Alexander Graham Bell and "avoidable savagery"

Here are a couple memorable quotes and a quick review of The Invention of Miracles: Language, Power, and Alexander Graham Bell's Quest to End Deafness by Katie Booth




A couple years ago I read The Invention of Miracles: Language, Power, and Alexander Graham Bell's Quest to End Deafness by Katie Booth. It was a very interesting (if a little clumsy with focus at times) revisionist biography of Alexander Graham Bell, who is best known for inventing the telephone. 

"Meticulously researched, crackling with insights, and rich in novelistic detail. By shining a bright light on society's assumptions about disability, Booth's book is a profound and lyrical meditation on what it means to be human."

- Steve Silberman, New York Times bestselling author of NeuroTribes

I read it because I was surprised to learn of Bell's curious, devastating work in the deaf communities of his time--his own wife, Mabel Gardiner Hubbard, was deaf. Indeed, I'm ashamed to say I have read very little about dis/ability history of any kind, and so I learned a lot from Booth's well-researched book.

One of the many things that got me thinking in reading Invention of Miracles was this idea of dedicating your life's work to something that is ultimately a failure and rooted in prejudice--you can be very passionate about something and leave a devastating legacy. You can have a brilliant mind, work endlessly for a cause, and without intersectionality and empathy, it all kind of falls apart.

In Bell's case, he wanted to end deafness. He took up this mantle as a noble cause, but as Booth points out in her book, having the best of intentions doesn't cut it, and his work and philosophy regarding deafness still has negative impacts today.

Above: Alexander Graham Bell and Mabel Gardiner Hubbard

The same year I read Booth's book, I read Washington Black by Esi Edugyan. I came across this quote in Edugyan's book, which reminded me so much about what Booth was talking about with Bell in her own book:

He had spent years trying to cultivate an ethos, and despite possessing a clear intelligence, he had lived his whole life in avoidable savagery.

from Washington Black by Esi Edugyan

You know, just some thoughts on the work we do, the legacy we leave, and how to live and work conscientiously, and with empathy.

Here are a couple more noteworthy quotes from Katie Booth's The Invention of Miracles: Language, Power, and Alexander Graham Bell's Quest to End Deafness:

“Saving can become more important than recognizing; fixing more important than loving. This was Bell’s greatest mistake. He got so caught up in the feeling of sympathy that he never veered into empathy; his imagination didn’t stretch enough to understand, or even ask, what the deaf themselves wanted”

“Bell was able to get away with what he did because he was protected by a power structure that did not value deaf experience or deaf voices. Bell thought he was bringing the deaf and hearing closer together, but in refusing to allow for deaf agency, he drove us further apart. His ideas continue to drive us further apart.“



Popular posts from this blog

9 Reasons Why Zack on Gilmore Girls is the Worst

Image
Of all the men in the Gilmore Girls world, I think Zack was the worst. Here's nine reasons why. I'm currently re-watching Gilmore girls for the umpteenth time, and once more I find myself loathing Zack in particular. Normally we all get caught up in Luke vs. Christopher, Dean vs. Jess vs. Logan, etc, but I think these debates distract viewers from realizing that Zack is the worst Significant Other of all the women in the show. I think the actor Todd Lowe does a great job portraying Zack, so my critique is def not his performance , my issue is the  character of Zack   who is sooo contemptible. In a way, Lowe's performance of Zack is all the more remarkable - when it comes to the Bad Men of Gilmore Girls, Zack rarely tops the list. I think it's because his many flaws are so *shrug* boys will be boys. As viewers I think we're meant to be distracted by the explosive incidents related to Logan's elitism, Mitchum's tyranny, Dean's cheating, Marty's obvio
Read more

VIDEO: Tips for Better Dailies Notes

Image
Here are 11 tips for taking better notes in dailies. If you’re in Production, good note-taking practices are essential and it never stops. As a coordinator, you might take notes for dailies. As a Production Manager or Producer you might have Production reports, all of these tasks rely on good note-taking.  A huge part of our role is data entry and management. Getting specific, let’s take a look at what you can do to take better notes in lighting/comp dailies. Even if your artists are in dailies, still make sure your notes are as specific as possible, don’t leave it to them to take their own notes, let them have that time to answer their supervisor’s questions or to focus on the feedback.  Let me be very clear: if you are in production and you are taking notes in dailies, it is your job to take accurate, efficient notes. Wherever possible, give the frame range.  Don’t just say ‘near the beginning of a shot’, say F8-12 if you can. If there are multiple characters in a scene, use their na
Read more

VIDEO: Why Not Why

Image
I really don't like 'why' questions at work and some experts agree! We all have our particular quirks and workplace hangups. One of mine is that I don’t like 'why' questions. Interestingly, I have found over the course of the pandemic that I’ve been getting a lot more 'why' questions, and so for this video I want to offer a couple of perspectives. First, I want to be clear that when I was being trained in Production, it was  many years ago  and a different world. When I was learning about Production, the common, if old-school way for me to learn to do something was to do so without knowing the ‘why’ behind it. I just did something because I was told to do it that particular way, no questions asked. I admit, I have inherited this old-school attitude, and my current attitude (which is perhaps a bad one) is that sometimes, we aren’t entitled to an answer. It’s our job and duty in Production to carry something out with minimal questions. Not everything is going
Read more