chegitz guevara For Congress

[Imran Siddiqui]

Do you believe this was the FIRST time I've come across that piece.

I wasn't talking about Che. I was talking about when I was younger and growing up.

And yet you flipped out on Che's website.

[Ramo]

Edit: Didn't read the last post. Still bizarre.

[Koyaanisqatsi]

Originally posted by Ben Kenobi
I've been dealing with folks like that all my life.

Yes, it's retarded and frusterating, but what else am I supposed to do when I am asked to read that article by Helen Keller so I can better understand her reasons for being a socialist.

Ok, but even if I grant this ridiculous premise, why is this grounds for suppressing the truth again? Just because you happen to disagree with her and you find it annoying when people conflate disability with socialism? (I can't believe I just wrote that sentence...)

[Ben Kenobi]

you find it annoying when people conflate disability with socialism

Mirab, his sails unfurled!

[Koyaanisqatsi]

I think he broke.

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by Ben Kenobi
I've said this four times already.

Recall what Che said awhile ago about people putting constraints on Helen Keller. People have expectations about what disabled people 'should' be like. They had them back in the day, and they still have them today.

I've grown up hearing about Helen Keller, and what a great person she was and how I should be like her since I was 5, JUST because she was deaf and blind. Expectations that were levelled on her were also levelled on me.

I've had well meaning people express shock and amazement, including my own "high school counsellor" that I was successful at school and I had a social life.

This is why it bothers me when someone uses Helen Keller, not because she is my idol, but because someone thinks she is my idol

I understand you better. If people had shoved her name down your throat all your life as they'd have done without imagination to any other disabled, then I understand your emotional (and irrational) dislike of seeing her used for whatever reason.

and the fact that she was a socialist should be a reason for me to be a socialist too.

Drawing such a conclusion is seriously emotional (or seriously moronic if you intend to back it up with rational arguments)

You see what I'm saying?

That post is the first one where I come close to understanding your outrage.

[chequita guevara]

Ben, Helen Keller is arguable the single most famous member of the Socialist Party there is. That is why she's on my website. She is there not to say, all you disabled people should be a Socialists too, because your idol Helen Keller was a pinko. She's there because she is an American icon. If Einstein or MLK had joined the SP, they'd have been on there, as they are both famous Americans, and were both socialists. The point is to show that Great Americans have been and are socialists. We aren't this tiny fringe group that has had nothing to do with America.

Spoiler:

We're a tiny fringe group that's had a lot to do with America.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Koyaanisqatsi


I think he broke.

It's a reference to an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation . . . another socialist icon.

[Ben Kenobi]

Yep.

"Sokath his eyes uncovered" = He finally gets it.

"Mirab his sails unfurled" = My job is done, time for me to go.

This whole discussion reminded me of the episode, "Darmok and Jalad". It kicks ass, especially for deaf folks because we just read the faces and the expressions so we know what's going on when everyone else is lost...

[Elok]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara
We're a tiny fringe group whose members have had a lot to do with America in a way that had nothing to do with their membership in our group, much like the Freemasons.

Fixed.

EDIT: What the hell was I on last night? The way I fixed it before didn't parse at all. How very embarrassing.

[Koyaanisqatsi]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara
It's a reference to an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation . . . another socialist icon.

I was aware of the reference, it just didn't make sense since his logic hasn't really improved...

[Theben]

Wow. I mean just WOW. This has been probably the most bizarre thread involving BK, and that's saying something.

Btw, Ben, a LOT of Americans are ignorant of Keller's socialism. Hell, I didn't know until I was almost out of high school.

I recall telling one girl about this, she was 20 at the time, very conservative, and held Keller up as one of her heroes (as a woman who overcame adversity). Her reaction was basically to freak out, then deny it.

So I guess your reaction isn't atypical, but just as ludicrous.

[Ben Kenobi]

hmm?

1. Where did I deny that Keller was a socialist?

2. I'd already heard. As I said I didn't really have much choice in the matter.

I'm not sure why my reaction to Che's announcement is in anyway similar.

I'm angry yes, but for entirely different reasons. I'm just sick of people using her either as a model or for their own causes.

[Imran Siddiqui]

I'm not sure why my reaction to Che's announcement is in anyway similar.

You freaked out.

I'm just sick of people using her either as a model or for their own causes.

Yeah, the disabled need to use someone else

[Ben Kenobi]

Such as?