This was sent directly to me and not to the list, but I'm replying on-list.
On Thu, Feb 14, 2008 at 2:08 PM, AB diodontida.armata@googlemail.com wrote:
On 14/02/2008, Chris Howie cdhowie@gmail.com wrote:
Damned if we do, damned if we don't. I'd rather we be considered insensitive than unecyclopedic, considering that we are an encyclopedia.
No, WP is not an encyclopaedia. No encyclopaedia I know of sends violent thugs to threaten to turn its critics black and blue. WP does. WP is a mob.
Please provide a citation for this claim. I am not aware of any such incident.
And as to be expected from a mob that sends violent thugs after people, you don't care if your actions incite others to violence. Really, if one of the more violent of the Muslims made good on their threats, what would you tell the families of the people who got killed? That the death of their loved ones paid for an 'encyclopaedic' article, and they should be proud?
I would tell them I'm sorry that their loved ones were killed at the hands of fanatics. If a group chooses to get offended at an encyclopedia and chooses to express its anger by killing, something is very, very wrong with that group's psyche. I would not hold myself responsible for their fanaticism.
If that is seriously what you would say, then you have no ethics, no basic sense of human decency. If it's not, open your eyes to the world - there are extremist Muslims in the world, so something like that could actually happen.
So what you are suggesting is that we listen to every demand made by an extremist group, because otherwise Something Bad will happen? Giving in is not the answer, my friend.