[Foundation-l] Misplaced Reliance, was Re: Paid editing, was Re: Ban and...

[Yann Forget]

Hello,

2010/10/25 Fred Bauder <fredbaud at fairpoint.net>:
>
>> The pro-scientific-point-of-view editors have rewritten NPOV to make
>> it easier for them to exclude non-scholarly sources. They cite the
>> UNDUE section, arguing that non-scholarly perspectives represent undue
>> emphasis. Some of the same people are currently trying to change the
>> sourcing policy, Verifiability, in the same direction. I think what is
>> needed at some point quite soon is a wiki-wide discussion about
>> whether as a project we still support the idea of protecting
>> significant-minority POVs. I always saw that as the point of NPOV.
>>
>> Sarah
>
> They can argue, but if we keep our heads, they cannot overturn a founding
> principle. As in the Atorvastatin article when patients are running to
> their doctors, saying, "My God, I can't think", and it is observable by
> medical practitioners that indeed they can't, it's a significant event.
> However, it does need to be put into proportion, serious effects to a few
> hundred people must be weighed against efficacious help for millions.
>
> http://www.theheart.org/article/843115.do
>
> Note the reference to a Wall Street Journal article.
>
> If our inclusion of this information in a Wikipedia article and placing
> undue emphasis on it results in thousands of deaths because people are
> afraid of the drug, then we need to look at the way it is handled, not
> just to a conclusion that there can be no negative information about
> useful drugs.
>
> Fred

In case of the Chermobyl disaster, the World Health Organisation still
officially claims 56 deaths, just to avoid counting the thousands of
dead liquidators, and the other thousands very hill, among 800,000
people who have worked on the extinguishing of the fire and the
cleaning of the site.
These figures come medical doctors on the field, and are collected by
liquidator organisations. In putting more emphasis on the "official"
number, we are helping the nuclear industry to rewrite history.

In less controversial figures in the Western world, what are the
"official" figures for Human Rights violations in China, in Iran and
in Burma?

Yann