[WikiEN-l] Facts and NPOV

[The Cunctator]

On 11/21/02 2:35 PM, "Poor, Edmund W" <Edmund.W.Poor at abc.com> wrote:
> Okay, then the facts are:
> * Arabs want to eliminate Israel completely.
> * There are no "Palestinians" other than Palestinian Arabs
> * Jordan *is* the Palestinian state.
> * Propagandists like you think lying and murdering are justified.
> 
> Now that we're all agreed on that, RK and I will go ahead and ....
> 
> Huh? What's that you say? Those aren't the facts?
> 
> What are they, then? Just my opinion?
> 
> Golly, it sounds like you and I can't agree on what the facts are, even
> if we both agree that we should present the facts wherever possible.
> 
> So what can we do? I guess we have to agree to disagree, and just say
> that Source A thinks the facts are X, and Source B thinks the facts are
> Y.

We can also have people provide evidence for their assertions. We can only
say "Mars is a planet"--and have that have any meaning--because of of how we
have defined "planet", and the observational record that correlates with
that definition.

Saying that Source A thinks X and Source B thinks Y is just part of that
process. It is a valid starting point, but it is not the end.