Knitting Daily and big issues
Knitting Daily is a newsletter from interweave (the publisher) which I get by email. Most of the time it is just plain chatterly knitting related. But the last one p*ssed me off big time. Look at what they write:
Dear Knitters,I never expected the type of response I got back after sending out the newsletter about Major Laura. Hundreds of emails, emails such as I have never in my life received. Your gratitude towards those who serve, the generosity of your knitters' hearts, the touching stories about heroes in your own lives...my friends, you are simply amazing.
It took me several days to read all the emails, mostly because I had to take breaks to compose myself (and to get a fresh supply of tissues˜some of your emails were extremely moving). Knowing that I could not possibly respond to each and every email individually, as I wanted to, I finally realized that the best thing I could do was to say this:
I am proud to be part of Knitting Daily, because YOU are Knitting Daily. Thank you for being who you are, and for sharing so deeply of yourselves˜and your knitting lives.
As
so many of you observed: War is complicated, heart-wrenching,
frightening; but a soldier who knits˜after work, in her camoflauge gear˜to
help deal with the stress of being far from home...this is something we
can connect with. Soldiers are not "just like us,"˜they ARE us. And so
we respond, as knitters will, with hands full of sock yarn and hearts
full of compassion.
((the mail is longer, but you get the idea))
Here's my reply:
I have to react to this mail. When I signed up for knitting daily I expected this to be about knitting. Now I find that it is not only about knitting, but also about other issues, and that's ok. However, this last issue, knitting for troops and knitting soldiers is an issue that I find very controversial.
First of all, in this mail you seem to adress mainly North Americans (it doesn't really help that you did a disclaimer in your first mail about major Laura). For me, there are no folks 'overseas' that are soldiers and need my knitting items. I am from a country (the Netherlands) that does not have soldiers fighting a war anywhere at the moment (and I am grateful for that). 'Overseas' is, for us, the Americas, or, if you want, the UK, Ireland, Iceland and so forth. As far as I know, there are no Dutch soldiers in any of these countries.
Second of all, you suggest that 'soldiers are not just like us, they ARE us.'. What kind of a suggestion is that? I am NOT a soldier, I am not LIKE a soldier, and I will never be like one. I am a knitter and a pacifist. I think knitting for soldiers is in a way supporting warfare, and I can think of a whole lot of real charities to knit for (how about an orphanage, handicapped people, people with AIDS, civilians in warzones, hungerstruck people, people with natural og human-caused catastrophies in their lives).
The reason I write to you is not to make you have different opinions or even say that you can not write about these things, but rather to make you aware that you send your newsletter to a whole lot of other people that either are from other countries and/or have different opinions about soldiers, warfare as such and/or specific wars in particular. These are big issues and people feel deeply about them.
You need to recognize that you are not in Texas, but operating in a global world and be sensitive to that fact, by either announce that you are only addressing knitters that do have very specific opinions, or by phrasing your newsletter in a way that shows, that you recognize that there are knitters not supporting these views. You didn't phrase it that way and I am offended by it.
So this is what I send them. Actually I really wanted to use much bigger words.
Dear Knitters,I never expected the type of response I got back after sending out the newsletter about Major Laura. Hundreds of emails, emails such as I have never in my life received. Your gratitude towards those who serve, the generosity of your knitters' hearts, the touching stories about heroes in your own lives...my friends, you are simply amazing.
It took me several days to read all the emails, mostly because I had to take breaks to compose myself (and to get a fresh supply of tissues˜some of your emails were extremely moving). Knowing that I could not possibly respond to each and every email individually, as I wanted to, I finally realized that the best thing I could do was to say this:
I am proud to be part of Knitting Daily, because YOU are Knitting Daily. Thank you for being who you are, and for sharing so deeply of yourselves˜and your knitting lives.
As
so many of you observed: War is complicated, heart-wrenching,
frightening; but a soldier who knits˜after work, in her camoflauge gear˜to
help deal with the stress of being far from home...this is something we
can connect with. Soldiers are not "just like us,"˜they ARE us. And so
we respond, as knitters will, with hands full of sock yarn and hearts
full of compassion.
((the mail is longer, but you get the idea))
Here's my reply:
I have to react to this mail. When I signed up for knitting daily I expected this to be about knitting. Now I find that it is not only about knitting, but also about other issues, and that's ok. However, this last issue, knitting for troops and knitting soldiers is an issue that I find very controversial.
First of all, in this mail you seem to adress mainly North Americans (it doesn't really help that you did a disclaimer in your first mail about major Laura). For me, there are no folks 'overseas' that are soldiers and need my knitting items. I am from a country (the Netherlands) that does not have soldiers fighting a war anywhere at the moment (and I am grateful for that). 'Overseas' is, for us, the Americas, or, if you want, the UK, Ireland, Iceland and so forth. As far as I know, there are no Dutch soldiers in any of these countries.
Second of all, you suggest that 'soldiers are not just like us, they ARE us.'. What kind of a suggestion is that? I am NOT a soldier, I am not LIKE a soldier, and I will never be like one. I am a knitter and a pacifist. I think knitting for soldiers is in a way supporting warfare, and I can think of a whole lot of real charities to knit for (how about an orphanage, handicapped people, people with AIDS, civilians in warzones, hungerstruck people, people with natural og human-caused catastrophies in their lives).
The reason I write to you is not to make you have different opinions or even say that you can not write about these things, but rather to make you aware that you send your newsletter to a whole lot of other people that either are from other countries and/or have different opinions about soldiers, warfare as such and/or specific wars in particular. These are big issues and people feel deeply about them.
You need to recognize that you are not in Texas, but operating in a global world and be sensitive to that fact, by either announce that you are only addressing knitters that do have very specific opinions, or by phrasing your newsletter in a way that shows, that you recognize that there are knitters not supporting these views. You didn't phrase it that way and I am offended by it.
So this is what I send them. Actually I really wanted to use much bigger words.
Tingletangle wrote this at 6/06/2007 10:44:00 AM
12 Comments:
Bravo, tingletangle!
Også bravo herfra: hvad f..... har krig og soldater pludselig med strikning at gøre? Og det er en grov generalisering at antage at alle strikkere er pro-krig. Jeg håber og tror at ikke engang alle amerikanske strikker er pro-krig!!!
Og så giver jeg dig iøvrigts så evigt ret: strikke grupper, strikke-nyhedsbreve osv bør omhandle strik..... gem alt det andet til andre fora.
Hilsen Tris
when i got the 'major laura' newsletter, i think i just deleted it. Not necessarily because it was about war, but because it wasn't what i thought i had signed up for. I agree that it is sad that they have made the newsletter available for an international audience and then filled it with very regional content.
I would like to say one thing about the 'soldiers ARE us' thing as explanation, though. This is still from a U.S. viewpoint, and should have been explained by the Knitting Daily staff in a newsletter with an international audience. In the U.S., many people belong to the National Guard, often they joined as a way to pay their University tuition. The National Guard, as i understand it, is supposed to be there to protect the states at home. These troops are usually deployed when a natural disaster occurs or something of the like. Many people in the guard did not really think they'd ever see combat and probably never thought they'd be sent to another country. While i would never join the military, for a number of reasons, i do not have as a hard time seeing myself in this group of people, who ended up in a war because they wanted an education. In my opinion, our president has misused these people as soldiers.
Hope i've made sense here. I am so glad you actually responded to the Knitting Daily people instead of just deleting the emails as i did.
(even generapiseren) "Die Amerikanen denken ook altijd dat alles om hen draait".Goed dat je je gal even gespuit hebt en nu weer lekker breien!!
Kom je ng eens naar Nederland? Het lijkt me leuk namelijk om je eens te ontmoeten op een SnB gbeuren.
Very well said! Good for you for speaking up. The issue of the US being at war is controversial here in the US as well as around the world. The author made the assumption that all readers would feel supportive of this topic. That couldn't be further from the truth.
I totally agree with you ! There is nothing to add ; the reply you send them is very well written !
Great orchestra with violins and drums. Music swelling on. Band starts singing. "We are family....!"
Cousin: you are, as I am, one of the truly pacifist kind! I'm proud of you...!
En och heden, wou dat dromen gedeeld konden worden: een landhuis, een breifeest, Tijm ...Dat had ik graag mee willen maken! En als ik Tijm hierboven zo lees, zij ook! Mij, mijzelf en ik en mijn huis en tuin zijn natuurlijk absoluut niet wat je gedroomd hebt, maar ze voelen soms wel zo. Denk ik. En Tijm (weet ik inmiddels uit ervaring), is in het echt nog veeeeel leuker dan op het net. We blijven er naar streven: dit jaar komen we elkaar tegen, hoe dan ook!
Ik heb de mail inderdaad ook verwijdert. Vond het niets te maken hebben met hoe ik brei, te amerikaans. Ik ben niet zo goed als jij in het schrijven van brieven, maar goed dat je het gedaan hebt. Ik ben het er volledig mee eens.
Knitting for soldiers is not supporting war. It is supporting and caring for people in difficult situations -- people who happen to be daughters, sisters, mothers...sons, brothers, fathers... who didn't always ask to be in the particular midst of what they are in. Many believe strongly it is an honor to serve their country and come from a long line of servicemen/women. I am connected in many ways to children of friends, surgeons, medics and nurses who are serving their country. While I don't believe in war, I do believe in efforts made for others. Organized knitting for soldiers was started by the Red Cross in the first World War. Perhaps just roll some of that editor's note off your back and simply try to see people caring for people here? Choose your own charitable efforts as they fill your own heart in the giving. Hostility neither helps nor heals hearts away from their home and loved ones.
Hoi,
I'm just not quite up to date with the whole thing; but here is my 2 cents...
I can imagne that there are soldiers with a hobby. And I applaud that Major Laura took up knitting. So..... what?
I get the impression that the folks of Knitting Daily saw an oppertunity to make it a patriotic thingy. I don't think that was wise.
The whole 'hero' worshipping is taking over and it's not a pretty sight.
I know what I'm talking about, my husband was a soldier in the Dutch army, and served his time in Kosovo. He's no hero, just a man, doing what he believes is right. Stopping a war.
This is no platform for war, it's a knitting thing. Tingle tangle is right: let's keep it that way.
lori in michigan, whilst i fully underline that everyone has a right to her own opinion, i do think it was narrow minded of knitting daily to make this regional thing into a global newsletter. what irks me most is that sentiment of "who is not for the army is against it". these fear inducing statements of the bush administration we really can do without.
if you consider this response a hostile one, in the same sentiment as you commented on tingletangle's post, i pity you didn't get my point: as much as you are entitled to your opinion, others are to theirs. without being bullied and scolded by some other government as being unpatriotic (how could one be u.s. patriotic if not even being an american?).
like you stated yourself - there are so many peace supporting charities to knit for.
Wow! I must say, it's EXACTLY what I thought, but my English is too poor, and I was not able to answer like you did. But I'm 100% with you!
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