I try for the most part to not get involved in much of the internet flare-ups that happen.  There are many things on the internet to get mad about, and most of them I don’t feel are worth my time.

But the USOC’s antics got me really angry yesterday.  For those of you who have been living under a log (or perhaps are just not paying attention to Gawker, About.com, NPR or dozzens of other news sites of various sizes – #Ravelympics was even trending on Twitter), the USOC sent a cease and desist letter to Ravelry, a knitting and crochet online community.  They were defending their copyright and intellectual rights, which while I don’t necessarily agree with how they approached it, I understand is important.  As a designer and writer myself, copyright issues are near and dear to my heart.  I have no problem with them doing that.  What I do have a problem with is the tone they have taken in the letter, which comes across as condecending and RUDE.

Then, today, when they realized that they may have gotten oh, about 2 million plus people very angry (seriously, go check out the USOC’s Facebook page) they issued an apology, which wasn’t really a good apology.  They say “The letter sent to the organizers of the Ravelympics was a standard-form cease and desist letter that explained why we need to protect our trademarks in legal terms. Rest assured, as an organization that has many passionate knitters, we never intended to make this a personal attack on the knitting community or to suggest that knitters are not supportive of Team USA.”

WAIT.

IF you didn’t mean to make a personal attack on us, why they heck did you say that “We believe using the name “Ravelympics” for a competition that involves an afghan marathon, scarf hockey and sweater triathlon, among others, tends to denigrate the true nature of the Olympic Games.  In a sense, it is disrespectful to our country’s finest athletes and fails to recognize or appreciate their hard work.”

FIRST OF ALL, anything I do doesn’t lessen the amount of work someone else does to accomplish anything.  SECOND, the tone of that statement implies that you value sports and athletics more than fiberworks and the arts, which is really asinine of you.  I think sports are pretty stupid sometimes, but I don’t go around publicly dissing someone else’s passion.  That is unkind.

FINALLY, you could have worded your apology better.  I get that the cease and desist letter was written as one business to another, and you probably didn’t expect it to be posted online, and for people to get angry.  But the apology was public and more directed to the upset knitters/crocheters.  Next time, try to talk to a few knitters/crocheters before you write the apology… asking someone to craft for you is normally thought of as an extremely personal thing in much of the crafting world, and a lot of people aren’t thinking your worthy right now.

The Yarn Harlot is calling for knitters to stay classy, and dare I say it?  Forgive the USOC. Or at least stay classy.  She brings up some good points about why people shouldn’t be as upset as they are… and they are very good points.  I understand the sentiment – as I said, I feel like there are few things that are worth getting angry over.

BUT.  I can’t help but returning to the tone of the original letter, and I think that Laurie at the Crochet Liberation Front articulates what is bothering me.  There’s an implied assumption that the fiberarts, which are traditionally a female craft (at least in the US in the last couple of decades) (even though there are a lot of very talented males out there) are not valued as much as people who are athletes (who can be male or female, but sports have also in the last couple of decades, been much more associated with men than women – look at the popularity of men’s vs. women’s college basketball – where is the women’s march maddness?).  And it just makes me tired and deeply frustrated because so many of my hobbies are devalued just because they are considered “crafty” or “womanly.” (I face the same problem with Romance Novels, and don’t get me started on that).

I don’t really know how to fix this, except to say that being “classy” doesn’t seem to work.  Being classy – or at least not engaging when someone says something stupid out of ignorance or arrogance or sheer stupidity doesn’t get things changed.  I’ve been talking to a lot of people over the last 24 hours, explaining why I’m angry and why I think these people acted in ignorance, and how to fix it.

I’m going to be writing a real paper letter to you – in fact, it’s half finished.  I’m going to be writing on your facebook page and talking on twitter.  I’m going to talk to people in person.  I’m not going to be disrespectful, but I am going to be assertive.

Maybe next time you might think a bit more before you write a letter.