[WikiEN-l] Shades of Rashomon
Poor, Edmund W
Edmund.W.Poor at abc.com
Tue Jan 13 15:15:14 UTC 2004
Viajero wrote:
> Several of us were discussing the topic on the IRC channel in
> December (Anthere may remember this because she was one of
> them) and this question came up. One person said they thought
> WP (EN) had a pro-Israeli bias. Another said a pro-Palestinian
> bias. A third said neither POV was accurately represented.
I haven't seen Rashomon, but I understand the reference:
three or more people saw the same event and give widely
divergent accounts of it. I think this cuts to the core
of the difficulty in describing Middle East history and
current events.
Who among us can see without using a mental filter? I do
not claim this ability. Despite my high estimate of my
own objectivity, I am uncomfortably aware that from time
to time I am simply WRONG.
I daresay portions of articles are indeed tinged (or
infected) with pro-Israeli or pro-Palestinian bias. We
might never eliminate either of these biases entirely.
But we can work at it.
The key is identification: if it smells, change it.
Refactor the article so that it says the same thing but
/attributes/ POV to its proponent. I don't know why this
is so hard, but (A) it really is hard and (B) it really
is important.
Let's do it.
Ed Poor, aka Uncle Ed
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