Ideology of the DEAF

I just got done watching “re-defining D-E-A-F” which is located on this “MOS International” website.  There’s a lot of references to how deaf people were defined from centuries ago and how the definition had changed.  There were scenes where it appears to show an image that shows the world, that deaf people are not boring, dull, or dumb. But, that they are exciting, smart, and they can copulate too, except they can’t hear.  Surely the world knows deaf people do have sex, after all, there have been scenes in movies where deaf people have been making out. Don’t forget, there’s even deaf porn, too! And, don’t forget the “L word” as well.

Anyways, I guess that is what this blogger was referring to, selling via sex, sexy, attractiveness, etc. But, it is not the meat of the production.

I think the message of “Re-Defining D-E-A-F” is probably a good film for those deaf people who are video bloggers over at DVTV.

First off, IDEOLOGY is a perception on the world based on assumptions which is/are learned. Or, a set of ideas proposed by the dominant class of a society to all members of this society

Perception created through ideology changes representation.

Representation, Actually refers to how we represent ourselves as deaf people. How we or the media, for example, influence the perception that the world has about deaf people. For example, look at all the films done on deaf individuals. Or, look at the historical references to deaf people by philosophers and doctors. Over centuries, we know how deaf people were labeled. The words used was not positive. Such as, we’re boring, dull, dumb, etc and the need to change perception to sexy, smart, etc.

Basically, Ryan stressed that one way to represent ourselves as we move on with technology is to take advantage of the media. Especially with Internet as it is. Media via Internet is cheap.

Many references were used throughout the film. One such reference was Stuart Hall. A book was written by him ” Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices.” He also wrote many other books relating to culture and representation. He has a theory that visual image changes American culture and the power of media as a medium.

So, we are deaf. We have access to media. We might not like how the media has represent the deaf community. The best way to change perception on deaf people is to change the Ideology.

Now, here comes the meaty part.

First off, we know sex sells. We know dressing up sexy sells. We know guys are more likely to buy a product if a sexy girl is standing next to a COOL car. We know girls are more likely to buy a product when some guy on the commercial starts kissing the girl’s neck because he likes the smell of a perfume.

But, I believe Ryan was talking about cheap Internet media. How we make videos online and to share it with the world. It wasn’t clear if he meant we all should be making films online or if it was more of our own personal videos that we make for DVTV.

Nevertheless, Let’s look at DVTV. As a culturally deaf HOH person, my first impressions when I saw several videos on DVTV was not exactly good. But, then I reasoned with myself that it is just like You Tube where there are many videos made by many people and not all of them are cool. For example, there was this guy that was crying and screaming “Leave Brit alone!” and then there’s this stupid “3 girls and a cup” or was it “two guys and a cup” or was it “3 guys and a truck?” Either way, I have not seen that video, but since people were saying it made them vomit, who the heck wants to watch something like that?

And then, one wonders about who would succeed in defining deaf people, as a commenter stated in this blogger’s post that, “The upcoming and future generations of deaf children will define the deaf community for themselves, not according to older traditions or culture unfortunately.” Who would eventually better represent deaf people, if anything at all?

The mainstream community does not need to change their ideology, they do not need to be represented other than what they always have, especially if they are a white person.

So, DVTV video bloggers, you all have a BIG job to do, that is, if I understood Ryan’s intentions. Whatever you do on DVTV with your video, you are telling the world “This is how deaf people are.” So, if you guys are behaving like kids and if the perception you are showing the world makes people think less of you, you are the cause of what the world thinks of you. You need to feed into the needs of the world’s fetishness in order to create an ideology that you are no different from them in order to show that deaf people are/should be represented no less than the world. Or something like that…..

Before you start making a video to put online, especially DVTV and perhaps Deafread, ask yourself this: How will I represent the deaf culture with this finished product?

Not everyone feels the need to change ideology in order to create the perception that the world has of a person or a group of people.  As for me, I feel that the perception the world has of me is good because I am a person first and foremost before I am anything else.  I take care of me since my people can’t do a good job of representing me.

Video subtitled song by NAS “I Know I can” created by ErlendSkavelem over at You Tube.