Because things can always get stupider, here’s Vox with a Very Important Article on a stunningly brave group of social justice warriors:
Knitters are having difficult but necessary conversations about racism in the community. https://t.co/HwPZH4MYTt
— Vox (@voxdotcom) February 25, 2019
If you don’t want to read the whole thing, we don’t blame you. This should give you just enough of a taste of what you’d be missing out on:
Social media also makes pointing out racism easier than ever. For weeks, POC knitters have used Instagram, and specifically Instagram stories, to share their observations, tag other knitters, and conduct polls about others’ experiences with racism in the community. Hundreds of people of color have shared stories of being ignored in knitting stores, having white knitters assume they were poor or complete amateurs, or flat-out saying they didn’t think black or Asian people knit.
…
Though the conversation that Mahon, Rose, Yoo, and Farrow (among many others) have pushed forward has helped a lot of people see racism and whitewashing for what it is, there has also been pushback. The conversation has gotten some attention from the press, first in the New Yorker and later in Quillette, which called it a “witch-hunt” and involved a lot of hand-wringing over people being accused of being racist.
The backlash is “usually from white people who don’t understand why we’re ‘making it about race,’” says Mahon. “It’s generally people who either don’t think this is a problem or feel uncomfortable engaging with us. There are also POC who find this discussion uncomfortable, which I find harder to deal with. They just don’t want to rock the boat too much — but we already know where that gets us (nowhere).”
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Or maybe they just find the discussion stupid.
Racism and the *pulls card*
"Knitting community"
— Eric Lopez (@ericplopez) February 26, 2019
I don't get it
— Natalie Malonis (@Natalie_Malonis) February 26, 2019
LOLOL
— Brandon (@brandon_blue1) February 26, 2019
— The Middle Indian (@TheMiddleIndia1) February 26, 2019
I’m sorry, but perhaps the very last thing the knitting community needs is a difficult conversation about racism.
— Daniel Greco (@ProgPilgrim) February 26, 2019
— John Doiron and 437 others (@jfd1965) February 26, 2019
This is the dumbest article I've ever read.
— Finnel (@finnelcl) February 25, 2019
please kill me pic.twitter.com/SUrQvkPmrs
— Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) February 26, 2019
With knitting needles. https://t.co/ohcAOHeodJ
— Jonah Goldberg (@JonahNRO) February 26, 2019
What a way to go.
Can someone explain to me an alternative way that the blog post author could’ve expressed the feelings in the first paragraph that would have safely avoided Vox’s ire in the second? Because I’m at a loss. pic.twitter.com/nzLhh5agIz
— Peter Conroy (@ruhlax_guy) February 25, 2019
Also, note critical context Vox strips out of her “Mars” comment: “To a suburban midwestern teenager with a severe anxiety disorder, that was like being offered a seat on a flight to Mars”
Big difference, weird how Vox seems to clip it to imply comparison of Indians to Martians
— Peter Conroy (@ruhlax_guy) February 25, 2019
Another interesting editorial decision by Vox: sidestepping the actual comments thrown at the author once the target was affixed – “white woman tears” “stay in your lane” “colonizer” “peak whiteness”
Don’t portray this as a conversation when it’s obviously a digital flogging
— Peter Conroy (@ruhlax_guy) February 26, 2019
What happened on instagram was a classic case of cyberbullying. Vox was trying to present it as something else, hence the selective edits. I hope everybody who reads their article goes to the original source to decide for themselves.
— Anna Everette (@annaeverette16) February 26, 2019
No. It's not. It isn't. The woman complimented India. C'mon.
FFS.
— Daniel Grayson (@vertdegrey) February 26, 2019
You mean Vox was less than honest in this journalistic endeavor? No way!
On a larger note, I was excited when I first heard @ezraklein was starting Vox a few years ago. I expected to see a thoughtful liberal analysis of policy but got this drivel instead. I’ve never been more disappointed in a media enterprise.
— Daniel Greco (@ProgPilgrim) February 26, 2019
Yeah … Ezra Klein is a clown. We’re sorry you had to find out this way.
We need to have a necessary conversation about @vox being hot garbage.
— ringtrick (@ringtrick) February 26, 2019
Christ the sooner Vox goes out of the business the better.
— Bobby MaC (@ZeroZero117) February 26, 2019
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