Re:How knitters got knotted in a purity spiral
by undefined1 on Wednesday February 05, 2020 @12:31PM
(#22249050)
It's a lot like a religion. Purity tests, dogma, things you can't say, good vs evil, self-flagellation, original sin, kicking people out who don't conform...
Re:How knitters got knotted in a purity spiral
by michaelbarton on Wednesday February 05, 2020 @04:03PM
(#22250958)
Definitely a lot like religion. I really recommend the book "Christianity: the first three thousand years". Post historical crucifixion of Jesus the first few hundred years of Christianity sound like a purity spiral, monarchism, gnosticism, origenism.
The original church in Antioch first applied the word catholic to Christianity (καθολικός / katholikos) but was then later ejected from the western church in 1054 for not being catholic enough.
I've been conscious of and annoyed by the symptoms of these spirals for years. I was aware that this was the effect of one-upping and a desire to demonstrate personal virtue, but I didn't have a name for this phenomenon or a very complete model of why people were interested in these types of communities.
The purity spiral! A nice name, and a model that seems to describe the situation very nicely.