My lost video...resurfaced!

This is an old video (with subtitle) response to Deaf Pundit's, aka Jeannette Johnson, comment that I've long forgotten. Never bothered to put my video up on YouTube the day after she mentioned about a blog I did and "Candy's" back in June 2011 with her comments in one of Deaf Jeff's blog piece. Needless to say, it was something that made me shake my head with incredulity and a raised eyebrow. So, once again, if you're curious go ahead and see my video.

Just the facts, Ma'am.

I'm not sure what the deal is here with DP on going after me, Candy and Ann_C other than it's nothing more than another witch hunt over a difference of opinions under the guise of "facts" and which people have more "credibility" (note the underline bold throughout): 

On one hand, we have Amy Cohen Efron, a deaf ASL user who has a Master’s degree and works solely in the Deaf Community. We have MishkaZena, a formerly oral deaf person who now uses ASL fluently. She holds two Master’s degrees and has worked extensively in the Deaf Community. And you have me – a native ASL deaf user, who has a bachelor of science degree and has worked/volunteered extensively in the Deaf Community. All of us three have done some form of scholarly research on the Deaf Community. We’ve read books, professional journal articles, attended classes and professional workshops focusing on various issues in the Deaf Community. We participate and subscribe to an email list serv for deaf academics. And it is very easy to find out MishkaZena and my real names – our real identities are not a secret.

On the other hand, we have Mike M, Ann_C and Candy. Nearly nothing is known about Ann_C. We do not know her real name, nor whether if she holds a college degree. The only thing we know is that she is an oral deaf/severely hard of hearing person who, by her own admission, infrequently uses American Sign Language. She has not mentioned working or volunteering within the Deaf Community, or even having friends who use ASL. I have not seen her discuss reading scholarly books, journal articles or the like, about the Deaf Community. From what I’ve gathered so far from her, the only information Ann_C gets about the Deaf Community, is from the v/blogs.

Mike M is hard of hearing and holds a baccalaureate degree. To my knowledge, he does not work or volunteer in the Deaf Community and primarily uses his voice to communicate. McConnell even wrote once on his blog, which post has apparently been deleted or buried under the reams and reams of posts, that he thought there was something such as too much education. As far as I’ve seen, he has not discussed whether after graduating from Gallaudet, if he has read any scholarly books, journals or the like on the Deaf Community.

And we have Candy. Very little is known about this woman. She appears to be a hard of hearing woman who claims to sign. She has not mentioned whether she works or volunteers in the Deaf Community. Word has it that Candy only has a high school diploma, since she is a college dropout, but we don’t know that for sure, since she has refused to disclose her credentials or her real name. Candy has mentioned that she refuses to read Harlan Lane’s Mask of Benevolence, because she heard it was too biased. Aside from the proclamation of refusal, Candy has not discussed reading any scholarly books, journal articles or the like, on the Deaf Community. And lastly, her claim to expertise regarding the Deaf Community, is supposedly due to her being from a Deaf family and her sister being a high school teacher.

The questions now for all of you to consider are – who do you hold as being more credible on the Deaf Community issues? Whose ideas will you primarily draw from, so you can then help obtain what’s in the best interests for the Deaf Community? Which ideas will you hold as being credible?

What I see here appears to be an attempt to try and out individuals like Ann_C and others under the guise of "just the facts, ma'am" under a topic of who is "more credible." Incredible! All this reminds me like the time when Candy was exposed last year when her real name was revealed which resulted in people who didn't like her contacted her employer in the effort to try and get her into trouble because of a difference of opinions over her blogs fearing the boogeyman was out to destroy their ideology on Deaf culture. Ironically, in Candy's blog she wrote last year "A bully responds to Anti-Bullying Effort!" you can read what DP wrote in the comment section (note the bold):

People need to start filing reports with the police for harassment about these trying to get them fired for no good reason.

It’s one thing to complain about public servants behaving badly, but trying to out private citizens who blog anonymously, then trying to get them fired from their jobs, is just wrong.

Yet in DP's blog she goes after Ann_C, who is a private citizen, and attempted to identify her as much as possible and said,

Nearly nothing is known about Ann_C. We do not know her real name, nor whether if she holds a college degree. The only thing we know is that she is an oral deaf/severely hard of hearing person who, by her own admission, infrequently uses American Sign Language. She has not mentioned working or volunteering within the Deaf Community, or even having friends who use ASL. I have not seen her discuss reading scholarly books, journal articles or the like, about the Deaf Community. From what I’ve gathered so far from her, the only information Ann_C gets about the Deaf Community, is from the v/blogs.

All this has a writing of a dressing down in the effort to compartmentalize each of us into bite size pieces in the attempt to identify who we are and what we have done or not done and whether we fit into their ideological mold. Despite Ann_C's unknown status of who she is (which is not at all important nor necessary to know except by insecure people) as a blogger what DP just did reminded me of time when Ann_C and White Ghost (a frequent commenter) who were once threatened to be outed someday by a commenter in Ann_C's own blog. All this undermining efforts just because of a difference in opinions.

Last year Ann_C wrote "A Moral Compass" where she astutely observed:

V/bloggers, commenters, and readers alike all have seen this monster rear its ugly head online. And it’s an ugly head, no matter what shape it takes on: online personal attacks, cyber-harassment, hijacking of a thread, email threats, organizational bullying, online outting of a v/blogger’s real name, letters written to one’s employer, frivolous lawsuits, real-life threats/stalking, physical confrontations, ad nauseam.

Is it because of the target’s opinion/ view? No, it’s because the attacker dropped his moral compass in the angry desire to hit back at the person he disagreed with.

Pretty ironic considering what has just transpired today. And then you have DP who run by that familiar line again on Candy as someone who is "very little known."

And we have Candy. Very little is known about this woman. She appears to be a hard of hearing woman who claims to sign. She has not mentioned whether she works or volunteers in the Deaf Community. Word has it that Candy only has a high school diploma, since she is a college dropout, but we don’t know that for sure, since she has refused to disclose her credentials or her real name. Candy has mentioned that she refuses to read Harlan Lane’s Mask of Benevolence, because she heard it was too biased. Aside from the proclamation of refusal, Candy has not discussed reading any scholarly books, journal articles or the like, on the Deaf Community. And lastly, her claim to expertise regarding the Deaf Community, is supposedly due to her being from a Deaf family and her sister being a high school teacher.

Excuse me, her name was revealed last year thanks to zealous overbearing morons. But remember, it's "just the fact's, ma'am" when DP said:

All I did was to present facts here, then let the readers draw their own conclusions. If you interpret that as arrogant… well. So be it.

Facts? Or is this really an attempt to undermine and out individuals just because you disagree with their opinions like on what Ann_C opined in Amy Cohen's blog? It's one thing to disagree and state your arguments but it's entirely another thing to try and do this whole dressing down business that has an air of trying to out people of their full identities, and in a tone that would encourage other readers to try do more of the dirty work to do more of the outing business.

And then you have me that DP went after and it was a bit bizarre read, too.

Mike M. is hard of hearing and holds a baccalaureate degree. To my knowledge, he does not work or volunteer in the Deaf Community and primarily uses his voice to communicate. McConnell even wrote once on his blog, which post has apparently been deleted or buried under the reams and reams of posts, that he thought there was something such as too much education. As far as I’ve seen, he has not discussed whether after graduating from Gallaudet, if he has read any scholarly books, journals or the like on the Deaf Community.

For the record, as I have said before in my blogs, I have a B.A. degree in Math from Gallaudet University and a M.S. degree in Geology from University of Idaho. I even got accepted for a PhD study at University of Maryland, too, along with a $5000 NASA  grant with the help of Gallaudet University. Yet I chose a better route than to get a PhD and that was time to start having a career. What's really bizarre is when DP wrote about having too much education claiming I said something like that.

"......even wrote once on his blog that he thought there was something such as too much education." 

Too much education of what? What the heck is that supposed to mean?  What a bunch of rambling nonsense here that doesn't make an ounce of sense. I've always held the philosophy that in life one never stop learning.  And what does it matter on whether I've read any scholarly books or journals about the Deaf community has to do with any of this? Maybe you missed this one?

DP has an opinion about credibility. Her views are her own and not representative of every single person in the Deaf community. People do have valid opinions regarding the Deaf community and such. Heck, I am a representative Gallaudet University. I represent Gallaudet University since I graduated from Gallaudet University. Nothing can take that away from me. If I opine that's not popular or agreeable by other people then that's not really my problem. But it does become a problem when people who disagree with people they don't like and get into this outing business. It simply gets way too personal. And from the looks of things, DP decided to hit back at three people whom she disagreed with in her blog using "just the facts, ma'am" bunk defense in the attempt to out people.

Not cool.

Addendum:  For those who say she doesn't "out" people, well, I beg to differ.

Allegedly?  It's been over a year since she was outed.

Addendum II on what Ann_C said:

I would have been glad to offer my view had DP's post not gone into a witch-hunt but instead asked me directly what I meant. She did get to it finally in a comment after a barbed exchange, but by that time, she'd already written me off. *shrug*

I was expressing the opinion that the video was pandering to deaf issues, and I still stand by that. With the approaching holidays and ten ppl coming to my house, I didn't have time to write a lengthy explanation under ACE's blog.

Btw, pls do read Anony the Great's analysis of that PPT in Candy's Who Let Out the Signage Out blog. It reflected a great deal of what my response was to that PPT.

Have a good holiday.

Ann_C

Happy holidays, ya'll. Btw, PPT = powerpoint.

Addendum III: Ann_C wrote a rebuttal to DP in the comment section below where I am copying and pasting it here:

Since Deaf Pundit closed her comment section under her "A Matter of Credibility" blog and didn't publish my last three comments, I believe my unpublished comments should go on the record:

"Lol, in all the time I've been blogging/commenting online, I've never claimed to be an expert nor have I ever claimed to represent the whole deaf community.

OTOH, a person who claims to be a Deaf E-X-P-E-R-T does have the problem of credibility, because she professes to speak for all of the deaf community.

Deaf E-X-P-E-R-T-ise as "standard operating procedure"?

Ooooooh I'm SCARED-- *trembling hands in the air*
Run for them thar' hills, folks, the Deaf Inquisition is coming!!!!

*********snort*"

The asterisks ran off the first comment page without the word "snort". That's why I sent two more comments, trying to put in the word "snort", which finally showed up on the third comment, ok?

That's it.

Ann_C

And you know what DP said?

Ann_C… I read your last 3 (unpublished) comments and the only thing I have to say to you is that I truly do feel sorry for you.

That means technically Ann_C wrote only one comment while the other two were exactly the same except for the number of asterisks that were too long and she had to re-write it again. What DP said sure made it sound like Ann_C wrote three separate and different scathing comments or something like that.  *smh*

Can it be done?

This is my 2nd day on no news with the exception of checking on the weather over the internet. Candy, another deaf blogger, said that I wouldn't last two days without any news. So far, so good. This is day two.  I've not peeked at any deaf news. I've not looked for world, national, local or political news. I've not looked at any deaf blogs or YouTube channels. My kids mostly watch cartoons so there's no danger of picking up an errant news that might come within earshot or visual range. When it's my turn to watch tv I go for movies, the History channel and A&E channel for it's American Pickers, Pawn Stars and Storage Wars, for example. Anything that's not related to news. Most of the time on the news is just a lot of a bad stuff. So, it'll be interesting to see what I've missed after a year of no news, especially when you have about 3 1/2 months left til the national election,too. It's one of those "what if" situations that I'm trying to answer for myself which I won't really know until I've actually done the experiment which is what I'm doing now. And I plan to chronicle it along with my other thoughts. I know that with each passing day it'll get easier to get by on no news. Plus, I don't have to worry about reading or watching other deaf people mewling, complaining, and twisting on what I wrote which reminds me of this picture.

If it's really that bad then the answer is obvious. Don't read it. Seriously, that picture does remind me of some people who behave like that.

I guess this is one of the temporary benefit of my experiment and that is not to hear the occasional bawlings from people who don't like what I write or say. Maybe I'll get a boatload of those responses after my year-long experiment is over? Who knows? Maybe more of the a-wordism from the likes of Deaf Pundit? Oh, wait, she made her blog private now which was publicly available for 4 1/2 years since January 2007.  I can't see her blog except perhaps here. I wonder what prompted the decision to make her blog private? Perhaps Candy's own blogging had an effect on her?  I know Deaf Pundit made her blog private sometime after July 5 because that's when Candy wrote her blog piece on character assassination about Deaf Pundit's recklessness which included a link to one of Deaf Pundit's blog piece that was working that day.  Maybe her blogsite is under-going a three week renovation? Maybe she's on three-week vacation? Maybe she's ducking? I don't know. Just a rather curious observation here but I'm sure you're thinking, "Well, you turned off your comments and you're not reading other deaf blogs or vlogs, you're ducking, too!" Not at all. I've already said that doing my experiment on no news, not reading other people bawling comments is one of the benefits of this experiment.  Why must I read their comments or their blogs? Maybe I will after a year has gone by. I'm sure there will be some bloggers or vloggers out there might end up defending me while I'm incommunicado, a self-imposed one that is.

The countdown clock continues. Is it better to ignore news or pay attention to it? Come back to me in about a year and find out. Meanwhile, I'll continue to write what's on my mind. All you can do is read my blog if you wish. I tell you one thing, it's nice not to hear a bunch of bratty, spoiled kids for a change.

ADDENDUM: Well, at least I was essentially correct that the reason Deaf Pundit's is down (i.e. private only) is that there is a new website (i.e renovation).  Although I never said anything about a demise. Just wondered outloud why the shutdown as I gave out a few possibilities as to why. Now I know. I saw the linking to this blog via my Sitemeter page, so that's how I found out.

Passing thru......

My quick thoughts on several things.

I noticed (that goes without saying) that some culturally deaf people continue to have this obsessiveness toward anything with the name "AG Bell" attached. There's a sense morbid enjoyment over his obituary, too. Yet many are planning to protest at the Omni Hotel in Washington D.C. this July 21 - 23 where AG Bell will host the Listening and Spoken Language Symposium. My advice? Bring lots of bullhorns and make lots of noise. Noise can certainly get people's attention.

A friend of mine told me about the Green Lantern movie. He watched it and said it wasn't really that good. I shrugged even though I don't really care for those kinds of movies and don't have the need to watch them, either. I later learned about the Green Lantern pledge. I shrugged. My friend then showed me about a few YouTube videos of adults Green Lantern fans reciting the Green Lantern pledge hoping to win the Green Lantern video contest (a winner already announced after I did a quick Google search). I think it has to do something with promising to eat their oatmeal cereal every morning and drink their milk. How quaint. Now, kids I understand who like to emulate and act out their favorite super heros but to see grown adults act out their fantasy on being the Green Lantern? Isn't that a bit regressive? If you want to be a real hero then better to be a fire fighter, EMT, a search and rescue person, or be those who serve in the Armed Forces than to dream of a fictional character that will never come true. No matter how many Green Lantern rings you have.

To infinity and beyond!

Will deaf and hard of hearing people migrate away from Facebook? Nah. Maybe some culturally deaf people but then again many do prefer reading since it's faster to type and read what's said at a glance, and it's quicker to post, too. FB remain to be wildly popular among friends, relatives and family members and a good place to see what's happening in their worlds.

Deaf Jeff is sure one weird fellow. He likes to do all this cryptic messaging, song and dance type routine in his blog, regarding certain individuals as the target. Which is fine and dandy since that is how he expresses himself, including his two YouTube videos for "hearing people only" that have him speaking with his voice but no captioning or transcript. Irony is all I can think of here if not hypocrisy which is kind of like the Tim Riker thing, too. But each blogger to him/herself. Just like how I prefer to do my own sort of thing in my own blog and vlog on how I want to express myself. But, of course, I get the usual wailing from those who don't like what I have to say or opine. You can't please everybody. I understand that already. 

I've come to the conclusion that tossing about the a-wordism around which is nothing but a crutch word to use when one is unable to make any real or valid arguments and must resort to such a word against other deaf and hard of hearing people they don't like. That's pretty much the bottom line. And that is pretty much in the same format as playing the race card but the irony goes further when it's aimed at another person with the same skin color. The same goes for deaf against deaf. Something like what Deaf Pundit has done. A seemingly cogent argument gets blown out of the water once the a-wordism is tossed about. I'd say it's better to be proud and be the better person than to hold such eternal grudges.

And, oh, what do you think of Marlee Matlin's new 7-Up poster?