ASL Reductionists!

Before you roll your eyes and spit out nasty words for me, take a deep breath and hear me out for few minutes.

Thanks to reductionists who manage to minimize ASL (American Sign Language) every time they tried to retrieve it. These are the same people that are constantly trying to discredit PSE and English with hope to give ASL the boost it desperately need.

Take a peek at this video done by David, known as deafchipmunk. He's one of the latest example of world class reductionist. In this particular video he struggled with himself, trying his hardest to belittle and degrade PSE with hope to promote ASL.

The irony is he also used PSE in that video. You see, he desperately tried to shoot down PSE as a lowly and filthy sign language that we should be ashamed of and yet in the same breath he used PSE in that video.

Oh, don't be confused as to why he's doing it. Many deaf professors and deaf-related service workers like him are doing the same thing because they seem to think that their career and employment would be jeopardized if ASL does not survive. They seem to feel the urge and need to promote ASL because they believe that without it they would be unemployed. They're doing it solely for economy reasons. This is something we could understand but lying about it isn't cool. It's even worse when they try to deceive others into believing that we all are signing in ASL, strictly ASL, without resorting to some of the values that are offered by PSE and English.

I've reached an important conclusion here. The role and theory of Holism and Reductionism have never been more important. If you claim to use ASL, strictly that then you are a reductionist. If you claim to use PSE, strictly that then you are a reductionist as well. If you claim to use Sign Exact English then you're a reductionist as well. However, if you embrace all of the above and use them freely then you're using what's known as holistic approach. My hat's off to those who embrace all the above, for their lives surely will becomes richer because of it.

My sincere sympathies goes to those reductionists who choose to limit themselves to one form of sign language. They seem to prefer an isolated world, that of closed society. It certainly is within their rights to choose that kind of life but it certainly is not for me and millions of other deaf people on the face of this earth.

Helping A Drowning Society

I've been doing some serious thinking for the past several weeks about the society that seem to be making the desperate gasping sound of a drowning community. One thing came to my mind, that of helping a drowning society and the dire consequences behind the noble effort to rescue them.

And why it's happening.

Many of you know I've been v/blogging on various topics for several years covering controversial topics that were important to the signing community. No doubt about it. My unique insights on different topics helped many people. And yet it also produced some enemies who simply hate the notion of being helped. They cry foul when they see a floating life saver tube being thrown their way because it was wrong for us to think or believe that they were incapable of swimming. The noble effort seem to insult them. Some gladly accepted the help and some simply refused, out of pride even if they were drowning.

Or perhaps it's a classic case of a sinking titanic ship whereas there were not enough emergency boats and life jackets for everybody? Where are the leaders when the society needed them? Are they in the hiding because they were ill-prepared when they built a deaf community (a titanic ship) without providing them with adequate safety and security measures (life jackets and boats)?

Surely, numerous deaf leaders back in the 1900's meant well when they envisioned and engineered a plan and called it a world of our own. Back then it sounded good to everybody. In the 1900's they started building this Titanic D Ship and gave it a name, that of ASL! The effort continued well into the 1980's before this renowned ice berg (technology and information age) floated into the course and caught the ship by surprise. The collision course delivered a huge dent and penetrated this Titanic D Ship and delivered large amount of gushing water into the ship until it could no longer stay afloat. Not a pretty sight. You know the rest of the story so I won't go there and paint the rest of the story for you.

The leaders led the society to believe that the Titanic D Ship was unsinkable and unbreakable. The people were led to believe that ASL was the key to their future and that they would receive the best of education and the best possible life if we solicited strictly in ASL and by attending deaf school establishments. Today we know better. Today we're seeing numerous deaf schools going down the tube. Medical technologies are making rapid progress these days and bringing forth great promises, some of which have been delivered. Because of that people started to wonder about this "dreamy" and "ideal" world they were promised by numerous deaf leaders.

This reminds me of a quote I created some time ago, "Disappointment is a result of unrealistic expectation".

Once you develop an unrealistic expectation over something you're in it for a huge disappointment. This is what happened to the deaf signing community when their leaders allowed for unrealistic expectations of what our world was going to be like in the future as if they posed some kind of supernatural power to know what the future would bring. It sure was a humbling experience for many of us who realized that we can not and will never be able to stop progress.

I've been around long enough to remember how highly visible and accessible numerous deaf leaders were. They were highly recognized for their work. It seem to be the opposite today. Many current deaf leaders are hiding in their offices, their homes and even garages, producing "busy" noises with hope to lead us to believe that they are very busy and occupied with something else that were very important.

The recent resignation at Deaf Bilingual Coalition is one of many examples. Occasionally these self proclaimed leaders would take a peek at the "Drowning Society" and each time they did they could not stomach the desperate gasping sounds and sights of a drowning community. They'd close their curtains again and try to keep their minds occupied with something else with hope that the problem would disappear on its own.

One other thing to discuss here. The technique and tactic of helping a drowning victim is not an easy task. It's generally know that when you try and help a drowning victim you're likely going to be drowned as well. The drowning victim has the tendency to panic and grab your body with all of his/her weight and pull you down. You simply would not have the necessary strength to carry the load and swim both parties out of the water.

I say this because each time we tried to help the victims that are drowning into the system we would receive some kind of hammer treatment by these extremists (deafhood)leaders. These are the same corrupted leaders who make a living selling Grand Tour tickets to this Titanic D Ship called ASL. This Titanic D Ship is so majestic that it even contain ASL courses in name of numerous Colleges / Universities / Schools, provides Deafhood Workshops, and recruit sponsor for this Deafhood Foundation, and wears the mask of Deaf Bilingual Coalition, and such.

These are the same group of leaders that control California Association of the Deaf and changed their by-laws to reflect deafhood instead of deaf. They also hold great amount of leverage and influence over deaf professionals who work for the State at these deaf schools. These people are currently trying to infiltrate Gallaudet University and National Association of the Deaf. To a degree they've been fairly successful at it. It would not surprise me if both entities fell victim to this Titanic D Ship in matter of time.

And ultimately, it's all done in the name of Deafhood Foundation. The longer we allow them to sell the tickets to this supposedly unsinkable and unbreakable D ship the more destructive it is going to be.

You can't say you've not been warned.