Deaf Anthology # 75: "Battle Of The Deaf Bloggers"

Commentary: Who are we, are we going to set up a boxing ring at the next Deafread conference and give each bloggers boxing gloves. We have already got a few casualties, Joey Baer for one.

DBC does have a clear vision from the start, as long it has popular support, it will survive its infancy. Criticism seems to aim at its leaders, accusing them of being influence by the philosophy of Deafhood. Deaf Anthology view that leadership personal opinion on issues unrelated to its mission are irrelevant. A case in point, when the President nominated someone to the Supreme Court, the Senate questioned them, making sure that the new judge will uphold the Constitution, his personal opinions on such matters on abortions, homosexuality are not relevant, if we have confidence in him, he will be confirmed without any problems. If the Senate felt that his personal opinions on such matters may influences his decisions on the bench, perhaps it's a conflict of interest, thus not getting the votes. No matter what, the media will have a field day, with positive and negative remarks. DBC leaders personal viewpoints on such issues as Deafhood should not interfere with their mandates to carry out the tasks assigned to them to accomplish their goals, and they will succeed if they put their mind into it, despite all the distractions. The Supreme Court should have a balance mixture of conservatives and liberals. Maybe the DBC leadership have that balance to represent the diversity in the Deaf community, its grassroots. A good leader will always seek feedback from its constitutes, otherwise we may suspected one of being narrow-minded. Every leaders on DBC have their own strengths and weaknesses, after all they are only humans. One may have organizational skills, other may have public relations (PR) skills, each one of them have talents, and DBC can utilized all of them and be one great team. Everything can be done in a professional manner, our responsibility as bloggers is to give them constructive criticism, so they can improve themselves, and strives to be a better organization over time. Each bloggers should treat others as they want to be treated themselves. Respect is the keyword lacking here, forgive us as we may not realized what we are doing to ourselves. It's OK to debate on Deafread but not to the point of being turned off. It is alright to tease using one-liners, to lighten up a tense atmosphere. Deafread original purpose is to have an open forum, without censorship, thank God we live in a free country. It will be impossible for its human editors to read all 500 or so blogs on Deafread. Deaf Anthology viewpoint on Deafread is that it is an alternative medium, free for all, carefree website, perhaps that may be the problem, we can let it continue as it is, without any standards to adhere to. Maybe have two separate Deafread sites, those that are not moderated, and be posted as is, the other site, being strictly moderated to be sure they followed the established protocol before being published. The first site being the open forum, issue oriented, no censorship whatsoever as it is now, and the second being an entertainment medium, suitable for all, including families with children.

The commentary I expressed is on this blog are mine and it doesn't reflect the viewpoint of Deafread, DBC, or other bloggers who are stakeholders.

I think enough is said, let go on with our lives. Hope we can live in peace, life is short.

This is Smokey, stay tuned for the next episode of Deaf Anthology. Good night, Deaf America!