[Wikipedia-l] My goodness, people!!! Aka WTF? (was Wikipedia and anti-Semitism)

[The Cunctator]

On Tue, 2002-12-10 at 15:37, Julie Hofmann Kemp wrote
> 3 )An historian might deal with this by saying something like, "Wagner
> is seen by many to have been anti-Semitic, or at least to have supported
> the idea of anti-Semitism  This belief is generally based on one of
> Wagner's own works [insert name here], in which he describes the Jews
> as..."  In this was, no one is labeling or falsely accusing anybody of
> anything -- just offering a generally held conclusion and the basis
> therefore.   Speaking of which, I hope there is something similar in the
> article about that nice Mr. Luther...

That said, unnecessary qualifications and hedging don't help the picture
either. 

The world is thought by many to exist, even though we could all be
brains in a jar.

But we don't need to include that hedge except for a discussion of
"existence" or observables. 

Similarly, when we make claims about the past, such as "There were ice
ages" or "Wagner was anti-Semitic", we mean "There is evidence of ice
ages in the past, where 'ice age' has a specific meaning" and "There is
evidence that Wagner was anti-Semitic, or at least supported the idea of
anti-Semitism".

It's inappropriate to claim "There were ice ages" without providing the
supporting evidence, but the claim itself is fine.