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Ravelry is a free website for knitters, crocheters and others involved in fiber. In their own words, the site is a great place for you to keep notes about your projects, see what other people are making, find the perfect pattern and connect with people who love to play with yarn from all over the world in our forums. Today they decided to make knitting political by banning anyone that supports President Trump or his administration. And they used the word “inclusive” in such an announcement.
Here’s their announcement:
Bitches say “We are INCLUSIVE, except for you 63 million Trump voters.”
Here’s a world-wide fiber arts site, allegedly user-driven, whose founding female dogs have decided to treat non-SJW members like a piss-pad. And excusing their own behavior by using the term “white supremacy” like Mao used “class enemies”.
"We're not banning Republicans, only people who voice support for the elected Republican president."
– knitting site against fascism
— Razor (@hale_razor) June 23, 2019
Of all the genteel hobbies, knitting and crocheting is the last activity one would associate with rabid politics. The vast majority of those of us who do love to play with yarn (I crochet) look to our time with our hobby as relaxing escape. Oh yes, there’s the occasional performance-art freak and then the whole pussyhat fad was an exercise in immaturity.
Now these authoritarian twatwipes are trying to drag us into their obsessive disorder. Unironically.
Even Instagram has been infested with Social Justice Knitters just looking for any person of pallor whose words can be twisted to fit a Left-toxic narrative and struggle session. Unsurprisingly, Ravelry decided to weigh into that exercise in Maoist purging.
At Ravelry, a heavily moderated discussion took place, suggesting ways in which the site should use positive discrimination to show more patterns by non-white designers.
In an age in which freedom of speech seems to be under attack in many different spheres of society, heretics to the progressive creed find themselves persecuted ad nauseam by a choir of the self-righteous. This kind of vindictive activism has been described by Jordan Peterson as a hunt for people who dare to disagree. “What’s happening on the radical end of the political spectrum is not good. But the conservatives are too afraid. They’re afraid they will be targeted as individuals, mobbed by the social justice warriors, and taken out,” he said in an interview with the Epoch Times. The writer and activist James Lindsay, meanwhile, told me that campaigns like these are simply “a power grab thinly clothed as a civil rights movement.”
And let me say before all the rote it’s a private site, they get to make the rules responses. Yes, you’re right. They do. And those of us who are being slandered, maligned, and shoved out of the commons do not have to silently stand by and take it. At the very least we need to stand up to these second-rate Red Guards and tell them “Hell, no, you fucking brain-dead, jack-booted bottom feeders. I will not stand for this or for you.”
Fight back. Do you actually believe that policies that have lead to a booming economy, moving the American embassy to Jerusalem and criminal reform are policies of white supremacy? Don’t stand for this mendacity by Ravelry. If they were honestly inclusive they would have just put up a No Politics rule. Judge them on the fact they didn’t and do what you can to make them go broke.
featured image, composite image by Darleen Click
John C. says: Of COURSE they used the word “inclusive.” NewSpeak ALways means the reverse of a word’s meaning when using a word.
Hate_me says: I always struggled to find real-world examples of DoubleThink until the last few years… now, they’re everywhere.
As much as I hate to agree with any democratic socialist, Orwell is looking more-and-more prophetic. It’s a shame that he missed the forest of socialism for the tree of Stalinism.
MizDi says: “Make Orwell Fiction Again”
Kristen says: That’s awesome, Di!
Ceyana says: At the very least we need to stand up to these second-rate Red Guards and tell them “Hell, no, you fucking brain-dead, jack-booted bottom feeders. I will not stand for this or for you.”
This is my new email signature quote. Thank you!
GWB says: others involved in fiber
Kinky…….
connect with people who love to play with yarn
Cats?!?
authoritarian twatwipes
Heh. You’ve been hanging around Marta again, haven’t you?
positive discrimination to show more patterns by non-white designers
You know, on a private site, I don’t mind this too much. Though I also lean toward “why should you? If it’s good, then promote it.” But I could see a situation where “good” is defined in a way that is narrow and should be expanded. (I wonder… do they promote dudes? If I knit a sweater like that space nerd’s shirt, does it get up- or down-voted?)
Yes, a “no politics” rule would be a much better solution – IF you weren’t infested by TDS.
Darleen Click says: Heh. You’ve been hanging around Marta again, haven’t you?
She’s a Master … I am but a grasshopper.
Tam says: You nailed it, sister! The lack of self-awareness needed to have posted their original announcement was stupifying. It would have been hilarious had it not been so offensive. Scrolling down the page on my phone, I saw “We want to be inclusive and stop the hate. Anyone who supports Trump is a white supremacist”. This was followed by “Pride week! Yay Gay people! GAY GAY GAY!” followed by thumbnails of finished projects. Front and center was one that said “F*ck Trump”. Clearly “inclusive” now means “people who agree with us” and “hate” means “people who hate what WE like”. #byeravelry
Fionacat says: The site owner is a white male, married to a white woman, with children. The rest of the Ravelry main staff is composed mainly of white women, despite their call for more “People of Color” on Ravelry.
Look, I get the whole “private site” stuff. Casey owns the thing, so he can do whatever he wants. But he has harassed conservatives for years. In 2009, he suddenly banned over 150 conservatives in one night. We had been members of a group called “The Bunker”, previously a group in support of McCain. Our group was relentlessly harassed and trolled by vicious liberals, until Casey had enough — and kicked us out.
Now he is doing the same thing to anyone who dares to mention Trump. Anyone who submits a pro-Trump design will be banned as a designer. He is asking for the troll to double down on their attacks on conservatives and report any “infractions”.
So…..why haven’t we all left? Simply put — there really isn’t any other site with the huge amount of knitting and crochet patterns, nearly all of them submitted by independent designers. Others have tried to start a conservative-leaning site, but that takes a whole bunch of money. But now…..conservatives are leaving. We don’t care any more about the patterns, and we are tired of the constant abuse if we dare express our conservative views. There are other sites with all the patterns we could ever use.
GWB says: BTW, it’s a few hundred dollars to register a domain and have a site hosted. (That’s a multi-year hosting arrangement, and a year or two of domain registration.) The next largest investment is the time to organize it and curate it.
It will take time to bring it up to the level of a current site, but very doable.
ItsMeMelanie says: Goebbels too crushed the opposition by silencing dissenters. And asked neighbors and family to report anyone suspected of dissent.
There will be competition. There is a market and the free market will prevail. Of their “8.5 million users” 7.75 have no posts, no profile pic, and many were created in the last week.. (ya know, when registration was ‘temporarily closed’. How’d they register then ) The reality is, advertisers are paying for a site that claims 8.5 million users but actually has about 500,000 AT BEST. I’ve never seen more than 4K on at any given time. But 8.5 million. Right.
Francesca says: I too left Ravelry because of the hateful and hypocritical “stand” policy they put in place. It’s a business- and that policy shows it’s not a community, it’s owned and directed by a small group. Their prerogative to express their opinion. I won’t accept a tyrannical attempt to deprive me of my freedom of expression. Am now looking for knitting site with out oppressive politics.
Scott says: The ironic thing about the group directing the business that claims it wants to be all inclusive is that, in all the years that it has been in existence, and with a reported 8 million members, there is not a single Black, Hispanic, Asian, or Native American that has been part of leadership… And they talk about others being guilty of White Supremacy?
dectech06 says: After 11 years on the site and supporting independent designers by purchasing their patterns, I removed all of my data and deleted my account. I almost left at the onset of the knitted p***y hats and probably should have. I never participated on any of the forums and never engaged in any other conversations political or otherwise. But, seriously, if they can wear a p***y hat on their heads and I must tolerate this ridiculous and morally reprehensible behavior, why would I not be able to wear a knitted MAGA scarf (not that I ever would) or support any candidate of my choosing without the risk of being de-platformed. My beef is that they are anything BUT tolerant. Fascism at its finest.
Sharon D says: I agree. I’m still on there but will delete my account as soon as I can get all my projects, patters, and stash downloaded. I’ve ignored all the leftism over the years, but now I’m done. There are two new sites I’m watching with interest – ourunraveled and fiberocity.
I’m not necessarily looking for a conservative alternative but one with NO agenda. I just want to knit and collaborate with others who share my love of fiber arts.
Yvonne says: ah yes … as we’re forced to endure LOUD posts about Ravelry’s support of LGBTQ? PRIDE, rabid Third Wave Feminism, and overweening SJW rhetoric. Sadly PINTEREST is working on silencing conservative voices as well. After seeing a yarn website i follow post their support of Ravelry’s stand, i stated that i would be leaving Ravelry (but offered on explanation of criticism) and was quickly insulted for my comment. The left is so tolerant … i was surprised!
Yvonne says: ah yes … as we’re forced to endure LOUD posts about Ravelry’s support of LGBTQ? PRIDE, rabid Third Wave Feminism, and overweening SJW rhetoric. Sadly PINTEREST is working on silencing conservative voices as well. After seeing a yarn website i follow post their support of Ravelry’s stand, i stated that i would be leaving Ravelry (but offered no explanation or criticism) and was quickly insulted for my comment. The left is so tolerant … i was surprised!
Synova says: People are saying that they had a big blow up a while ago about appropriating other cultures designs. So I’m sort of wondering how that goes with making a point of positive discrimination in order to have more designs by people of color posted and easily available on their site. If you’re not supposed to appropriate stuff what’s the point?
GWB says: Now see, dangit, you’re appropriating the left’s appropriation gig! You can’t do that!
Sadie McQueen says: I am well into my 60th decade, and i have been crocheting since my early twenties. I have never checked to see whether i pattern i liked was designed by a poc, or whitey. I didn’t care then, and i still don’t . I have never been to their site, and now i have more reason not to go.
Tanya says: Standing up to hate speech is important. The Holocaust happened because people were complicit in the hatred by not speaking up.
This is not a political stance, to disallow hate speech and to stand against the celebration of white supremacy. For people marginalized by the US president, politics is in everything they do. Its Actually in everything we all do, but it may not be adversely affecting YOUR life.
Darleen Click says: Tanya, support for a duly elected President and policies = “hate speech” or “white supremacy”?
It is totally political because if Ravelry was an honest site (they lie about being “inclusive”) they would have just said “You know, we don’t want partisan bickering so we are banning ALL political topics”. There, done.
But that doesn’t fit in with your substance-free boilerplate, does it? 63 million Trump voters are white supremacists regardless of reality.
Politics is only “in everything” if you have made it your religion. What a empty life to do so.
Darleen Click says: BTW Tanya … Ravelry pulled this kind of stunt by banning John McCain supporters in 2009 as they were “racists, sexists and neo-Nazis”.
I’m sensing a pattern here … and it’s anti-American.
GWB says: I’m sensing a pattern here
I see what you did there…….
Kristen says: Bwah! Pun!!!
Otter says: They are not keeping it on their “private” site. They are sending their minions out to harass people anywhere they can find it. Using intimidation tactics to out them. Instagram, private blogs, Facebook, company sites. They have taken their “inclusiveness” public.
itsMeMelanie says: NOPE!!! Their statement “support of the Trump administration is UNAMBIGUOUS support for white supremacy” (emphasis is mine).
So far they’ve banned for the following thst I know of:
“45 isn’t SO bad”
“I don’t understand your policy. Sounds like a false equivalency”
“Can anyone help me find a scarf that says MAGA”
“Well, I don’t hate Trump” (This one was a POC)
An avatar of an American flag with a gold eagle across it
Criticism of their policy
There are a LOT more examples.
NONE of those are statements of hate. None of those are statements of white supremacy.
(So.. they ban a POC for white supremacy…?)
This is an effort to punish and silence those who disagree with their SJW worldview.
dectech06 says: My guess is that you are NOT a person of color NOR do you knit or crochet. You also don’t appear to be old enough to have survived the Holocaust. You should quit appropriating other people’s causes and find your OWN motivations. Quit going through your life being angry and accusatory especially when it has nothing to do with you.
Contrary to what some have written, politics, race, or religion have very little to do with these crafts. Knitting takes skill with your hands, knowledge of fibers and how they behave and become a fabric that takes on a specific form, knowledge of the tools used, and a lot of math.
I left Ravelry because THEY are politicizing my craft.
Jokersgirl says: Please, tell me where he has marginalized ANYONE? I keep seeing many non-conservatives touting that our President has been like that, yet I have yet to see the proof.
Lynda Cobb says: I think that Ravelry is broke and everyone just got played. I use Ravelry but didn’t for years. I joined in 2007 and used it but it never improved, was never updated. They only got a mobile site in 2018. The search function doesn’t even work. Search baby blanket and a bunch of sock patterns show up. I started trying to find patterns in there again last fall, and the same tired patterns from 2007 always show up, if you can even find anything useful in search. I noticed there there are only ever 300 users online, many forums last posted were 6 months to three years ago. Designers I have found on Instagram aren’t even on there. It’s pretty useless and there are much better platforms for getting your stuff out there. Ravelry makes its money from ads – but no one is using the site. I think they are broke and everyone just got played. We are banning Trump supporters, donate here. I want them show where anyone supported Trump on a site that no one even uses!
Kat says: That’s the best theory I have heard in a long time! Your right!
Orff says: Lynda, your inability to notice sort and filter options on the search function is not Ravelry’s problem. There are near-constant enhancements. If you have any questions, there’s a forum with a rapid response time. If the feature you want hasn’t been developed yet, there’s a suggestion box thread. If you’re not sure if it’s in the queue, of enhancements, you can check the issues list. It’s great!
Misrepresenting Ravelry use is also just a problem for your conscience.
GWB, clearly you are not in IT. Go for it.
Tanya: right on. The US is enduring affronts to our laws and morality every day under the current administration. There is no neutral ground when legal and human rights are being violated. There is no grey area when families are being torn apart as a matter of policy. People are dying. Anyone who is remotely OK with that, or not loud and active against it, is complicit. We will not forget.
itsMelanie says: Hey Casey, please go troll elsewhere. You have your very own site to do it on. Rav’s policies are offensive to anyone who loves free speech. The hippies of the 60’s (“free speech and free thought man!”) would see the SWJ liberal loons today who oppress anyone who disagrees with their ideals as fascists.
Btw, let Your business consultant, Goebbels, know that it was a fail.. to create all the fake users to make up for the folks leaving en masse. If you are registered during a time when registration is closed, it’s pretty obvious…
Orff says: Did you just create some sort of fantasy that someone who understands Ravelry, is Casey? A website with millions of accounts, thousands of whom are online at any given time (Lynda misstated the active user number, among her other inaccuracies)? The site that is not only easy to use, but has many helpful people who nearly instantly answer questions on multiple forums?
That’s nutbars.
It’s just another illustration of the imaginary world you inhabit, where legal and human rights abuses are A-OK. The majority of the real world is far better. We don’t judge each other, and stand up against abuse and bigotry like the policies of the current administration.
Scott says: “Anyone who is remotely OK with that, or not loud and active against it, is complicit. We will not forget.”.. Nope you don’t judge at all… typical leftist troll.. (and the kind of language used by tyrants throughout history.. your dictatorial tendencies are showing…
Mom says: “We don’t judge each other.”
Hahahahaha!
Jennifer says: Orff, really? The people at Ravelry dont judge others? TPTB over on Ravelry spend every waking moment judging people based solely on who they voted for in the last election. Every single conservative forum has been closed. Every member’s conversation, even their “ravatar” is subject to censorship. People over there are waving their hands like 2nd graders desperate to get Casey`s attention, “Teacher, teacher….Johnny said the sky is blue…” dying to tell on each other, competing for the “I’m the most woke” trophy. Anyone who even remotely has any conservative leanings are laughed at, trolled and held in open disdain.
You bring up human rights violations, but your only problem is with conservative Americans. Have you EVEN seen what is happening in Yemen, In China , in North Korea? Where is your righteous indignation when people are being persecuted, tortured and murdered because they refuse to convert to a different religion or have no religion at all?
The United States has a lot of problems, I understand that. It’s never going to get better when you write off 62 American voters as white supremacists. You cannot cajole, threaten or intimidate people into your line of thinking. American History has taught us that and it is filled with instances of people fighting to make things right in a country that has been (albeit slowly) continually changing for the better.
What happened at Ravelry only divided us more deeply and now the gap that was once bridgeable has become a chasm that may not ever be closed.
GWB says: GWB, clearly you are not in IT. Go for it.
Huh. Funny, because the paycheck I get every two weeks says I’m in IT. And I know firsthand how much a website costs. Been there, done that.
GWB says: There is no neutral ground when legal and human rights are being violated.
Yep, a TDS sufferer.
Don’t worry, honey, you hang around here long enough you’ll get some treatment for that (or you’ll get institutionalized).
Orff says: GWB has either never been to Ravelry, is not really in IT, is astonishingly terrible at the simple task of assessing a website’s functionality and cost (cost for domain and web hosting: less than you said. Cost to code and run a feature-rich site with lots of database activity and image hosting: far, far higher), or is lying.
Either way, it certainly informs us not to give any of your words value.
Friends and neighbors are marking which of us is on the side of the law, basic morality, and human decency. I hope you choose better, soon.
Scott says: “Friends and neighbors are marking which of us is on the side of the law, basic morality, and human decency. I hope you choose better, soon.”
Yep, there’s that “non-judgement” again.. at least your a consistent troll and violent leftist… as I saw somewhere recently, “conservatives own 100 million firearms, and 1 trillion rounds of ammo.. if we were dangerous, YOU”D KNOW IT”…If your leftist idiots keep up with threats like this, and get the conflict you’re trying so hard to get, you just might find out, and not like the results you get…
GWB says: Never been to Ravelry, true. But your judgment of my IT knowledge is simplistic. (BTW, you know how many tools are out there, for free through the hosting company, to do all the database management, page prettification, and image management? Oodles is the technical term.)
BTW, if you actually read the original interchange, you’d see I was talking about starting a website.
I hope you choose better, soon.
I’ve already chosen. And I’ve chosen the best: Life and Liberty, Constitution and Conscience.
Meee says: “Friends and neighbors are marking which of us is on the side of the law, basic morality, and human decency. I hope you choose better, soon.”
That is exactly what happened in the old USSR. Don’t toe the party line? You could disappear. Wow.
Also, I’d like to hear the explanation for all the empty profiles that appeared after registration was shut down. There’s video evidence of it.
Lissa says: My account was suspended for pointing out that the new policy has resulted in mass harassment and bullying of both individuals and businesses, bringing pressure to either voice support for the Ravelry policy, or be labeled a white supremacist.
That’s it. No support for Trump. No name calling, no harassment, no insults, no bullying.
I called out by name the designer that was telling her followers to go harass a yarn company because they had not yet made a statement. I called out by name an individual who posted a list of Ravelry users, saying these are the people to report as Trump supporters and white supremacists, naming the list “unsafe people” and I said to Casey, directly in reply to his post in the GOP Knitters forum, “I hope you’re happy.”
That, along with 26 other posts, is now deleted, and I am suspended for 60 days from posting anything on there.
My husband is suspended for 120 days for his avatar, one that lists with check boxes, Republican, Democrat, Browncoat and has the Browncoat checked.
Another user was suspended for a post that said, “Thanks and God bless people who come here and respect our laws.” Yet another was suspended for no reason at all. Literally, the violating content was blank.
Like any normal person, I don’t care that they banned “hate speech” or bullying or whatnot. I can support that, but it must go both ways – I was called racist, white supremacist, hateful, bigoted for voicing my views on the policy. Even though it’s ridiculous, I can even say it’s OK to ban content that praises Trump or his policies. It’s their site, they can limit what is on there.
What I disagree with is the maligning and defaming of millions of people as supporters of white supremacy. That is othering and labeling, and is just as bigoted as it gets. The owners of Ravelry have taken it upon themselves to first, re-define “white supremacy” so they can label anything they don’t like about Trump with it, and by association, anyone that supports the president is likewise labeled.
I wonder if Bernie supporters would be OK with being labeled as supporters of genocide? Bernie is a “Democratic Socialist” which is just socialism that people vote for, and is only barely different from communism, which in turn has killed millions of people. That makes just as much sense as saying Trump supporters are supporters of white supremacy.
Sally Tarbox says: Yes, after pondering for a few days, I have deleted my Ravelry account. I’m more than happy to have a no politics rule. But not yes to anti-Trump protesters (let’s display your patterns for a F**k Trump scarf or a derisory Donald doll) but no to the other side. If certain Trump supporters have misbehaved, then ban them…but not everyone who supports him! (Would you ban ALL Black or Gay membes if a few members of one of those groups did wrong? No, thought not.) I’m particularly miffed because this isnt just a little privately-run Facebook page, run free of charge and the inventor’s baby…this is a business, and one where I’ve purchased a number of patterns. Where I’ve engaged with certain designers (whose sales fund Ravelry), promoting their patterns etc. It’s like walking into my favorite supermarket to be informeed I’m a ‘White Supremacist’ and I’d better keep it zipped, or else.
Claire says: How can so many women who supported the women’s march and donned pink hats be ok with a man (Casey Forbes) silencing women’s opinions? And look at the people who are quick to applaud him for his misogyny!! I get it, you are mostly young and never had to live in a country where women weren’t allowed to have a voice. If you want to try to imagine what that was like, just picture Casey Forbes patting all the women he disagrees with on the head and telling them to ‘sit down and shut up’. It won’t take much creativity to imagine since it is literally happening.
I am as disgusted with current events as anyone. I proudly march holding my signs up high. The difference between us is that I support all women, not just the ones I agree with 100% and I refuse to let my feminist convictions slide in order to fight against other atrocities. I left Ravelry because no one tells my sisters to hold their tongue. Yes, it is his website and he can do as he wishes. So can I.
JF says: You can still Walk Away, Claire. You’ve got some common sense to you.
B says: This blog post is vitriolic idiocy and Jordan Petersen is a bigot. You should be ashamed of yourself for being so absolutely tone deaf to other peoples’ experiences. Just because you haven’t personally experienced oppression does not mean that others do not. You are in fact guilty of perpetuating it. White people in America are not persecuted. Wake up.
JF says: No one forced you to visit here, you self-important little authoritarian POS. You gonna try to get this site eliminated too? You power-hungry sickos are going to find this country is NOT yours for the taking.
This.Is.Why.We.Voted.Trump.
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