[nfb-talk] FW: {Disarmed} FW: A personal report from ChairmanGordon Gund

Sun Apr 24 03:16:28 UTC 2011

Too bad that troll doesn't fall off the face of the earth!

Gloria Whipple
Corresponding Secretary
Inland Empire chapter
nfb of WA

-----Original Message-----
From: nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of T. Joseph Carter
Sent: Saturday, April 23, 2011 17:10
To: NFB Talk Mailing List
Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] FW: {Disarmed} FW: A personal report from
ChairmanGordon Gund

The troll returns to one of his favorite ACB-inspired arguments about 
how evil the NFB is.  I say again, go away.

Joseph

On Sat, Apr 23, 2011 at 04:24:42PM -0500, John Heim wrote:
>Yet, the NFB would have us ask for help to identify our money.
>
>
>On Apr 22, 2011, at 9:21 PM, Gloria Whipple wrote:
>
>>Hi Joseph,
>>
>>Well done! I like what you had to say.
>>
>>My prayers go out to you and I hope you get better and I hope you 
>>are free
>>from cancer soon.
>>
>>All my best,
>>
>>
>>Gloria Whipple
>>Corresponding Secretary
>>Inland Empire chapter
>>nfb of WA
>>
>>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfb-talk-
>>bounces at nfbnet.org] On
>>Behalf Of T. Joseph Carter
>>Sent: Friday, April 22, 2011 19:01
>>To: NFB Talk Mailing List
>>Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] FW: {Disarmed} FW: A personal report from
>>ChairmanGordon Gund
>>
>>Gloria,
>>
>>I think what it boils down to is that language is a powerful thing.
>>The words a person uses are less important than the intent behind
>>them, but from a choice of certain words over others we can infer an
>>intent.  I have been battling cancer.  This implies something about
>>me and my relationship to cancer.  I have been living with it, and I
>>don't want to be.  In fact, I am fighting to make it gone, because
>>cancer is a horrible thing.
>>
>>Am I fighting blindness?  Do I suffer from blindness?  Am I forced to
>>use alternative techniques?  Well yes, I do suffer as a result of
>>blindness.  Not because of blindness itself per se, but because of
>>the reaction of others to it who are not blind (and a few who are,
>>sadly).
>>
>>The refusal to be pigeon-holed into this "sad existence" of
>>"suffering because of blindness" is precisely the kind of supposed
>>"unethical" behavior the NFB engages in by spreading our philosophy.
>>It is akin to those during the 60s arguing against the notion that
>>they were afflicted somehow with being black.  Blindness is a bad
>>thing only if you make it be so, and we refuse to make it so for
>>ourselves.  Moreover, we refuse to allow others to force us into that
>>role.
>>
>>Those who would disparage our efforts to do so are not our friends,
>>just as those who would have you look down upon a man of color
>>because his skin was darker than, say, mine is.  Is he somehow worse
>>of because of that?  Is he lessened as a man or as a person?  Does he
>>deserve something less, or for that matter anything more, than any
>>other person simply because of the color of his skin?  Most today
>>would say out of hand that he should have the same opportunities
>>anyone would have.  No more, but certainly no less!
>>
>>The blind deserve the same equality that our more sunburn-resistant
>>brothers demanded more than forty years ago.  In just one generation
>>we have gone from a person of color being denied the use of a
>>drinking fountain to electing him to the United States presidency.
>>If there remains racial inequality, it cannot be because of the color
>>of a person's skin anymore.  Some individuals may yet harbor such
>>attitudes (and I recently observed some of those people in a public
>>display, sadly), but society rejects such people as undesirable when
>>they are exposed.  (And believe me, we are exposing them all over
>>YouTube, since the local media won't even report it.)
>>
>>But what about the blind?  The same society who refuses to allow a
>>black man to be treated as a second class citizen openly condones it
>>when a blind man is treated likewise.  Disability is one of only two
>>acceptable areas of discrimination that remain in this country.  (The
>>other is so far removed from topical for this list that I won't
>>discuss it here, much to Dave's relief.)
>>
>>We cannot continue to meekly request that we be treated as first
>>class citizens.  It didn't work in the 1940s, and it hasn't worked
>>yet.  Only by refusing to be anything less will we finally achieve
>>that.  Unfortunately, that means getting a bit uppity over language
>>that paints us into a corner, as it were.  I'm not here to be pitied
>>or someone's inspiration.  I'm here because I've got a job to do, and
>>within the National Federation of the Blind, that job is to achieve
>>for myself and for all of us the basic rights of first class
>>citizenship afforded to anyone else in this country today, regardless
>>of their skin color, sexual orientation, and a whole host of other
>>things.
>>
>>I don't expect any more, but I also won't accept any less.
>>
>>Joseph
>>
>>On Fri, Apr 22, 2011 at 09:33:15AM -0700, Gloria Whipple wrote:
>>>James,
>>>
>>>Thanks for explaining what I wanted to say about this subject.
>>>
>>>I am glad someone is on my side!
>>>
>>>
>>>Gloria Whipple
>>>Corresponding Secretary
>>>Inland Empire chapter
>>>nfb of WA
>>
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>
>
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