In the two years or so that I have been involved with DR/DVTV, I and others have defended DBC, AFA, Deafhood, and attacked audism and AGBell. We have criticized DR/DVTV for its policies, but we have not attacked it or tried to destroy it. Please provide me one example where we have outright attacked DR/DVTV. When DR/DVTV failed to respond to our concerns, we peacefully walked out.

If DR/DVTV is not strong enough to stand without our presence, then that would indicate there is something wrong with DR/DVTV’s model in the first place. But again, we made our statements peacefully, and we took peaceful means to try to get DR/DVTV to listen to what we were saying.

I also want to go on record that although a few of us, including myself and Shel, are involved in the development of the new aggregator, most of the walkouts have had nothing to do with its creation or development. So again, any accusations of a conspiracy to enhance the status of the aggregator to come are unfounded.

As for how people will be screened out, we basically want people who show RESPECT for Deaf people, our language, our community, our identity. People with persistent audist attitudes may be able to comment within individual v/blogs (at the v/blogger’s discretion), but v/blogs and v/bloggers who have shown a serious lack of respect for the aforementioned things will not be included in the aggregator’s v/blog roster.

I still respectfully hold that the real differences are found in us folks being idealists, realists, liberals, and conservatives, all in varying degrees which makes it a tall order for anyone to traverse the environment unscathed. Tayler has a tough job to do in catering to this broad spectrum of people. The problems at his sites don’t, in my estimation, come down to a couple of words like audism and deafhood because there are plenty of other words in the English language to take care of that. Maybe Tayler shouldn’t micro-manage so much but he, again, in my estimation, does so out of a sense of altruism/caring. Maybe he should just do away with the R-List and apply YouTube and Seesmic’s policies and let people grow thick skin.

This leads me to ask how this new aggregator is going to screen out people? Would I be welcomed there, just based on what I’ve been saying here?

You take care now….

Hope this helps you understand. I know there are people who will disagree with the above, but… …deal with it.

Well I am a total ‘melting pot’ supporter, even to the extent I don’t want ethnic and racial areas doing their own thing, we need to be in the same room to meet each other, not viewed through a telescope, multiculturalism was always the very obscure description of justifying that, and has failed near 80% or more in the UK as a viable, it is a failed concept. It is a word not much else, if various cultures isolate themselves from the rest, and operate on some parallel level.

You are correct in stating I find deafness very difficult to accept and live with, I’d prefer not to be chastised for that, loss equals the disablement. I’d make no excuses for supporting research into eradication of deafness too, this is based, not on undermining the cultural aspect, but on knowing that many of our experiences of going deaf or losing hearing are so traumatic as to support that view.

Without rambling off into the issues of that, it is ‘horses for courses’ decision-wise and hopefully left to the individual to make such choices. ‘Safe Harbors’ to protect the vulnerable certainly, are those at DR ‘vulnerable’ ? I have NOT found that at all. Surely amongst the most able and educated deaf online ?

Isolation as a form of self-protection, won’t stand, deaf won’t stand for it. Our young deaf want the world the same as anyone else, that means they accept that they stand their own ground outside it, and yes, face those who make things difficult for them.

If they are to retreat to an enclave when the going gets tough. For many who acquire a deafness we do not have that luxury of ’safe harbour’, we swim, or we drown. Would this safe harbor offer US it’s protection ? so far no, they want us left out there as well. Selfishly, what’s in it for us ?

We are each a product of our deafness, but worlds apart depending on when it manifests itself. We are talking probably on a ‘minority’ in the cultural minority for whom any sort of integration or diversity simply won’t work. Not the majority. I’d hate the discrimination excuse would be used every time.

New York Times has made it very known that they are liberal by endorsing Obama and targeting Bush (the latter actually declared war on the newspaper trying everything in their power to discredit them and topple them from influence).

Washington Post has also been quite influential in terms of the liberal agenda–they do not leave the Republicans alone when they screw up.

Wall Street Journal write scathing reports against their liberal counterparts.

Huffington Post (now, that’s something along the category of DeafRead), owned by Arianna, is relentless in attacking the conservatives.

Drudge Report (another one in DeafRead’s category) takes no shame in debasing the liberals to the point of no return.

Fox News and the White House is at war with one another, one trying to suffocate the other out of credibility.

DeafRead can’t claim neutrality or having lack of an agenda. It’s always been biased against certain individuals and groups within the Deaf community. It’s kind of ironic how some of its editors demand transparency from everyone else but cannot provide it themselves.

This is simply ridiculous. It’s such a non-issue, perhaps, some people need to find something better to do with their time, yes?

LOL

Yeah, whodunnits of the cyberland. Wonder what they look like.

> How to control them [negative bloggers], if the
> owners/editors don’t? Ignore them. Delete them
> from your blogs. Give no response or exposure to
> their rants. Urge other bloggers to do the same and
> why. Don’t feed the trolls. After a time their complaints
> and needling become boring and nobody listens
> anymore. No attention means they finally dry up
> and blow away.

Hi Dianrez!

One problem I am seeing with this solution is the other end of it… Several people are complaining that once in a while their post or comment “doesn’t appear” or “got killed”, and the person who “killed” it swears they did not do anything.

I am increasingly coming to believe that at least some of the time, THIS IS LITERALLY TRUE. No matter how much you might distrust the person, you cannot assume rejection because something did not show up… Sometimes the network really did eat it!

- Linda

Sigh, about the exclusion of specific people… I think that occurs BOTH ways. I know I have seen a lack of respect towards ASL as a language by certain individuals, and that saddens me. I also see a lack of respect towards Deaf culture, and demand that we support integration into the hearing world. We keep getting messages hammered at us all our lives that to succeed we must assimilate… to hear and speak is more conducive to success. Some people who have that attitude DO grate on the nerves. Not everyone has that, but I hope you get what I’m trying to tell you.

Respect is definitely lacking on both sides… hence the attacks, unfortunately.