If you’ve been following this blog for any length of time, you’ll know that I don’t talk politics – usually! Well, unfortunately something has been brought up that I feel I need to address, and also urge you as a knitter to speak out about as well. This is a summer Olympics year, and as such, Ravelry is holding their third knitting Olympics. This one is bigger and has quite a few more events than the first one a while back.
Unfortunately, the United States Olympic Committee feels that the Ravelympics are a “denigrating” tribute to “true athletes”. Here is a post about their response:
Sooooo, aside from the outrage that you now feel, what do you think about the USOC?? There’s a very interesting discussion going on Facebook as Franklin Habit has posted his opinion about this. The overall feeling from most is outrage.
I have to say that as a sports fan and athlete myself, I am also outraged. I mean for years we’ve been ignoring the fact that the Olympics are more about private organizations making money through hypocrisy and back room shenanigans than about AMATEUR athletes competing in a fair manner, but now this?? I am sure that the USOC does not realize that knitters are the largest group of crafters online! I am sure they are not aware that Ravelry has a membership of over 2,000,000 GLOBALLY! I am sure they are not even aware of the definition of the word “OLYMPIAN”! As I posted on Franklin’s wall on FB, here is the definition according to Farflex …
O·lym·pi·an (-lmp–n)
adj.
1. Greek Mythology Of or relating to the greater gods and goddesses of the ancient Greek pantheon, whose abode was Mount Olympus.
2.
a. Majestic in manner.
b. Superior to mundane affairs.
c. Surpassing all others in scope and effect: Olympian efforts were mounted to keep the city from going bankrupt.
3. Of or relating to the Olympic Games.
4. Of or relating to the region of Olympia in Greece or its inhabitants.
n.
1. Greek Mythology One of the 12 major gods and goddesses inhabiting Mount Olympus.
2. One who is superior to all others: an intellectual Olympian.
3. A contestant in either the ancient or the modern Olympic Games.
4. A native or inhabitant of the region of Olympia in Greece.
According to this, not only am I an Olympian (not just for knitting), but I’d be getting a few gold medals if we ever had our own competitions!
So what can we do about this insult? Well, like I said before, knitters are the largest group of crafters online! Ravelry also has a membership of over 2,000,000 globally! That means that if we each told a friend or 2, word about the arrogance and ignorance of the USOC would spread rather quickly! They might even feel the need to retract their statements and their cease and desist order to Ravelry! They might realize that a large portion of their viewership will be knitting while watching the games.
What I’d like you to do is go to my other blog here – HUGZZZ – and add a comment telling whether you agree or disagree. Hopefully I will get enough of a response to send the results to the USOC. Who knows, maybe they’ll learn!
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