Hearies Getting In On The Act
Reading the Sunday papers to pass the time, reading the same shit that passes for news the rest of the week, when this nugget of information caught my eye:
Love Signs
So you’ve spied that hottie at the bar but you;re too nervous to cross the room? Fear not. New Yorkers Lilibet Foster and Lynn Fischer have devised the Bar Code system “after hearing stories about missed opportunities and dating woes,” says Foster. To make initial contact, swipe your thumb form ear to chin. It means “You;re cute.” If the recipient is a fellow Bar Coder, they might respond with the Slacker Test (”Do you have a job?”) or the Swipe Off, left (”Not in a million years!”) For more tips, see www.barcodesigns.com. Alice Wasley, Sunday Life, The Sun Herald Magazine, July 15, 2007
Well go on then, talk to a Hearie in a noisy crowded room. What are you waiting for Liam?
Here is the link again, in case you missed it in the above blurb, www.barcodesigns.com
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Sphere: Related ContentProfanity In Deaf Blog Land: Part Two
This should come as no surprise, but the latest post by MM, ZIP-IT, makes a case against profane language and along the way, he takes various potshots at people, such as ME, and Deaf UK Chat [of course, whenever he doesn't get his own way, he chucks a spaz].
The purpose of this post is not to chastise MM, or to subject him to ridicule, but to clarify a few things that are not readily apparent to those who may be reading this particular post: ZIP-IT.
1. Why the sudden interest in this topic? Considering the blog he links to, the post is dated February 2007, and he only links to the comments, not the original article. I really think he has been reading my post on this subject, which inspired him to write this latest missive. This is not all, this post relates to another incident, which I will elaborate upon later.
2. In his discussions, he willfully muddies the waters by confusing and obfuscating facts and sources. Isolating issues that support his arguments and ignoring everything else
3. He is probably referring to me when he mentions
One blogger (I won’t give a link, because apart for a few dozen words the rest is all swearing), says its OK to use ANY swear word or term regardless if children read deaf.read.
No doubt a pot shot at me, because I used the words FUCK OFF and MM in the same sentence.
4. He is using his presence on DeafRead to promote his attention seeking victimhood, via lies and obfuscation. Now the Yanks know no better, and the editors of quality blogging, no doubt, consider MM quality blogging. As there are no dissenting voices [MM's favourite term, well one of them], anyone who reads blogs via DeafRead and nowhere else, get a black eyed view of the issues that MM writes about.
What started this, no doubt relates to the latest skirmish on Deaf UK Chat. Someone posted an announcement to the group,
Learn ISLAM in BSL
Saturday 14 July 2007
14:00 - 17:00
(The next reminder for this event will be sent in 18 hours, 1 minute.)
Location: St. Regents Park Mosque
Notes:
Everybody & Everyone is welcome to join this event.
Learn something about the ISLAM in the Deaf Culture & Community..
For women: Please wear scarf, long shirt & trousers
For men: Please wear long shirt & trousers to cover your arms & legs
To which replied:
I’m not sure deaf should be advertising sectarianism, if they read papers I can’t see any takers for this, deaf are isolated enough as it is….MM
This may appear to be an innocuous statement if taken at face value, but knowing MM from forums such as The Tower O Babble, he is not above making racist comments.
Of course I don’t believe papers,Glasgow airport, 7/7/ 9/11, London bombings, Hook preaching hatred on our streets etc, they all do it in the name of Islam, it never happened of course ! All religions cause death and hatred, I can do without the others too. Until these people start turning over their extremists to us, I don’t want to know about it, or their religion or their signs about it. Deaf people are vulnerable to the subversive messages these people put out, we should be protecting them from this, not recruiting for Al Queda. Kyle, these people HATE us with a vengeance, and won’t stop till they’re dead or we are. What’s the sign for semtex I wonder…
There were some thoughtful replies such as the following:
Lovely to see you tarnishing an entire group of people with the same brush.I suppose you had the same view about Catholics and the IRA in the last 30-odd years?I find the Muslims that I meet are a very friendly bunch of people for the most part.Perhaps you should come with me to Libya next week and see for yourself rather than reading the papers and whinging from your armchair.
But MM was obstinate:
No thanks ! I spent a few years in Doha in the gulf, the only good Arab were the ones you never turned your back on. No religion would suit me fine, and I’d implore the deaf to ignore it all too. They’re not misunderstood, they hate us. My brother served in the Yemen, his mate had his head blown off while sitting next to him in a cinema, the Islamics used babies to kill people too, by hiding grenades in the baby clothing, they’d leave a crying child on a doorstep, a soldier would go pick it up, boom the soldier is dead, life means nothing to them, ANYONE’s. This is what we’re dealing with, they see paradise as being dead, and having fun with 20 virgins afterwards, there is a certain amount of acceptance of paedophillia in Islam too. Read your quoran. Know your enemy. MM
It made for some in some heated, well not heated, but cool exchanges, that culminated in him being placed in moderation, and me telling him to FUCK OFF basically. The members of Deaf UK Chat had no time for blatantly and unrepentant racist views such as MM promulgates. There were further exchanges denouncing the racist views for which MM was unrepentant:
If you want an apology you won’t get one. MM
I wasn’t the only one who swore at him basically. But on my part, it’s been along time coming.
But to understand the gist of the ZIP-IT post, it needs to be read in the context of what happened on Deaf UK Chat. In effect, by not providing the context for his arguments, and more to the point, deliberately stripping his arguments of any context, and more pertinent, those of us who know a bit about MM, is he saying that profane language is akin to lowering onself, but racist views are strong views?
Further Reading:
Open V Letter To Deaf Read
Profanity In Deaf Blog Land
Profanity In DeafBlogLand
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Sphere: Related ContentProfanity In Deaf Blog Land
I was perusing DeafRead after updating their RSS feed, when I happened upon the blog post Profanity in DeafBlogLand and the post that preceded it, An Open V-letter to DeafRead.
Interesting I should miss this one, cos I am a lover of profane words [for that which I make no apologies] and my well trained cats eyes usually hone in on topics of interest [insert your favourite assumption about me].
I’m not going to enter into any debates regarding the pros and cons of using profane language, other than that I do not consider what is commonly considered profane to be profane at all. Secondly, when you start arguing for a watchful state with regards to the children, screams red herring [to me anyway].
By all means, create spaces for children that can be moderated and controlled within reason. But it must be remembered, as I do well remember my own childhood, that they [I did] will be exposed to profane language, or adult concepts, via other children - and my nephews and nieces are constantly reminding me of the same tired old jokes, I heard in the school playground when I was their age!
Not only that, if they as much as detect the slightest bit of angst from you when they utter the word “fuck”, they will sing “FUCK, FUCK, FUCK!” all day long to the tune Baa Baa Black Sheep, while you gnash your teeth to their oblivious delight! Sometimes a child with attitude is far worse than an adult with attitude! And boy do they fucking piss you off!
Having said that, I have no intentions of making my blog, ALL THE YOUNG DUDES, children friendly, because my aim is to be myself and express myself. There is plenty of time later, for me to create children friendly places when I hit my strides with my creative work.
What is interesting though, is the suggestions that DeafRead further entrench their roles as editors, becoming moderators, to guard against the use of profane language.
I just wonder though, what is DeafRead going to become? I don’t consider it a pure aggregator as it does DETERMINE what blogs are seen and what are not seen, accordingly to publishing criteria. It also plays havoc with definitions of deafness, by determining what they constitutes is interesting to Deaf people and what constitutes Deaf relevant topics.
Then to go down the road of moderating language, which they already do as well, they further entrench the idea of a walled garden/ big brother approach.
I’m all for quality publishing, and eradicating garbage, and it is an issue that I have discussed with people. I don’t mean this post to be an anti-Deafread rant, because it isn’t, but the danger with the walled garden approach [or the benevolent big brother] is that it cuts off readers from other, and potentially more interesting and relevant blogs and websites. More than this, it foists the responsibility on to someone else than oneself.
Aggregators should be that, aggregators. No more, no less. If you want to control what children see and read in cyberspace, then create children friendly spaces, or control what they see and read in the classroom or at home. The tools are there, use them. They are your children.
I remember being asked to contribute to a Deaf magazine The Tactile Mind, now Handtype Press, a few years ago. The magazine prided itself on not having a set editorial policy, with the intention of encouraging [not stifling] creativity [and individuality]. Sure enough, I submitted a story, only for it to be rejected because the editorial team did not understand the style. I resubmitted it, only for it to be rejected again because it contained a few concepts [I might publish it if I can find the electronic version] that were suitable for the magazine because some of its readers are school children.
Needless to say, I did not bother submitting. This last action pissed me right off. You cannot maintain a position of having no editorial policy for fear of cramping the creativity and style of the writer, and then turn the tables by pulling editorial rank. Especially as I was feted for my individual and unique voice, and told to keep expressing it. I did lose respect for the magazine and the editorial team.
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Sphere: Related ContentAnders.se - TV-Series For Deaf and Sign Language Users
Courtesy of THOUGHTS OF MINE blog comes news of another long forgotten website [on my behalf] ANDERS.SE - TV Series For Deaf And Sign Language Users. With a link tot he trailer, which you can all watch to whet your appetites.
And the official website is here ANDERS.SE.
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