http://michellemalkin.com/2019/06/26/anti-trump-crafters-a-decade-long-unraveling/

But here’s the thing I know from being in contact with conservative knitters and crocheters over the past decade: Ravelry’s ideological bigotry is not just about Trump. They simply cannot countenance anyone in their community who disagrees with them on any political matter. During the 2008 presidential election season and into 2009, I heard from Republican hobbyists whose lively discussion boards were shutdown on Ravelry.

Janna S. wrote to warn that “while this may not be making waves in the headlines, there is an upswing in conservative censorship that has hit cyberspace.” A group on Ravelry called “The Bunker,” which had more than 200 members who discussed GOP politics and knitting patterns, was singled out and shut down after liberal, pro-Obama members complained about its presence. Ravelry accused the conservative crafters of a “culture of anger and “us versus them” stance.

One of the Bunker’s active members, Melissa, reported to me that Ravelry co-founder Casey Forbes had replied to right-leaning users asking how peacefully expressing their opinions violated their terms of service by “making excuses for the fact that he just doesn’t like conservative people on his website. … Many of our members are mothers or grandmothers and are completely harmless. We’ve all been discriminated against because we think and believe differently.”

Meanwhile, rabid leftists who promoted misogynist sweaters slamming Sarah Palin as “c—y” went unpunished. A forum titled “What Would You Do To Sarah Palin” inviting liberal members to post physical threats was allowed to thrive. “The problem here is not that the site owners decided that they didn’t want an active, vocal conservative group on their site. That is certainly their right as site owners,” Melissa noted. “The issue is the double standard and the denigration of the reputations of all members of The Bunker and the injury and/or destruction of some members’ businesses. The far-left is not only tolerated on Ravelry, they are nurtured and encouraged. Their bad behavior goes unchallenged.”

This was more than 10 years ago, mind you, long before the latest wave of suppression, shadow-banning, algorithm-rigging, de-platformings, and defamation of right-minded people by Twitter, Facebook and Google/YouTube.

The speech-squelching imperative of the far left is a thread that traces back to the 1960s, when radical philosopher Herbert Marcuse popularized the “repressive tolerance” theory of modern progressives. “Liberating tolerance would mean intolerance against movements from the right and toleration of movements from the left,” Marcuse taught. “Certain things cannot be said, certain ideas cannot be expressed, certain policies cannot be proposed.”

In advance of the 2020 election, no space in the internet square is safe from “inclusive” exclusion. Silicon Valley’s overlords, like Ravelry’s petty tyrants, have no interest in promoting diversity, discussion and community. They are bent on decimating debate and dissent while wrapped in thick, woolly blankets of hypocrisy and sanctimony.

“long before the latest wave ” — or maybe just long before we were able to discern that the internet gatekeepers were diverting conservative traffic (mostly because they have been so blatant about it recently).

That was before they became a political thing.

Now, I think they are downright ugly!

Knitting’s not political, of course, she is. I’ve read an account of the purge of some discussion group of McCain supporters in 2008. Evidently liberal trolls would invade their forum, post obnoxious things, and promiscuously flag content. Forbes et al blamed the victim and purged them. Liberals are generally people of unjust disposition, so it’s hardly surprising.

The grim, humorless, and vicious ideologues of the Left aim to take over everything and to force everyone to toe their ideological, thought, speech, and behavioral line.

A great fan of SF here, have been for, say, close to 65 years now, and I very rarely read any of the crap produced today.

As with many films, I look at the products of earlier, saner decades.

Much of this policy was first written by a roleplaying game site, not unlike Ravelry but for RPGs, named RPG.net. We thank them for their thoughtful work. For citations/references, see this post on RPG.net: https://forum.rpg.net/index.php?threads/new-ban-do-not-po…