How knitters got knotted in a purity spiral

Re:How knitters got knotted in a purity spiral by foobarian on Tuesday February 04, 2020 @07:29PM (#22242765)

I must be out of touch or too old or both, but what compels these individuals to fall in line? Why can't they tell their critics to buzz off? Some possibilities I can imagine:

- The identities are real, so there is danger of external real-life impact (harassment of friends/family, job loss, etc)

- Craving for approval - might get ostracized by the community

- Internal impact - might e.g. lose business from the community if it's some kind of store

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Re:How knitters got knotted in a purity spiral by Mikeb85 on Tuesday February 04, 2020 @09:41PM (#22243522)

Pretty much. An accusation of being -ist can get you fired IRL. Even if you're completely in the right, a big enough mob will convince your boss you're 'toxic' and they'll let you go.

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Re:How knitters got knotted in a purity spiral by prawn on Tuesday February 04, 2020 @07:42PM (#22242879)

There's risk in becoming embroiled in controversy; less risk in placating it. If you wrote something you felt was empowering and some people reacted negatively, you might feel that there is a lot more that you don't understand and that pushing blindly on could be risky.

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Re:How knitters got knotted in a purity spiral by zweep on Tuesday February 04, 2020 @11:06PM (#22243919)

These high profile knitting bloggers make their money from their knitting blog. My wife for example follows them on Instagram and buys their products. Being “cancelled” is like being fired from a job for them.

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