Um.....really? You wanna go there? You gotta be kidding me.
Seriously, dude. Do you even want to bother going there on what you're claiming or alluding to about me while seeing what you did in your own videos? I'm sure there are a lot things we can cover and discuss just to clarify our positions and misunderstanding. What is exactly your position anyhow after seeing the starkly different videos, and how they compare to my videos of me speaking with captions, and even, gasp!, signing, too? Remember what I said about diversity?
And folks, as for the Miss Deaf Teen tragedy he alluded to in the "I wanna be like Mike" video that I made fun of her? There are something that you need to know, folks.
http://kokonutpundits.blogspot.com/2006/03/wild-949-really-messed-up.html
and
http://kokonutpundits.blogspot.com/2006/03/when-deaf-people-mock-tragedy-of-deaf.html
Do I think the Deaf community is dumb? Nah, of course not. But I do have opinions on some people that I think merits some serious rethinking. No. I'm not talking about him. He's smart enough guy to know the differences. But the videos of him seen above are like night and day just begs some serious questioning in light of the ABC videos where he talked about how people discriminated against deaf people but without any signing, transcript or captions. Irony cannot be described here. And certainly, already some Deaf people are simply not happy with him pulling that one off.
Hey, Jeff, do you think the Deaf community is dumb/blind or what? A fair question to ask in light of his "I wanna be like Mike" vlog saying that I think the Deaf community is dumb. How can he reconcile with the "I wanna be like Mike" vlog that was done in October 2010 and then the next month in November 2010 comes out with a vlog where he mostly spoke with no captions or transcript? Granted it was for a hearing audience yet the majority of his friends and such are deaf to begin with. No outcry? No pitchforks? No hurling of the a-wordism around? But I'm not here to disparage his choice on how he wanted to communicate in his YouTube videos. I back him 100% on his choice. Because I recognize that diversity comes in all flavors.
My advice, Jeff and others? Don't try and be like "Mike" but be yourself instead. Do the things that you enjoy and make you happy. I love playing ragtime piano on my piano as seen in my own Ragtime Piano blog, why fault me for that, Jeff? I understand the joke you tried to do. Really, if you're comfortable with who you are then that's all you need. If you feel comfortable talking, fine. I'd be the first person to defend you on your choice to communicate however you wish whether it's signing or speaking. But let's not play the high and mighty game here, and in the process do some serious twisting of the words. I don't mind your choice to speak but, really, come on now.
Btw, I still miss the hot, dry desert of the southwest.
Peace, dude.