Oldak Quill wrote:
Ok, more succinctly put: will the subject still be
notable after the
destruction of humanity? No, notability is a human concept and isn't
objective.
Well, for that matter, grammar and language are also entirely human
concepts, so I guess we need to also eliminate grammar and language
from Wikipedia if we wish to follow Oldak's reasoning (which itself
relies entirely on human concepts, however ridiculous).
ALL concepts of which we are capable of speaking are human concepts.
(It may be philosophically possible to imagine "non-human concepts,"
but we cannot _speak_ of them other than through human concepts, and
as Wittgenstein observed, "Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must
be silent.") How can anyone seriously think that Wikipedia's content
should be created according to some standard of "objectivity" that is
NOT based on "human concepts"?
As for whether an objective standard of notability can be adequately
defined for the purposes of Wikipedia, that's easy: Notability can be
defined as the condition of having been noted publicly. For example,
Shakespeare's biography and writings have been noted in numerous
books, essays and so forth. The life of my uncle Roger, by contrast,
was so little noted publicly that it would be impossible for anyone
other than his immediate family and friends to write an article about
him. This does not mean that my uncle Roger was in any way inferior
to Shakespeare. He was a wonderful human being, and those of us who
knew him were better for it. However, there is a clear difference
between the two in terms of notability, and that difference warrants
having an article about Shakespeare and not having an article about
my uncle. It's as easy to "objectively" establish that difference as
it is to objectively establish the difference between salt and pepper.
--------------------------------
| Sheldon Rampton
| Research director, Center for Media & Democracy (
www.prwatch.org)
| Author of books including:
| Friends In Deed: The Story of US-Nicaragua Sister Cities
| Toxic Sludge Is Good For You
| Mad Cow USA
| Trust Us, We're Experts
| Weapons of Mass Deception
| Banana Republicans
| The Best War Ever
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