Mike McConnell posted an entry claiming that Deafhood is classified as an extremist group and lumped it with the likes of Church of Scientology according to Wikipedia, an internet source where anyone can enter a post on a topic or make revisions, hence often unreliable as a source.
Linda decided to play detective. Here is what she found:
Editing to "Extremist Groups" Wikipedia page was done under the IP address
Full-screen IP-Adresse: 206.169.206.91
Provider: Time Warner Telecom
Organisation: Valley Telephone Coop - Tucson
Region: Cochise (US)
Cochise, AZ, is the suburb of Tucson where Barry Sewell lives.
That is going too far, Barry. You entered this basely solely on your personal opinion on Deafhood. You are trying to spread misinformation to the general public. This is not based on fact. Wikipedia is supposed to be a factual (at least, as close as possible) source, not a personal opinion of a person hellbent on discrediting a certain group of people.
Barry IS entitled to his opinion that Deafhood is a cult, that it is full of nonsense, that people who support the ideology are extremists. In fact, it is perfectly okay. However, in this case, it is going too far. Barry even said "it was fun." Literally a confession.
One MUST respect the beliefs and opinions of others without going all-out to discredit or harm the reputations of others. Is this not a free country? Last I knew, it is. If Barry truly believes Deafhood is a cult, then he ought to stay out and keep out.
WHAT did Deafhood ever do to Barry or Mike McConnell for that matter? Oh yes, I forgot. Barry once upon a time supported DBC and was on the board. They removed him for political reason. Barry became bitter. Now he is doing his damnedest to discredit the people who rejected him from DBC.
It is time to move on. It's been 3 years now. It is a well known fact you loathe DBC. We get it. Ok?
As for Mike McConnell entering that post - one has to wonder if he was in the cahoots with Barry or did he swallow a big fish when he saw the entry on Wikipedia and excitedly published it? It is the best policy to check your sources or for facts before you do anything, Mike.
Profound thanks to Linda for her suspicious nature. She smelled a rat and dug it out.
Deafhood people can go into Wikipedia and revise the entry Barry made. Please do.
I think that it is time for Tayler Mayer to blacklist Barry Sewell and Mike McConnell from Deafread.com.
ReplyDeleteThis went WAY too far and is just the latest in a series of mistakes.
ReplyDeleteBypassing one's own community and going to politicians, government agencies, public information depositories and attempting to influence them for personal reasons is playing dirty.
Using public forums to constantly attack others is getting tiresome. Even depressing.
Calling it "fun" or implying it was a prank isn't cleverness. Just mindless vandalism.
Such people can only harm, not help nor even balance us, and are difficult to cope with in a free and open society. Whether or not banning them from DeafRead helps the situation, these people deserve condemnation and a clear position statement regarding them from all the different individuals and groups that speak for us.
I agree. Even we have our own differences with Deafhood, it does not mean we need to go to this extent.
ReplyDeleteWhatever the general view, it is clear deafhood has divided many deaf, not only from others, but from their own grass roots. If people describe total frustration with that, it is fair comment. Perhaps the 'Americanisation' of deafhood is to blame. It bears little or no relation to the basic theme of Mr Ladd. He did not clarify anything and 6 pages in to his opus started the anti-hearing and anti-'deaf' stances, and terminological obscurities, playing to the gallery was one thing but the chaos that has ensued has caused huge rifts. People who see the deaf communitty in open warfare over deafhood will not take prisoners... either side.
ReplyDeleteHaving actually spent some time studying the Deafhood perspective, I see the divisions as caused by people who ADMIT that they don't really know what it is about, feel they already know everything they need to know about pretty much everything, but STILL have an opinion that they don't like it because they don't like the PEOPLE involved (Barry and his wearisome attacks on Ella, who is only one MEMBER of the opposition working on this bill).
ReplyDeleteThe DH-No-Thanks folks should just leave it at that. "No, Thanks" and MOVE ON to something that works for them, and get not only loud, but active in THEIR OWN COMMUNITIES... What is Barry SPECIFICALLY doing for Arizona? He won't do anything that might require working with other people cooperatively... What is Mike doing for wherever he is?
Barry's latest trick is just a particularly obvious example of twisting.
The most current batch of twisting involves taking a comment that Ella made just after he first posted his daughter's transcript. Ella had commented to the effect that the transcript was biased and incomplete, and it was.
However, Barry waited to argue against Ella's comment until he was able to use Mike McConnell's and the OpposeAB2072 transcripts correct things like "(inaudible)" into the more accurate "eugenics", thus bringing "his" transcript into line with the more accurate transcript Ella had already seen.
It is also time for Barry to stop claiming credit for the transcript. It's pretty obvious that HE didn't spend the time listening to the video and transcribing it. Still he's claiming the credit for having the foresight to have had the transcript made, and claims that THIS is something we should emulate... The weak point of that argument is that Deja is no available to work behind the scenes for just anybody, so we don't get to pretend that her work is our own.
THEN Barry picked on Ella's older comment, conveniently leaving out that "his" transcript had actually been changed several times in the meantime, and RIPPED INTO ELLA as though she were freshly correcting his "already correct"(ed) transcript.
Twisting, twisting, desperately twisting...
Can't WAIT to see the current language, so Barry Sewell and his intentionally misleading arguments will be left just twisting in the wind... I'm sure it can't come too soon for poor Ella, who has borne the brunt of his irrational hatred!
Heck, maybe the NEW language of AB 2072 might now even be changed to be good enough that I could begin to SUPPORT it... We'll see...
Not getting involved in this whatsoever but just pointing out: Cochise, AZ is a ghost town. Cochise County is a small county in southern Arizona. Tucson is in Pima County, AZ.
ReplyDeleteMegan,
ReplyDeleteYou can go to Google Maps and type in
1775 W. El Coyote
Cochise, Arizona 85606
This may or may not be Barry Sewell's house but he had said that he lives across the road of a wine/grape growing farm.
There are houses in Cochise, Arizona.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=1775+W.+El+Coyote+Cochise,+Arizona+85606&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=31.095668,71.542969&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=W+El+Coyote+Rd,+Cochise,+Arizona+85606&ll=32.065556,-109.948447&spn=0.00811,0.017467&t=h&z=16
Megan,
ReplyDeleteCochise is a county - consists of mostly rural towns. I understand Barry is sort of a rancher so it makes sense he would live in a rural area.
Many people who live in rural areas are anti-social due to lack of interaction or hungry for social interaction and get on internet a lot. Which one is Barry?
Check it out:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.thecuttingedgenews.com/index.php?article=12336
Also look later in the comments of the same blog, where Barry admitted, "That was fun!"...
ReplyDeleteHe knew he was caught and couldn't hide anymore, so went on to BRAG about what he did. He was PROUD of it...
Do you really still want to believe Barry Sewell is offering an unbiased view into the opposition's thinking?
- Linda
> Which one is Barry?
ReplyDeleteWOW! That's hard to answer... I think Barry is sui generis, that is, he's a culture of one and proud of it...
He USES his family and community resources, but pretends he can stand alone without community, and advises us to do the same.
I see true community as the opposition's strength in the AB 2072 fight.
Sorry for talking so much this AM, but hopefully I'm helping with some clarity as well...
- Linda
Yes, Linda. I did say Barry wrote "it was fun" in my post above in case you overlooked it. :-)
ReplyDeleteYep - he admitted to making the entry on Wikipedia which was why I made this post. If not for that "it was fun" I wouldn't have entered my post because short of a confession, one couldn't be 100% sure Barry entered that post on Wikipedia, but since he did, I had no problem doing a little expose.
Sorry, I DID see it. It just seemed that Megan didn't...
ReplyDeleteHard to always be having to try to prove the truth against repeated blatant falsehoods, so I "overshot" there by repeating your proof, but forgetting to specify that that part was really to try to explain things again to Megan...
Thank you for helping clear things up with this blog!
All About BS
ReplyDeleteYou gotta see this youtube!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7JjzhpenRA
Yep, Deaf...already watched it. Wish he would do a little more expose and reveal more about BS. What does he really do for a living? He dresses like a cowboy and seems to indicate he lives on a ranch and it costs money to run a ranch. Does he really live on a ranch? Or just a trailer on a parcel of land in a rural county? He claims to be one with the native indians. That he partakes in their ceremonies? Can he name the tribes in the Cochise county? Nobody seems to really know who he is, really. I don't think he attended residential school for the deaf otherwise he would have been identified immediately. He probably was mainstreamed and lived in obscurity most of his life. That may explain why he is doing all this for attention.
ReplyDeleteCareful what you wish for, CAM!
ReplyDeleteRidor has v/blogged about Barry several times before. I will just point to one example, because there are several quite informative comments in it:
http://countdown2resurrection.wordpress.com/2008/11/09/follow-up-on-the-last-entry/
Also, DonG has had a lot of experience with Barry. See: http://www.deafhooddiscourses.com/?p=37
Note that the PDF file he points to has links which were killed off shortly after this article was posted, so they mostly don't go anywhere anymore, but I saw them when they did. It still DOES explain his early relationship with the local NA folks... Ridor's comments include a comment from one of the NA folks in Barry's area about Barry as well.
Barry says he's 7th generation deaf. There are those in the community who remember going to school with Barry's father at the Berkeley School for the Deaf, so he IS DOD.
So that should get you started on answering your questions, though I admit, I'm still asking myself pretty much the same sorts of things anyway...
- Linda
A book review in which Barry explains how he became a Tadodaho Messenger:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.amazon.com/gp/cdp/member-reviews/A32DZKJDMNBF85/ref=cm_cr_dp_auth_rev?ie=UTF8&sort_by=MostRecentReview
Linda, I am already aware Barry is DoD and have said such. Funny, nobody seem to volunteer information on having gone to school with Barry except single mention that he went to Gallaudet. The name is familiar so I wonder if I heard of the name at Gallaudet.
ReplyDeleteI also wonder if he is related to one of the largest deaf family in north CA - the Pederson family (presumably Katrina Pederson, who gave a recap on the AB2072 bill vote, is a member of that family, and I knew several during my Gallaudet days)or the Saunders family who is also related to the Pedersons. Those families have multi-generations dating way back to the 1700s. I wouldn't be surprised if Barry is related to them if his father went to Berkeley as had nearly all the Pedersons and Saunders.
I assume his business got busted for fraud. So what is his "business" now? How does he support his family?
Finally, for a person from multi-generational DoDs, he strangely fathered all hearing children? Hmmm Guess his wife's DNA is dominant.
Sorry, I was too casual reading your post, and missed where you said he was DoD.
ReplyDeleteWife is Deaf (I think DoD, but don't remember) His son is Deaf. His daughter is hearing.
I bet that Barry's father knew one or more of the Pedersons.
Some of his schooling:
http://www.classmates.com/directory/public/memberprofile/list.htm?regId=280276771
I'm trying to remember if he went to Gallaudet at all or not... I don't think so, but wouldn't be surprised to find out I was wrong on that point. Somebody from Gally around his time will know... (see the dates of high school education in the classmates.com page for when approximate Gally dates would be)
- Linda
If I may clarify,
ReplyDeleteSome people thought _I_ crossed the line by publishing Barry's "private" IP address. However, this is the way it works with Wikipedia vandalism.
Barry has acknowledged this in the comment left on BigBenFactor's blog at June 29, 2010 at 8:13 PM where he says:
> I knew what I was getting into when I
> experimented with Wikipedia and their
> editing system. Before I could make any
> changes in Wikipedia it warned that my IP
> address would be exposed and asked if I’d
> agree to the terms before it published
> deafhood, AFA and CAD as an extremist
> group. I gladly agreed. In short, I did
> not care if you or anybody identified me
> as the source because I’m entitled to my
> opinion and I really do think and believe
> that deafhood, AFA and CAD are extremist
> groups.
So Barry CHOSE to make his IP public in the history of his change in the Wikipedia entry.
The Wikipedia publishes the IP addresses of its anonymous editors this so that vandalism, such as Barry's can not done completely anonymously.
It is INTENDED by the Wikipedia that such vandalism be exposed to the disinfectant of sunshine, and Barry WAS properly informed of the consequences of his actions before they published his IP address for me or anybody else to find.
- Linda
Dianrez,
ReplyDeleteI noticed you tried to leave a comment over on Barry's blog, but he shut you down because he disagreed with you.
I have had 3 friends now say the same thing that I thought when I saw that... "I wish I knew what Dianrez actually SAID!"
If you remember, or can reconstruct, just what DID you say there, so WE have the CHOICE of deciding for ourselves whether what you said just "distorted" his view and dodged the issue.
Neither my friends nor I could believe that this was anything but blatant censorship due to Barry's inability to actually counter your points, so we'd like to know what you had to say, if possible.
Thanks! ...and thanks to CAM for allowing my question for Dianrez. It may be a bit off topic, but I think that Barry's censorship of any disagreement in his blog comments, is a part of the anti-social pattern of behavior, so it really IS more evidence that he is uninterested in participating in the community, and seeks actively to undermine the possibility of community through his persistent abusive behavior to anybody who disagrees with him.
Looks like maybe what we asked for has been ANSWERED! See: http://dianrez.xanga.com/729553724/the-professor-and-the-layman/?nextdate=last&leftcmt=1
ReplyDeleteThis is great!
ReplyDeleteMore information on Barry Sewell (FYI, my god-damned cat, Blacklist, is partially sitting on my left hand trying to type on this keyboard!):
He attended Idaho School for the Deaf and the Blind in Gooding, Idaho.
He claimed that he lived on a farm or a ranch in Gooding. A friend who knew him & his family said it is rubbish. His folks' house is actually the last house on dead-end street, that's it.
His father was a dorm staff. Racist. Sexist.
There are message boards where you'll see him making xenophobic comments against Latinos. There are allegations that it is open secret among Deaf people in Gooding that his father molested dozens of female students and frequently committed adultery. It was said that he also fathered children with 5 (!) women other than his wife.
It was said that Barry felt left out and ignored by his father when he was growing up ... which led several to theorize that he was trying to get attention by being "different" from the general population by dressing like Yosemite Sam crapola.
I'm sure that you already knew several more allegations via my old blogsite as well!
Oh, yeah, I was told by someone who is related to Crystal (Barry's wife) that her parents absolutely despised Barry and forbade him from visiting them in Mississippi. Why? Barry took Crystal away from home and married her without including her parents at all.
I'm sure there are more stories out there ... I had a conversation with a good friend of mine in Salt Lake City who told me that he knew the SEwells very well and he said that the family is dysfunctional big-time.
And that most Deaf people in Gooding largely ignored nor dismiss Barry's rants which is why I never heard of him until DeafRead & Deafvideo pops up. I knew the Wildings, Moses, Kinners and several Deaf people who emerged from ISDB in Gooding. But never the Sewells until DR & DVTV! Judging on what my friend in Salt Lake City said, it is apparent that for years, people in Gooding simply do not take them seriously nor address them at all which explains why I never heard of them at all.
I think I said bit too much. It is 4 AM in the morning. Bedtime!
R-
Sorry, Ridor, you posted the same 4 messages. A glitch?
ReplyDeleteLikewise, I know the Wildings, The Cabbages, but never heard of the Sewells. I guess this says everything about that family.
I suspect I HAD seen him in Tucson at the deaf school at the "Wrong Game" showing. He wore cowboy clothes and hat which attracted my eye. Apparently he DOES participate in the deaf community despite his claims he doesn't. He lives only half an hour drive south of Tucson.
Since I was told he has a deaf son, I wonder if he attended the deaf school at the Tucson campus. I might ask around.
Looks like both Gina and Barry came from dysfunctional DoD families. I've known many myself, but the people with the high level of Barry and Gina's intelligence in highly dysfunctional deaf families is rare. They are mostly grassroots with little education. While they both rose above their families in the academia arena, they still are at their level in all other areas, unfortunately.
Good description of Barry - Yosemite Sam. Like that. :-) Fitting description.
See "Why Home Schooling is Fun" by ohBuckaroo
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0LB9SZBtRU