When I left it, there were getting onto 600 posts (over nine days). When I logged in this evening, it had shot up to around 850. Wow, what's got the Ravelers incensed now? Glass of wine in hand, I got myself comfy and settled down to read the ten new pages. I even almost considered grabbing a pen and paper to take notes...
What a disappointment. Someone made a flippant, tension-easing comment along the lines of 'who wants some pie?'. The next ten pages consisted solely of 'my favourite pie/the last pie I ate/pies I have loved and lost'. I managed to find a couple of on-topic posts with my finger held firmly on the down key.
Well, this wasn't good enough. I took out my hosepipe and rained on their parade. I pointed out that when religion had reared it's ugly head, people began to comment that the thread had gone off-topic. I argued that the thread had simply evolved in that direction. However, people appearing out of nowhere to scream 'blueberry pie!' was, in my opinion, a thread-jack.
(I've just realised I'm blogging about an arguement on a website. Note to self: get a life.)
As you can expect, people came back to me and said 'hey, what's a little light relief?' but I kept on sulking and picked up on someone else's point that it's a sorry day when people are afraid to speak up about religion or feminism but mention pies and the internet practically bursts at the seams. I went further to mention that I'd read the blog of the sole voice in favour of a literal interpretation of the bible and the submission of wives (yeah, it was that interesting!) and she'd mentioned that she'd received PMs of support in direct consequence of her posts. I slightly unwittingly put the cat amongst the pigeons by suggesting that it would be a shame if these people hadn't spoken up in support of her in public, but were all about the pies.
Well, I couldn't have predicted what happened next. One of the very people who PM-ed posted, saying that she had contacted the original poster, and that she had been wary of speaking up beforehand because of how other people might perceive her. She said she wasn't proud of this and went on to state her beliefs. She then thanked me personally for 'calling her out'.
I really don't know what to say now. I'm quite taken aback at how my words have caused someone to make a very brave and bold step. I'm also repeatedly surprised at the civility, patience and friendliness of a type of Christian I'm naturally inclined to abhor. Certainly, it could be a tactic - they are 'charismatic' after all, but I actually don't want to believe that. I guess I want to believe I've learnt something, from Ravelry yet again, that your enemy can sometimes be a lot more likeable than your ally.
Also, it has occurred to me that accusing people of staying silent may lead to an enormous number of fundamentalist Christians to come crawling out of the woodwork. This wouldn't make me very popular, I'm sure, but I'd be happy with it. The whole reason I was upset about my beloved thread being dumbed-down was that, while I wax-lyrical about my favourite subjects all the time, I hardly ever do with people who don't generally agree with me. Like most people I hang around with others with similar interests so even if I suddenly got the urge, I couldn't find a born-again Christian to sound off with.
The good thing about Ravelry/the internet/knitting is that it brings people together, but not necessarily all the same type of people.
Quick photo update? Short row socks (ugh), soon to be frogged on their gorgeous holders (yey!)...
Some crazy idea I had with the Flamme Bayadere to make mittens. Soon to be frogged. Pretty gross huh?
3 comments:
I haven't had time/patience or bandwidth to keep up with the pinnyporn debate, but thanks for the good summary and the reflections you've got here. Like your blog, like your thinking.
"India"Joy
I know what you mean about the fundamentalist Christians. In terms of the knit blogs I read, I tend to stick to academic and/ or Londoner communities, so they are generally quite liberal (or at least have a similar sense to me as to what is 'politically correct'). But I know there a whole rings of military wives and home-school knitters, many of whom have politics rather different from my own, and Ravelry brings me closer to. Its also because people tend to keep politics and religion out of knit blogs, but it can get spiked out on a message board (apparently the Knitty boards are quite shockingly racist, but since I was told this I never bothered to check them out)
Also "it's a sorry day when people are afraid to speak up about religion or feminism but mention pies and the internet practically bursts at the seams" - love that line. Sad, but discustingly accurate description of a lot of the knitblogosphere.
I'm still on the waiting list for Ravelry but totally get what your saying from other forums I've been part of. My blog is a bit sweetness and light but might show my true colours of uber-biatch soon..for my own amusement!!
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