I do think we should discuss bias and potential sources of bias in the
wikipedia. That's an important issue that we will always struggle
with. I just caution everyone to remember that discussing it in the
context of Israel and the Middle East is difficult and that we should
be wary of straying into _content_ discussions about what is actually
right or wrong in that context.
Some of that is unavoidable, but we should be careful not to let this
discussion (about possible sources of bias in the wikipedia) to turn
into a flamewar about what is undoubtably a very emotional and very
VERY complex situation.
Stevertigo wrote:
"Indeed, you have to come to America to realise
just how brave this
small but vocal Jewish community is. Bernstein is the first to
acknowledge that a combination of Israeli lobbyists and conservative
Christian fundamentalists have in effect censored all free
discussion of Israel and the Middle East out of the public domain in
the US. "
I think that this notion -- that "free discussion" is "censored" in
the US is absolutely farcical.
The US is a very noisy place. You can find, without much looking,
just about anyone saying just about anything. Extremists on all sides
frequently complain that their voice isn't being heard. And specific
allegations of bias against particular news outlets are undeniably
true. But taken as a whole, there's a very rich and complex debate
about all these things.
I'm wondering if, and have long surmised that,
this is an issue on
Wikipedia, and am curious about whether it merits a centralized, and
open discussion.
Certainly potential bias does deserve a centralized and open
discussion.
--Jimbo