GALLYBUSTERS

Our Gallaudet is in trouble, right?

A growing number of protestors at Kendall Green are working diligently to overthrow Jane K. Fernandes from office as the ninth president of Gallaudet University. They sure as hell are not giving up. It’s not helping either that more and more letters sent in by James MacFadden, the DPN leaders, the NAD President Bobbie Beth Scoggins, and Andy Lange are mobilizing anger for Jane K. Fernandes, Irving King Jordan, and the Board of Trustees, and for their resistance to resign and reopen the presidential search process.

Now don’t get me wrong. I really don’t care about JK, IJK, and the BOT, but what really ticks me off is the nature of the protest, and the direction in which it takes.

But first, I must admit I am saddened by the whole situation. Being in a deadlock, a stalemate, if you will, is no fun. Everybody knows it’s a lose-and-lose situation. The biggest challenge is how to go about it. And second, I am upset to see that this situation is attracting a large number of supporters across the nation. There are plenty of vlogs to see for yourselves.

I am upset mainly because of propaganda. Yes, you heard me right, a PROPAGANDA! This very propaganda is what makes the world cry for Gallaudet. If only the world knew what lies beneath.

I have collected all the techniques used to create and maintain propaganda from Wikipedia, which I shall use to make my point.

Basically, according to Wikipedia, propaganda is “a specific type of message presentation directly aimed at influencing the opinions or behavior of people”, “an appeal to one’s emotions”, shaping “the perceptions of people”, and “arguments that are not necessarily valid” (logical fallacies).

And with that, we have all kinds of techniques to win hearts. Hitler was brilliant because he successfully formed a Nazi-Socialist party, and won so many frigging hearts. Hell, they did the infamous arm salute. And we all quiver at this image because we know hundreds and thousands of Jews died at the expense. All of it was propaganda. Sick, I know.

I know that none of the Gallaudet protest has Hitlerisms, but there are strikingly similar parallels in regard to propaganda. For example,

1) In propaganda, there is an appeal to fear. This builds “support by instilling fear in the general population”. An example of such fear at Gallaudet is the incident at Hall Memorial Building where students claimed DPS officers assaulted them. Let’s start with their claims.
· In Washington Post dated October 7, 2006, (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/06/AR2006100600405.html), Joey Kelly through an interpreter said, "They grabbed me and ripped my shirt. I saw them grab another student by the neck”, and then Leah Katz-Hernades wrote on a neon yellow notepad for the reporter, "A lot of people are scared.”
· Tara Holcomb (also in the Washington Post) and Ryan Commerson (in http://www.signcasts.com/ “From HMB at 4:30am…”) said there is great fear abroad Kendall Green because of DPS’s brutality and acts of audism.
· Even on ABC 7 News (www.wjla.com/news/stories/1006/366966.html), Leah Katz-Hernandes out of indignation says, “This is a peaceful protest. A peaceful protest from the beginning!” This, of course, is Leah’s brilliant strategy to instill fear on campus.
But if you take a look at www.blip.tv/file/83354/ that shows the entire footage, you will agree with me that the DPS officer Bubba Smith was only trying to restore order at HMB since its takeover, and that it was truly the students who shouldered and provoked him. Rest assured, though, the very same students in the protest are not half afraid like they wanted you to believe. And yet still, they wave posters as in this one:
http://photo.xanga.com/Eye_M_Hodgson/a50e682378711/photo.html. Hmm.

Another great example of instilling fear is found in Mosdeux’s video on www.mosdeux.com/blog/?p=26. Here, Gideon, a 6-year-old Deaf boy, talks about his dreams of becoming a scientist and that Gallaudet would be the college for him. In between clips of this adorable cherub, there are the overcast clips of JK and I. King Jordan, and suddenly you are struck at heart that these chief administrators are evil. Then at the end of the video, there are words in bold white letters saying “Gideon’s future is in your hands”. Wow, this is the best propaganda clip I’ve seen in awhile – because it sends messages that with JK in power of the university, future students will not become Albert Einsteins, Neil Armstrongs, Gloria Steinems, CS Lewises, and Shoshannah Sterns.

2) There is also an appeal to prejudice. This means “using loaded or emotive terms to attach value to believing the proposition”. The proposition is obvious here – JK is an ineffective leader, or so they say.
· In Washington Post, dated May 2, 2006 on page A01 written by Susan Kinzie, one student says that JK “doesn’t say hi” and some students “said they didn't like Fernandes because they thought she was too strict.”
· In the Bison Saloon at HMB, operated by two boys named Taylor and Bailey, there are signs posted everywhere that sample prejudices (http://www.4096.org/stuff/hmb-wall.jpg): “YOU FUCKING AUDIST!”, “Resign, JFK, you DUMB fuck!”, “Jane, Lick This, You Cunt!”, and “Know Thy Enemy”. Now, don’t get me wrong, the American right entitles us the freedom to say whatever we want, which is fine by me, but to use these prejudices and slander to stir anger and resentment and by doing so, gain more supporters, is making people believe that Jane K. is indeed a terrible leader. And it looks like Taylor and Bailey are doing one fine job. Gotta love ‘em boys.

3) There is argumentum ad nauseam, another technique, to maintain this propaganda. This means using “tireless repetition” as long as “an idea once repeated enough times is taken as the truth”. Over and over again, for as long as we remember, we’ve heard from Mayor Chris Corrigan that we must be a united front to win the fight. He signs, “GALLAUDET UNITE SAME (signed clockwise-like)” quite often. Now, this is moving, it really is, it brings tears to my eyes. From a scope, it sends messages that Jane K. is at blame for the disunity at Gallaudet. While the protest itself is based on logical fallacies and inconsistencies (any protestor will admit that’s true), this slogan signed by Chris Corrigan at its best is making people believe that the protest has something strong and valid after all. However, what people may not realize is this in fact also stipulates that perhaps Gallaudet was not united before this protest, and then all of the sudden, with reason, Gallaudet is united! Perhaps that is something to attribute to JK – she is unifying Gallaudet to finally come together as one when beforehand they were all scattered about.

4) And then there’s the infamous bandwagon. I love the sound of this word, don’t you, too? This is an “attempt to persuade the target audience to take action that everyone else is taking”. The “in” crowd is very involved. Students look up to this crowd. Basically everyone wants to be part of the “in” crowd. If you get involved, it is considered cool. Who doesn’t want to be uncool anyway? And also, if you are not involved, you are considered “stupid” or “cowardly”. Protestors have said comments such as “what’s up, why aren’t you involved?”, “Look at that car leaving the campus, they’re losers for not staying here with us”, “come on and join us and set up your tent here, we welcome you. Oh and p.s., there’s free food!”

5) You cannot have a protest without the common man. “’The plain folks’ or ‘common man’ approach attempts to convince the audience that the propaganda’s positions reflect the common sense of the people”. This basically means using ordinary language and mannerisms. We have Mayor Chris Corrigan who cheers the common folks on using ASL: “GALLAUDET UNITE SAME”; we have Ryan Commerson, the “deaf warrior” as Carl Schroeder likes to call him (http://carl-schroeder.blogspot.com/), who tells people over and over again that there is a real issue with audism and that together we can remove audism from the Gallaudet strata for the equality we deserve; we also have DPN leader Tim Rarus getting arrested for the cause, which is inspiring to say the least; and finally, we have LaToya Plummer, who at best, is representative of people of color, but truly, where are the BDSU people, the APA people, and the LSU people? A black woman on board sure as hell fits the whole ‘Unity for Gallaudet’ hype.

6) Demonizing the enemy is another such technique. “Projecting a person through suggestion or false accusations” works wonders. Pictures speak a thousand words.

http://www.deafbison.net/BPN/Oct_6_06/DSC00046.JPG
http://photo.xanga.com/Eye_M_Hodgson/9b32982379678/photo.html
http://photo.xanga.com/Eye_M_Hodgson/4302a82381467/photo.html
http://www.xanga.com/SimplyZanny

7) Direct order is simplifying the decision making process, e.g. Uncle Sam’s “I Want You.” “JKF Resign Now!” and “Re-open the search process” are two such examples of direct order.

8) This one is my favorite. Euphoria. This is one of the many techniques used to mobilize a force against Jane K. Fernandes using sadness. Yes, you heard me, right. Tears and sadness! Wikipedia says it best, euphoria is “the use of an event that generates euphoria in lieu of spreading more sadness – or creating a celebrateable event in the hopes of boosting morale”. The best event to date is the arrests that occurred on Friday, October 13th, 2006. 135 protestors, including the common man Chris Corrigan, big-mouthed Tara Holcomb, the patriotic Jason Lamberton, the ever-brilliant Leah Katz-Hernandes, Mr. Clean Up Guy Brian Morrison, and the heroic Tim Rarus, sat down in the sidelines, went limp, and got arrested. They got carried into the police van to be brought to the police academy where they got fingerprinted and mug shots taken. Word got around that those arrested laughed endlessly in the trip to the police academy, when they could have instead discussed on what next steps to take. More details surrounding this event can be found on highered.com (http://insidehighered.com/news/2006/10/16/arrests). Here are the pictures to show for it:
http://photo.xanga.com/Eye_M_Hodgson/7360983441457/photo.html,
http://www.xanga.com/supercurls?nextdate=10%2f13%2f2006+23%3a59%3a59.999&direction=p How dare IKJ think about arresting our peaceful protesters, what were they doing, they didn’t do anything but sit there! Students continue to play up the arrest cards to draw attention from people, these people then feel sympathic. They call it the dark, black Friday the 13th. Would they still if they knew such things as the students had a group picture of who were arrested? Anything to boost morale, right?

9) Falsifying information. This is scary stuff. Since we were born, we learned how to lie. We didn’t like getting in trouble. We didn’t want our mommies and daddies reprimanding us for something we were guilty of. As we grew older, we got better at lying. We lie to get what we want. I know I am guilty of this crime – I sometimes make white lies just to get what I want. I know a lot of TV personalities that lie to get their dream jobs. So, of course, people will lie just to get what they want. Falsifying information is one way to do it. Video after video (http://www.deafbison.com/, http://www.blogger.com/www.bliptv.com, http://www.signcasts.com/), I’ve not found a substantial amount of concrete facts. A lot of the things stated in sign in those videos are based on hearsay, passing around information (like the phone line! Ah, didn’t we love playing this game in deaf schools?), and bias. And what really ticks me off even more is the fact that many of the protestors throw in code words, e.g. ‘audism’, ‘oppression’, ‘racism’. They claim that the protest is not about Jane not being Deaf enough, but they contradict themselves by insulting her ability to sign, like Chris Corrigan did at the May open-dialogue rally, when Jane K did not sign TENT-CITY properly the first time. Those code words, I must say, are brilliant, because they divert people from the real issues at hand.

Also, in privateinvestigator.wordpress.com, this writer claims that Sorenson “has a very lucrative partnership with Gallaudet Interpreting Services (GIS)”. Sorenson and GIS have used the word partnership, but did they once use the word lucrative? This writer used his/her writing license to throw “lucrative” in to stir up feelings. Does s/he have proof stating that there is a profitable, money-making relationship with GIS? This writer also said for people to send “an email and ask them to issue a public statement to clarify Sorenson’s rationale in supporting the current administration by still continuing its partnership with Gallaudet!” How does this person know that Sorenson supports JK, IJK and the administration, much less understanding the purpose of the protest? Simply said, the Gallaudet protest should remain where it is, AT GALLAUDET. What does Sorenson have to do with this? The company is simply providing a service to the deaf community, and has a presence at Gallaudet, that’s all! There is a call center at Gallaudet yes, but it is a small center and is only ONE out of 60 call centers all over the United States. It is the same thing with CSD at RIT/NTID. If there is a protest at NTID, should they be calling CSD to make a stand? NO! Keep the two things separate. Otherwise, you may as well call all the companies who service Gallaudet to make a statement. Deer Park. Bon Appetit. MSSD. Kendall. Pepsi. Boundless Communications. They all support JK and IJK too!

10) Flag-waving is yet another technique to “justify an action on the grounds that doing so will make one more patriotic”. The HMB lockdown and the campus lockdown are for Gallaudet’s own good; they are actions taken to force the administration to meet FSSA’s demands using the justification that the students (and now to add, faculty, staff and alumni) were not being heard, so the lockdown ensures.

There are 11 more techniques to mention here, but I am overwhelmed by the details of the propaganda the protest has produced. To think what my own peers do, I pity them. I sorely need a break. When my stomach stops churning I will return to finish the rest.

(To be continued.)

# posted by Gallybusters @ 9:26 PM