begs the question. Why keep returning if you know this blog may upset you? Why continue with the petty act and charade? Why act like 7 year old kids thinking you own the playground and if you don't have it your way you then proceed to a DEFCON 4 temper tantrum by throwing yourself on the ground writhing like a slug covered with salt? And I'm the adult watching the kiddies and this farce outside of the playground.

Opinions vs Hate.

Which one are you? Attack the argument or attack the person?

Zombieland!

Aargh! (a zombie scream)

Over the past several years I have progressively become one of the more well known deaf/hh bloggers by those who like to read blogs. Over time I knew I’d be delving deeper into the seemingly quixotic ideals of the Deaf world with each deaf-related topic I write. A topic that would either send people howling and convulsing along with the gnashing of their teeth, or have them nod their heads with understanding and concurrence. Maybe even get a chuckle or two from readers. Yet, what I've witnessed has become a paradoxically funny turn of events in an odd sort of way seeing how some people objected to on how I write my blogs almost as if they’re demanding that their own sensitive sensibilities not be violated. Well, no one forced them to read my blogs if they are THAT sensitive to begin with. Why bother reading them if you disagree with them and that you get upset easily? Maybe a little sunlight here and there helps?

Aargh!

I’m not a Deaf blogger but a blogger who happens to have a hearing loss. No need for a feel good label. I’m “a nationally known professional patriotic purveyor of highly entertaining and informative blogging” or so says the title description seen in my blog which describes me pretty accurately I suppose. What I write is my own artful expression of what I want to discuss what's on my mind. But this isn't the first time when people have gotten upset over my writings. This has been going on since I started blogging in back in 2004. Yet, realize that each of us bloggers carries certain strength to the community whether it’s the deaf/hh communities or the Deaf community. But to blog is to express oneself in a variety of ways. Yet some people tend to convulse a bit now and then. 

Aargh!

Next, this whole “anti-deafhood” claim is getting a bit out of touch with reality here when it was simply about how people have politicized “deafhood” that people disagree with.  It was a philosophical concept that was contrived and invented as a feel good word to muck about with.  Remember that paradoxically funny turn of events I said earlier? Well, this is one of them when people get upset whenever Deaf, deaf or hard of hearing people who speak up up on how they don't care for the word. Some disagree with the word seeing it as the equivalent as someone inventing the word "blindhood" or "intellectually-challengedhood" or "wheelchairhood" or whatever other nonsense words to be contrived, manipulated, and mangled like once fresh human beings turned into zombies with appendages and bodyparts falling off. And whenever people disagree over something, then they're labeled "anti" something. If I disagree with the word "blindhood" and then suddenly you get people go on the warpath screaming with zombie-like expressions with fingers pointing at you with large eyes and gaping mouths, "You anti-blindhood! You anti-AFA! You anti-deafhood!" Whatever. Maybe we're just a bunch of pro-common sense people to begin with?  Instead people vulgarize the word constantly. You know, zombie-like vulgarization.

Aargh!

I’ve also seen how people attempt to use “social guilt” in the effort to somehow “control” or "influence" how people should write, think or say (e.g. “anti-this” and “anti-that”). Rather than agree to disagree people go overboard using “social guilt” to push their own brand of agenda around. I’ve seen how people are easily misled by false claims or myths like how faulty cochlear implants have shocked children as if it was a wide spread problem. That is an example of an (highly) exaggerated claim since about 1/10th of 1 percent of implanted children in one case study (922 patients) experienced “shocking sensation” (rather than “shocked children” since it envisions a picture of kids gettting shocked like sticking a fork into an outlet plug or something). In that case study I mentioned only 1 patient experienced that “hard failure” of getting that "shocking sensation" from an implant as reported in a recent 2008 Otology & Neurotology report. What's next? Cochlear implants will turn kids into little zombie runts?

Aargh!

Oh, by the way, be sure to buy your latest zombie wig to go with your upcoming zombie Halloween outfit. There's nothing scarier than a zombie with a blond wig!

Aargh!

Anonymous comments no longer allowed!!

I agree with what Tayler is doing. He feels he has no choice. I can imagine all the crap he had to endure seeing all those anonymous comments by deaf cowards who are a bunch of thumb-sucking anal retentative babies in the effort to demean, attack and perhaps even threaten him to some extent through anonymous commenting. Anonymous comments meant to demean and attack Tayler for what he's done with Deafread and DVTV are rather petty. Even petty still to attack him for his own personal opinions. I'd rather see a face or at least a real name to go with the comments but I still do allow anonymous comments to go through my blog today even though some of them are from those who are cowards. Still, I let them through. Normally I'd allow them to go through instead of deleting them which is a rare thing I do. At least I can have some examples of what an anonymous coward looks like in my comment sections when I do my next "Best and Worst Responses" for 2010 as I have done in 2007. My favorite comment for "Best and Worst Responses" in 2007?

“Another eye opener is the claim that 40 percent of my blogs were about him. Now, I've done 1068 blogs in over two years. If I did 40 percent, that would be 427 blogs!! LoL! The guy is really bad at math.”

Yeah, not only delusional but really, really bad at math.

Heh.

The Candy exposure.....the meltdown.

Well, after going back to see what's the heck is going on to take a second look about this whole Candy blogger affair I still find it all a bit comical and laughable in some instances. I barely remember coming across her original blogsite a few years ago. And then when she transferred over to a different blog with the name "Candy" she seemed to have exploded out of nowhere this year. And that's a good thing because that means more people are reading her blogs. And it certainly got some people to notice her a little bit too deeply. Anonymity as a blogger is a big part of the blogosphere. Not everybody wants to divulge their identity. But to do so on in an even smaller blogosphere called the Deaf blogosphere via Deafread is an entirely different set of environment.

Candy will not stop blogging just because a few people have personal grudges against her because of what she said in the past. I admire her and her informative blogging style. From her blogs and comments elsewhere I've not found anything offensive according to some people who claimed to be offended by her comments. Where? I think some Deaf people are offended by her because of her opinions and information about the recent AB2072 meltdown. And perhaps many felt that she was taking the limelight away from protesters of AB2072? Who knows.

Candy has a right as anybody else to blog her opinions on her blogsite. Bloggers do have the right to be anonymous. There are personal reasons for doing so. Outing her might seem "victorious" to a few people but I'm betting that the majority of readers find it a petty exercise. I think the real meltdown isn't Candy's own but somebody else. I believe she will continue as who she is. Her strong sense of character should attest to that.

Candy, welcome to THIS side of the blogosphere.

Why do you like to read Kokonut Pundit blog? A thanks to readers...

A little bit of a thank you here is in order to the readers of Kokonut Pundit who continue to read my blogs that I started almost 6 1/2 years ago. Let this be an open comment period for fans (or haters) of Kokonut Pundit the opportunity to have something to say here. The comment page is open and that my moderating control is now turned off so you don't have to wait to see if your comments are approved or not.

Thank you for reading Kokonut Pundit.

More cochlear implant bloggers needed in DeafRead?

Is there a need for more of these CI bloggers in Deafread? Something like Rachel's blog? For so many years there have been a chasm between those who support CI and see that it does really work very well and those who support ASL and believe CI doesn't work that well or worse. But what I have been seeing lately are more discourses and discussions on the issue of cochlear implants, some have been quite fruitful while others are a bit perverted.

I did a quick Google research using a variety of keywords associated with "Deafread."

"CI" and "DeafRead" - 10,300 references.
"cochlear implant" and "DeafRead" - 3,940 references.
"ASL" and "DeafRead" - 21,700 references
"ASL" and "deaf" - 494,000 references
"American Sign Language" - 2,250,000 references
"hard of hearing" - 2,210,000 references.
"cochlear implant" - 497,000 references.
"hearing loss" - 5,040,000 references

Interesting figures. Make what you will with those data but people deal mostly on the issue of hearing loss first rather than about Deaf culture or ASL among the 30+ million people with hearing loss in the United States.

In Jodi's blog one commenter made this comment about Harlan Lane's own attitude towards cochlear implants which is quite compelling in terms of unwillingness to acknowledge certain things and/or help promote proper discourses:

He not only refused to admit that they could work, but when my friend attended one of his lectures with his hearing, speaking deaf CI daughter and approached Lane afterwards asking him to speak with her, Lane refused. Talk about close mindedness!

Do we have these little "Harlan Lanes" running around doing the exact same thing in some of the cochlear implant blogs or even in other non-CI blogs refusing to even acknowledge those with cochlear implants can and do extremely well in the speaking and listening skill area even to the point that ASL wouldn't be a need for them? But sometimes I can't help but think that some Deaf and even hearing supporters (e.g. Harlan Lane types) have managed to somehow hurt the image of the Deaf community by their very act of narrow-mindedness and attitudes. And all people have to do is point to these instances in blogs, vlogs, newspaper clippings, and so on on what Deaf culture is like seen (to them) as unwilling, cruel, or even an unacceptable bunch of Deaf people who are against other deaf/hh people who choose an alternative preference in life other than a Deaf culture one. A case of political correctness run amok might be seen to be as one of them, too. It only takes a few bad apples to spoil the rest of the basketful of good apples to ruin the picture. Yet some deaf forums are starting to take steps to insure that those types of Deaf responses (i.e. "negative activities") are eliminated or reduced through warnings or banishments. Quite telling coming from one Deaf forum when it comes to image control. Again, all of this go to this deep, deep question of mine that I've been asking over the last two years, "unity for whom?"

UPDATE: For ya'll who may be reticent or adamant at the idea of seeing more cochlear implant bloggers (or even cued speech bloggers for that matter) in DeafRead, complain to DR editors about that. And make sure that DR will not want to welcome all deaf and hard of hearing vloggers and bloggers with open arms into the deaf/hh v/blogging community and learn from them and their perspectives on life as a deaf or hh person. Don't look to me to complain. Not cool. Look into the mirror if you want to complain about that. And for the record, I never said I was unhappy with DeafRead. Provide a few Google stats do not mean I am unhappy with DeafRead. Far from it. Although I do provide some interesting blog articles to get people to think. I, in fact, welcome all deaf, hh, Deaf people with open arms and that we are all in the same boat when it comes to communication access. Variety is the spice of life. But if you insist on being that limited group that will only open arms to those with a conditional requirement then go for it!