This blog is an Elephant Journal-free zone

Feel free to download this badge and display it on your own blog!

*steps up on soap box*

For more reasons than I can count, I’ve never been a fan of Elephant Journal or it’s so-called Editors.

Personally, I can’t understand why that site has a high readership (so they say) when for the most part, the quality of the articles is low. There are exceptions, but not too many.

On top of that, the site often objectifies women and uses sleazy headlines to create controversy and drive comments. Any time someone makes this criticism, the response is always “what do you mean?” or worse – some form of personal attack.

My first inkling that Elephant Journal even existed was when Waylon Lewis set me up in a ridiculous article designed to goad me into making comment. Oh, it wasn’t that harsh, but the intent was there. That resulted in my first ever guest post over on Linda’s blog: “I don’t know how old yoga is and neither do you” (part 1 and part 2).

Even then, I realised something was off in Elephant Journal-land and I didn’t want to play the game. So I didn’t post my reply on Waylon’s site – Linda and I did it our way instead.

Mostly, I simply ignore Elephant Journal. I don’t read it. It’s not in my RSS and I never go there unless someone I know asks me to look at a specific article (usually in disbelief/outrage at its contents).

So why am I writing this post?

It’s because Waylon’s latest bad behaviour caused a yogi named Chelsea to write this post:

Sometimes it is Not “All Good”: How Yoga Teaches Me to Speak My Truth

I urge you to read Chelsea’s post and the reader comments, and then make up your own mind.

Oh, and while Chelsea doesn’t link to it in her post, this is the follow up piece by Waylon that is nothing more than a nasty and unnecessary personal attack on her. (If the article gets pulled, I’ve taken screen shots of it and will post them here).

This is far from the first and probably won’t be the last of Waylon’s very bad manners and poor behaviour. And in case you’re wondering, yes, there’s way more to this story than my initial contact and Chelsea’s story than I’m saying. But those aren’t my stories to tell.

Of course, there’s a lot of crap going on in this world and if we paid attention to it all we’d probably explode.

But sometimes you’ve gotta make a stand. Well, I do anyway. Once I saw a guy smacking his girlfriend around and I went over and intervened (not thinking of my own safety). It’s just how I’m wired.

Importantly: how will people get it through their thick skulls that certain actions and behaviours aren’t okay with others unless someone (or multiple someones) speaks up?

So this is me speaking up. In this particular instance, I didn’t feel like it was okay to passively sit by and not get involved.

Hence the “This blog is an Elephant Journal-free zone” badge I’ve just created and that will now be proudly displayed on the right hand side column of this blog for as long as I write it, linking back to this post.

I also invite anyone who also feels the same way to post it on your own blog.

More on this debacle from others:

• From Chelsea: Yoga for All People: An Open Letter to “W”
• From Linda: Enough’s enough
• From Nathan: Elephant Journal’s Got Issues

~ Svasti

P.S. Waylon if you’re reading this, feel free to make however many attacks you like against me. Publish derogatory blog posts, write rude and obnoxious things about me. I don’t care. You can’t touch me. I’m not changing my mind about you unless you show a significant turn-around in the way you behave and the way that Elephant Journal operates. Until then, this blog will always and forever be an Elephant Journal-free zone.

*jumps down from soap box and skips off into happier territory*