[Foundation-l] The 'Undue Weight' of Truth on Wikipedia (from the Chronicle) + some citation discussions

[Ray Saintonge]

On 02/23/12 11:41 AM, Sarah wrote:
> If the oral citations (audio and video) were used as an adjunct to
> more traditional sources, I think there would be no problem at all.
>
> On the Holocaust page, we used to highlight a quote (now removed) from
> a witness who talked to the BBC at the time of the British liberation
> of one of the concentration camps, Bergen Belsen.
> http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Holocaust&oldid=358632356#Liberation
>
> "We heard a loud voice repeating the same words in English and in
> German: 'Hello, hello. You are free. We are British soldiers and have
> come to liberate you.' These words still resound in my ears."
>
> This kind of personal memory is very moving and compelling. Imagine if
> we could link to an audio or video interview of an eyewitness by an
> editor. WP is lagging behind with this because we are so afraid of OR
> by anonymous interviewers. But if we make sure there is nothing
> contentious said -- no attempts to rewrite history, as it were -- I
> think it would be almost entirely unproblematic -- people talking
> about "this is how I felt when X happened; this is how it was for me
> ...".
>
> The Foundation could set up a wiki dedicated to eyewitness accounts
> that people could upload themselves, then Wikipedia could incorporate
> them as appropriate, using the current restrictions on primary sources
> (i.e. using them purely descriptively in articles about that subject).
> Yes, I know, potential problems with libel and nonsense, but no more
> so than we have already, and we deal with them.
>
Why would the quote have been removed?

Ultimately most historical events resolve themselves into a series of 
narratives. Some, like personal diaries are unofficial; others like 
testimony in a court are official. All can be subject to error.  What 
the narratives say is what they say, nothing more nor less.

We are indeed so afraid of OR, to the point where we trust nobody. When 
we apply a strict true-or-false test to a statement we lose our ability 
to recognize truths that lie at the intersection of multiple absurdities.

Ray