From: Mike Lorrey (mlorrey@datamann.com)
Date: Tue Jan 08 2002 - 14:16:47 MST
Randy Smith wrote:
>
> >From: hal@finney.org
> >
> >PBS tonight (here in LA, see local listings) is showing an Oscar nominated
> >documentary, Sound and Fury, about the controversy in the deaf community
> >over cochlear implants for deaf children, which can restore hearing.
> >See http://www.pbs.org/wnet/soundandfury/.
> >
> >It seems almost unbelievable that what is in many ways a cure for deafness
> >could be controversial. One would think that parents would want the
> >best for their children.
>
> This "debate" has been going on for a couple years now.
>
> This is a perfect example of what is happening to this society. The problem
> may well be that this society is too large and complex, hence our watchdogs
> and other "bullshit" mechanisms have been crippled by various forces and
> interests.
The claim that deaf culture is something which should be preserved by
the repression of cochlear implant technology is about as logical a
claim as a claim that POW culture should be preserved by leaving POWs in
POW camps long after wars have been won.
On a similar note, you'll notice that few Japanese Americans are very
put out at having their "Internment Camp Culture" violated by their
release after WWII....
This illustrates that cultures, in and of themselves, have no rights,
they are figments of individual humans imaginations in order to survive
in the circumstances they are put in at the time. To seek to remain in
suboptimal cultures long after the circumstances that brought them about
are alleviated is simply a form of Stockholm Syndrome: introversion,
indentification with the oppressor, and denial of reality.
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