Showing posts with label viral video. Show all posts
Showing posts with label viral video. Show all posts

Monday, May 18, 2015

Viral video takes down that Kennesaw State University academic adviser.

"Sitting here until someone is available is harassing them," said Abby Dawson, caught on video by the student, Kevin Bruce, because, as he put it: "Abby Dawson has an attitude, that�s why I knew exactly when to record her."



The video gets out, not the larger context. What is the larger context? Dawson can't get her side of the story out, and Bruce controls the narrative. Bruce knows that he is recording, and during the sequence that's recorded he's speaking in a calm, circumspect manner that makes Dawson look way out of line.

Bruce has explained that he was told his adviser would be available in an hour, and he decided to wait instead of leaving and coming back in an hour. How did that earlier interaction play out? Why did Dawson interpret the lingering in the office as harassment? Was her reaction part of some absurd ever-enlarging concept of "harassment" within the gender politics of modern American education? Is Dawson an abusive outlier? Or would this all be nothing if we could see the whole interaction on video?

Monday, March 9, 2015

"The Islamic State released a new recruitment video today with deaf fighters using sign language asking other deaf followers to join them."

"While one message is that being being deaf is not an excuse not to come and fight, I think there's a more subtle and deeper one...." writes Jeralyn Merritt at TalkLeft.
This isn't a blood and gore video designed for adrenaline junkies. It's a video aimed at those seeking acceptance and a family. Its message is "You have a home with us, we will welcome you and accept you and you will be one of us."

It's too bad the video is for ISIS. Otherwise it would be a great public service announcement for the hearing impaired, showing prospective employers that being deaf doesn't hold them back and they can do a job just as well as the non-hearing impaired, while at the same time showing fellow deaf citizens and the rest of us that the inability to hear or speak doesn't stand in the way of leading a fulfilling and joyful life.