Crabs in a Cave? Part I of II

"Office" fans, please refrain from the "that's what she said" jokes. Just kidding.


 
In any case, this afternoon I had a minor epiphany. Are you ready for this? There's no more "that's what she said jokes"…but we'll manage.

Disclaimer: the views expressed on deafness and deaf culture are based largely on my own observations unless another source is cited via hyperlinks. Discussion of other minorities is also cited. Please note that these views are not necessarily nor intended to be representative of the whole of the deaf community, rather they are an expression of my own views.

Today it dawned on me to connect the deaf community (or insert your favorite minority here) to Plato's "allegory of the cave". However, the most common metaphor applied to the deaf community is the crabs in a barrel syndrome a.k.a. the crab theory.

Background: The Crab Theory

As explained by the Gallaudet University Library, "the analogy is to a bucket of live crabs: whenever one crab attempts to escape the bucket by climbing out of it, the others reach up and pull it back down. The result, of course, is that no crab succeeds in escaping the bucket." Now, I wonder: could the "barrel" be likened to Plato's "cave"?

First, the problem of the crab theory is that it suggests that minorities will prevent members of their communities from succeeding through education, jobs, or the accumulation of wealth and/or honors. Should a member of a minority group succeed above all the others, those who are left in the barrel will mock, criticize, and all but disown the members that make it out of the barrel.

As far as social theories go, the crab theory is particularly pessimistic and cynical. It must be noted that in the case of African Americans (click here to see one of the crab theory's first applications), the crabs in a barrel analogy has been severely criticized by Nathaniel Turner as an oversimplified idea that makes systematic oppression seem like a figment of the imagination. However, it is also true that despite the crab theory's criticisms it is still frequently applied—take the case of various bloggers applying the crab theory to the latest presidential election and Obama's term (click here for one example).

Still, socio-economic complexities, power dynamics, and legal issues surrounding the theory are often glazed over with the application of the crab theory. Oppression in the deaf community is multifaceted much like oppression of any other minority group. There are stratifications within the community based on education, wealth, deaf roots (deaf child of deaf parents (DOD) or hearing child of deaf parents (CODA)), deaf participation, romantic competition, whether or not one is "deaf enough", (evaluated by accomplishments, use of assistitative technology i.e. hearing aids, cochlear implants, which sign language system is used), or being "hearing-minded" which means to be the 'other'.

This oppression within the deaf community or the basis for the application of the crab theory is known as Audism. Essentially, members of the deaf community are faulted for oppressing one another in addition to the oppression seen in job hiring policies, loans, business, federal assistance, the ignorance about needs of deaf individuals and so on.

Comparative examples of oppression within a minority group might include judgments of appearance (judging based on how un-ethnic one looks) or a critique of wealth that's often discussed in pop media such as "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" or "Introducing Dorothy Dandridge" or even in "Tortilla Soup". My point is that minorities are often accused of holding each other down. But again, this is overly simplistic.

While getting my ducks lined up prior to writing this blog, I came across a wonderful VLOG by Joey Baer that includes a video clip of Ella Mae Lentz's presentation at the summer 2006 National Association of the Deaf (NAD). Rather than take away from the quality of Ella's presentation I have taken the liberty of translating the video into English for those who are interested in watching the video while reading along. But I don't know how to truncate messages so I'm just going to put it all on here. (Click on Ella's name to see the video)


 

 

Transcribed ASL to English translation of Ella Mae Lentz's presentation at the NAD conference during the summer of 2006,

Understanding Deafhood: Our Language (part 2 of 4)

   

Is anyone here familiar with the crab theory? Can anyone give me a basic definition of what it means?

Pulling crabs down, right.

It's a story about the bottom of a pail filled with crabs and when the crabs try to climb their way out, other crabs will pull them back down with them.

I've heard that story many times over the years. The Crab Theory has been applied to the deaf community multiple times by arguing that deaf people pull successful deaf people back down by insulting, criticizing, and pointing the blame at each other.

Upon listening to this argument, I became deeply unsettled by the notion that the deaf community is responsible for preventing each other from succeeding.

But then I was inspired by a book I read [Understanding Deaf Culture: In Search of Deafhood by Dr. Paddy Ladd (2003)].

While reading it, I didn't know that I would come across that story again. Are you ready to hear it?

So, there's a pail with the crabs in it. But let me ask you, who put the crabs in that pail? Think about it, who put the crabs in the pail?

Someone had to. The crabs didn't get excited and decide to put themselves in that pail.

It's not normal for the crabs to be in a pail, someone/something had to put the crabs there. And while the crabs are crawling around the bottom of the pail, someone is looking down into the pail telling the crabs "it's your fault you're in the pail". But it's the person/people outside of the pail that are looking into the pail and the person/people who put the crabs in the pail that are really at fault. Not the crabs. [Emphasis added]

Now imagine that the crabs are dumped out of the pail and returned to their natural state of life in the water amongst each other. Do you think that the crabs will be in a hurry to take off and escape one another? I doubt it.

I imagine the crabs would stay near one another going to and from, pairing up with this crab or that crab to reproduce, go to and from while feeling free to stay together in happiness.

Well—that's the same as deaf people. It's the same thing, right? We are happy about see each other come and go, and then come back again.

You don't let people put you in a metal pail again. That's my point. Thank you.

 

The italicized section represents our jumping point for discussing the "crabs in a pail" in conjunction with Plato's Allegory of the Cave. If you're not bored to tears…stay tuned for further discussion of the philosophical implications.