Real Eyes Realize Real Lies.

Good Morning Boys and Girls!

Today we are going to talk about manipulation and exploitation. I trust that each and every one of you have done your homework and are ready to get into the seriousness of our classroom discussion today.

Who can tell me what the word manipulation means?

"Pick me, pick me!"
"I know, I know, I know."
"Mrs. Robinson, let me answer."

Alright, Jerome, can you please tell me what manipulation means?

"Manipulation means you get 'em where ya want 'em and when you've got 'em where ya want 'em, you can beat 'em and win your game. Yeah! That's manipulation!"

Ahh,..Jerome, can you give me an example of this:

"Ummm,..okay,..let's say I make a movie with some documentation of a historic moment and then tell everyone I decided to burn all copies of the movie except a handful of them. I call and tell my friend that I saved 5 copies and will be willing to sell one for 75 dollars when I actually have all copies to sell. The lie of burning them helps me profit more and sell faster."

Alright, Jerome, that's a pretty good example. Now, who knows what the definition of manipulate means?

"Let me tell you."
"Me, me, Me, me, Me."
"umm, umm, umm,..."

What is the definition of manipulate, Dominic?

"Manipulate is a verb that means to control or influence cleverly, unfairly or unscrupulously."

Wow, Dominic! That is a good definition. Where did you find the definition?

"My daddy showed me what it means. I learned from his example."

Oh, okay Dominic, thank you for your answer...Alright class, can anyone give me some examples of manipulators?

"Alexander Graham Bell!"
"Cochlear Americas."
"The United States Government!"

(!Extreme Baby Extreme!)

Wow, *ahem* I am impressed with you all today. You're hitting every nail on the head and you just seem to have done your homework. Good for you! Now I want you to tell me what exploitation means and you will need to give me examples of this.

(Insane! Insane in the Brain! Insane! Insane in the membrane!)

"When people ask my Daddy about my hearing aid or my being hard of hearing. My Daddy takes them through a conversation that became pretty much routine for the two of us. Yes, I have seen his lips say the same words and his fingers pointing to me and his ear. I have seen it many times. Daddy is telling them how my hearing aid works and how I've learned to speak. Daddy is proud of his son who was born deaf. He can speak. It was true, I could speak. So Daddy would have me stand there and ask me to say something to the person he was talking with.

I'd say something like,'Hello, I'm Rachel and it is nice to meet you.'

(Polly wants a cracker!)

My audience would either be surprised or uncertain, and there he was, at it again. Daddy is explaining the way things are about my speech and hearing. It's routine and I just stand there watching the words fly by while being asked to say something like a dog is asked to hand a paw.

Of course...

If it wasn't Daddy, it was a teacher, if it wasn't a teacher, it was a friend's parent, and if not them, it was a stranger. Those every day people who just don't know the difference between being and letting be. I was exploited by an oppressive ideology.

Exploitation is something these people do unbeknownst to themselves. Habit? Society? Ignorance? I don't know.

I've been exploited by them and my parents have been manipulated by them.
And 'by them', I mean those manipulators we talked about earlier."

*snap*

All is still in the classroom. Not a sound stirs and the air is stuck with a dense sensation to it. The second hand on the clock continues in its trance, tick, tick, tick, tick. There is a stunned look on the faces of these children. Mouths agape. Eyes wide. A bead of sweat drips from the teacher's forehead as she stares at the kids reaction to Rachel's testimony and explanation of what exploitation means to her.

Alright, Thank you Rachel, for sharing with us your meaning of the word exploitation. Can anyone give me another example? I am interested in seeing other examples and would like for you to share it with the class.

"But,..But..."
"Hey Miss, I want..."
"I feel bad."

What's the matter? Is there something wrong? Please tell me what is going on.

A brave and tough looking girl in a bright yellow dress stands up in front of her classmates and addresses the teacher's question with a sense of confidence.

"Mrs. Robinson, this whole school thing is not right if what they're doing to us is wrong. I just realized that what Rachel explained with everything, is just the same for all of us. They want us to use our signs for the holidays but they don't care to learn it. It looks pretty but that's all it is to them, just pretty. They don't see how signing is essential to us and when they want to show people, 'normal' people, things, they treat us like dogs. Sit. Down. Shake. Speak. They want us to come to this class to be normal. I'm tired of this cochlear implant because it doesn't work for me but I am forced to wear it or else my audiologist will give my parent's a guilt trip. And after that guilt trip who gets the blame? ME!

This whole discussion about manipulation and exploitation has me pissed off because it is wrong and I don't understand why it is still going on. Somebody needs to tell their parents to snap out of it and speak the truth against their lies and false hopes."

"Yea!"
"That. That."
"Serious True."

Wow, sigh, do all of you agree with what Jeanne just said?

All of a sudden, the whole class is rooting and roaring, hootin' and hollering, jumping and dancing. The students had finally reached a point in their psyche that they would no longer abide by the rules and laws of the oppressor.

Mrs. Robinson slowly sat down at her desk with great satisfaction. She had finally been able to get her students to see what it was she was trying to have them understand in the beginning.

You know, in being a teacher for the State, you're not encouraged to reveal the Truth. That's not what a teacher does in accord to those oppressive rules and laws laid before them. A teacher is to teach children what they want you to teach them. Not what nature wills them to learn.

Okay class, class! Calm Down class!

The students are still causing a ruckus and the commotion only grows louder as Mrs. Robinson, tries to get them quiet. The hands of children fill the air. Desks are overturned. A paper airplane cuts across the view. A couple of kids are merrily wrestling on the floor while supporters cheer them on. A boy is whining about gum being in his hair. A girl is screaming at a black spot on the wall. Everyone is everywhere and into everything.

Class, Class!
*lights flashing*

Still the students ignored the teacher and the flashing lights. Immediately after Mrs. Robinson flashed the lights for a third time, the Principal was standing in the doorway with his huge and ugly arms crossed in front of him.

Mr. Graham was not a nice man and he was known for being the meanest principal in all of deaf education. He had beady eyes in a big old head full of stiff grey hair that went undisturbed every time he'd shake and shout.

"WILL YOU ALL SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP!?!?"

The students slowly began to stop what they were doing and eventually all of their eyes were laid upon this grumpy and groggy principal who, once again, shouted at the class.

"DID YOU HEAR WHAT I JUST SAID?"

The students laughed at the puzzling articulation of Mr. Graham's words and resumed their state of pandemonium.

"DO YOU HEAR ME?"

One little boy, Donald, looked at the principal and walked up to him. He tugged him on the pant leg and waved to the principal. Mrs. Robinson, now wary of Mr. Graham, grabbed Donald's shoulder and asked him to stand clear of all the confusion.

"YOU. WILL. LISTEN. TO. ME."

Right then and there, the children went still. Silence was playing on the breeze when the students looked once at each other, then turned to look at the principal, and with a collective grimace, they gave him chorus of raspberries.

Pfffft!

That day changed the lives and attitudes of those deaf children. The students never forgot the day they realized the lies they were taught adopt and believe. From that day forward, they learned to tell the truth instead dragging around the lies that they were thrown.

As for the audist establishment, the practices of exploitation and manipulation continues to engulf families with deaf children.

Still...
Mrs. Robinson was fired.
Mr. Graham is still in charge.
And I am crazy.

Moral of the story:
You fuck with them once,
then you've fucked with them one time too many.

Triple T:
Tell The Truth.

Can you now realize that real eyes see real lies?
Cut that shit out.