In a world of great creedal and human diversity, first of all, I would like to explain what creedal means. It is a noun: any system, doctrine, or formula of religious belief, as of a denomination (http://www.dictionary.com/browse/creedal). There are a great many different views about the meaning and social significance of Deaf people and butterflies.

In this post, we need to approach the sociological study of politics. We also need to approach the sociological study of Deaf people and butterflies through a conscientious effort to engage perspectives from politics and from studies based in diverse parts of the planet. In this post, it would require history, philosophy, political economy, culture studies, anthropology, politics, social ethics, Deaf studies and other fields related to the sociology of Deaf people and butterflies today and tomorrow.

Through the truth cannot do justice to the rich variety necessary for a comprehensive global approach to the topic, we need to focus on contextual ideal always in mind: endeavor to study Deaf people and butterflies in global perspective. The key is to try to include a wide scope and to remember that our own social locations influence our understandings—including the limits of our understandings and consciousness.

We have much to gain by studying why the butterflies are disappearing around mother Earth. Please note that the butterflies are also Deaf. Yes, they are all Deaf! Having living in Deaf community, remembering experiences studying Deaf discourses, recalling adventures in American Sign Language (ASL) across America and Canada, thinking about Deaf people how important they are to us today including my beloved Pacific Northwest (e.g. the notion of “salmon people”) and being deeply interested in ASL and Deaf Studies, I have strong awareness of the global reach involved in questions about the role of genocide in Deaf community today.

ASL is being marginalized in favor of Oralism and cochlear implant spearheaded by AGBell ideology, making the meaning state of being Deaf disappeared and no, it is no funny business. What happened to what we learn about Deaf Studies and analytical approaches of Deaf people, offers us the opportunity to appreciate the variety of ways that “all knowledge may be shaped by the social context of the knower”—our goal is to enrich our understandings of the social phenomenon of Deaf people. Now to the butterflies, I remember living in country in a rural Washington States on 400 acres, I would see hundreds of butterflies everywhere—they were one of the most beautiful creatures you could imagine—all in colors. I did not realize they were Deaf until my adult life—damn for hiding the truth!

The sad part is that the butterflies are not appearing in our backyards or even front yards anymore—it is not there. What happened to the complex webs of meaning and action? Nature vs. Nurture or Nature vs. Man-Made? Now above the opening paragraph: the meaning of creedal—any system, doctrine, or formula of religious belief, as of a denomination. Any system: man-made cochlear implants, oralism, or even doctrine as in oralism in religious discourses that believes that Deaf people should be part of formula of religious belief to wipe out ASL and Deaf Culture and turn into hearing-dominated system.

I mean, look at this bigger picture, folks, how Oralism, cochlear implant industries and hearing-dominated society relate to: economic systems, social institutions, cultural patterns, moral arguments, divergent world-views and the collective psyches of Deaf people. We need to challenge and become stronger to do so by examining and discussing: the parallel between butterflies and Deaf people being slaughtered into human pleasure.

Now point out to the religious believers: they believe that Deaf people need to be wiped out, for example, EPHPHATHA— becoming so passionately held points of view (various creeds and the voices of their believers), poignant personal stories that connect Deaf people into cosmic, and sociological (cross-disciplinary often) analyses of genocide and society—with a particular eye for comparative and global perspectives.

The butterflies and Deaf people—in America I live, Deaf people I know in Canada, and other parts of world, their spirit of freedom is fast becoming as blinkered as the oppressors by politics and fear. We all should not live like this—ever. From my Sociology background, I have learned to simply protect Deaf community—the one I live in. Their reactions by attempting to kill the butterflies and Deaf people are understandable since they suffer the NIMB (Not in my Backyard) syndrome—an element of the oppressed.

As I argue in my blog post, certainty without evidence is necessarily divisive and dehumanizing. In fact, respect for evidence and rational argument is what makes peaceful cooperation possible. As human beings, Deaf people are human beings, not human doings, we live in a perpetual choice between conversation and violence; what, apart from a fundamental willingness to be reasonable, can guarantee that we will keeping to one another?

-JT

Copyright © 2016 Jason Tozier

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