In the past few weeks I've been receiving answers on why I just don't get along with Deafhood, Deaf Bilingual Coalition, Audism Free America and their so-called big "D" status. The answer is quite simple. Closed society. That's what these people are.
I went to a Cowboy gathering with my daughter few weeks and enjoyed the experience immensely. It was when I ran into an article containing an interview with world renowned poet, musician and story teller known as Baxter Black. Some of you may know his trademarked face and name since he's very popular in the western culture. I came across an interesting part of the article where the interviewer asked if he favored the idea of licensing a poet to perform poetry at gatherings and if he liked the idea of providing awards for winning poetry, music and stories. Baxter Black said he disliked the idea and do not favor such trends because it represented the 'closed society'. Baxter went on to say that he favored an open society whereas everybody would be welcomed regardless of their background, culture, or skills. The point was to have fun and have a good life.
The term 'closed society' never crossed my mind until Baxter Black said it so I did some research on the subject. Needless to say that I learned immensely. I learned the very reason why I just could not get along with these deafhoodized and big "D" deaf people. I've read numerous articles written on this article and learned that 'closed society' will always fail simply because freedom of information will always defeat a closed society. Some of the things I've read are listed below for your review.
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- Closed society - claims to certain knowledge and ultimate truth lead to the attempted imposition of one version of reality. Such a society is closed to freedom of thought.
- Open society - each citizen needs to engage in critical thinking, which requires freedom of thought and expression and the cultural and legal institutions that can facilitate this.
- Authoritarianism, totalitarian, dictatorship, theocracy and autocratic monarchies are examples of the "closed society".
-Democracies are examples of the "open society".
- Closed Society – authoritarianism - political parties, are often allowed to exist, although under tight control. They were closed to normal processes of change. It’s not possible to remove from office rulers who fail to respond to justified criticism. Leave little freedom or tolerance of belief.
- Open societies are based on activity, creativity, and innovations. Humanitarianism, equality and political freedom are characteristics of an “open society”.
- Closed Society - Organic society presents some very attractive features to the observer: a concrete social unity, an unquestioned belonging, an identification of each member with the collective. Members of an organic society would hardly consider this an advantage, ignorant as they are that the relationship could be any different; only those who are aware of a conflict between the individual and the social Whole in their own society are likely to regard organic unity as a desirable goal. In other words, the attractions of organic society are best appreciated when the conditions required for its existence no longer prevail.
But innocence, once lost, cannot be regained - except perhaps by forgetting every experience. In any attempt to recreate artificially the conditions of an organic society, it is precisely the unquestioning and unquestionable identification of all members with the society to which they belong that is the most difficult to achieve
If it is entrusted to a closed society institution, it is likely to be performed with inflexible and ultimately ineffective manner. The institution will seek to prevent changes, but in the long run it cannot succeed.
In ‘Open Societies’ the government is responsive and tolerant and political mechanisms are transparent and flexible. The State keeps no secrets from itself, in which all are trusted with the knowledge of all. Political freedom and human rights are the foundation of an open society.
"Open Society" ensures that political leaders can be overthrown without the need for bloodshed while "closed society" will likely result in a bloody revolution, is needed to change the leaders. Open society as one "in which individuals are confronted with personal decisions" as opposed to a "magical or tribal or collectivist society".
Popper argues that the ideas of individuality, criticism, and humanitarianism cannot be suppressed once people become aware of them, and therefore that it is impossible to return to the closed society.
Totalitarianism forced knowledge to become political, which made critical thinking impossible and led to the destruction of knowledge in closed societies.
Popper's theory that knowledge is provisional and fallible implies that society must be open to alternative points of view. An open society is associated with cultural and religious Pluralism . Open society is always open to improvement because knowledge is never completed but always ongoing.
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As a bonus of this article I decided to cover a related topic on 'hood'. Few months ago I ran into an interesting article on 'personhood' and thought it'd shed a great example on deafhood. Here goes...
Judge throws out Nevada ‘personhood’ initiative
Friday, January 8, 2010 9:32 PM PST
CARSON CITY (AP) — A state judge in Carson City threw out a proposed ballot initiative Friday that sought to define a person as “everyone possessing a human genome,” saying the language was too vague and violated state law that limits questions to one subject.
The Nevada Personhood initiative proposed to amend the state Constitution by defining a person and extending due process rights from the beginning of biological development through end of life. The petition does not specifically mention abortion, but says its intent is to codify “the inalienable right to life for everyone, young or old, healthy or ill, conscious or unconscious, born or unborn.”
Carson City District Court Judge James Russell said the measure was too broad and general in nature to be put before voters in November. “The issue to me is, are we adequately informing voters on what they’re voting on,” Russell said in a ruling from the bench after listening to about two hours of arguments.
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