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?

Separating Facts From Fantasy

Why is the author of Deaf Anthology writing up fictional stories about CI and kids with CIs who are somehow terminally depressed enough to kill their own parents, friends or whatever like this fictional story emblazoned at the top of one Deaf blog page "SHOCKING NEWS: CI DEAF CHILDREN KILLED THEIR PARENTS IN LOS ANGELES, DEAF ANTHOLOGY EXCLUSIVE! " ? Despite the clear warning that all Deaf Anthology blogs are fictional and the warning is prominently displayed at the very top of the blogsite, even that wasn't enough to get the readers' attention, some actually believed that the story was true (read the comments, you'll get a kick out that). The story was either so believable or repugnant to readers the fictional story ended up being taken down by the blog author.

I guess because so many people objected to it and that it was starting to become a rumor (scroll down until you see the yellow highlight) on the internet? Who knows exactly why this fictional story was taken down. But the question I have is that are some people simply desperate to try and paint a bad picture about cochlear implants and the people who wear them in the form of a fictional murder story? Is this good or bad form?

Do stories like these are looked upon with a certain subtle glee hoping that these things would happen hoping it'll give them enough to make a point (and that would be anybody's guess). But in the real world when was the last time you heard about a deaf guy or a kid with a CI go on a murder rage? All I can remember in the news about a deaf or hard of hearing person committing murder crime that received a lot of press or are reported in the Deaf community are mostly by criminals who are Deaf. A crimie where a Deaf person murders another Deaf person who are either a relative, an in-law, friends, lover or a by-stander. Now, I'm not trying to be one sided but that's all I can remember. I guess stories do become sensationalist news because it's about a Deaf on Deaf crime. So, I don't know if the media are biased in reporting these stories but I suppose the guilt lies in the Deaf community for reporting these stories far and wide in their blogs and emails that enabled me to remember these specific stories.

The stories I remember are:

The Simich Jr's murders "Deaf Man (Simich) Kills Deaf Sister and Deaf Brother-in-law. Silent Murders. "

The Joseph Mesa murder case where a Deaf man murdered two Deaf classmates at Gallaudet University.

A 43 year old Deaf lesbian who murdered a Deaf woman and then hacked her body into several pieces.

And this year's murder which is actually a 27 year old murder case that was recently solved that led to the arrest of a Deaf man who officials believed he murdered his 15 year old Deaf girlfriend back in 1981.

Sure, it could be a matter of time until a deaf person with a CI commit a murder crime against a deaf, hh, Deaf or hh person. But will the Deaf blog world go on a sensationalist blog spree talking about how CIs are bad and how wearing a CI may have caused the deaf person with a CI to commit this heinous crime against a hearing, deaf, hh, or Deaf person? But just let us hope that day will NEVER happen just as we hope that we will NEVER see another Deaf on Deaf murder crime again or any deaf on deaf, hh or hearing crime.

But this Deaf Anthology thing is a blog that produces some fictional stories that squarely shows that the author is against cochlear implants. Although it is a literary expression and doesn't "mean anything" just as writing a fictional book about assassingating a current U.S. president may not "mean anything." I'm sure many people will take a jaundice view of such a novel or writing even if they claim that it doesn't "mean anything." Somehow, as it seems to me, I wonder if there is ever the possibility that some people are actually hoping that those stories will someday come true like this one here. But for now it's just a fantasy for some Deaf readers to enjoy. And I wonder how would hearing people react to those stories?

All in all, it's better to separate facts from fantasy or else people will believe just about anything even if you do have a disclaimer clearly displayed saying it's all a fantasy or fiction. Still, some people will believe what they want regardless even if the evidence is right before their eyes.

UPDATE: Despite what the Yahoo cache says it did have the disclaimer up but I was informed that there was no disclaimer at the top at the time when "CI Deaf Children Killed" was written. I suppose a disclaimer went up later as an afterthought (probably by people asking if the story was true) and the fictional story was subsequently removed for unknown reasons (but I can make a pretty good guess why).