On Wed, Mar 12, 2003 at 06:19:18AM -0800, Jimmy Wales wrote:
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.
The flames have been going on for months. The discussion needs to happen so the flames can be put out. If they spread to the mailing list, that is not an excuse for forestalling the discussion and allowing the current bad situation to continue.
I think that this notion -- that "free discussion" is "censored" in the US is absolutely farcical.
I quote here the learned Professor Noam Chomsky, in his book "The Common Good", published in 1998. In context, he wrote this paragraph about how the media in the USA (and many other parts of the world) operate:
The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum - even encourage the more critical and dissident views. That gives people the sense that there's free thinking going on, while all the time the presuppositions of the system are being reinforced by the limits put on the range of the debate.
Certainly potential bias does deserve a centralized and open discussion.
Your phrasing here seems to indicate you don't wish to acknowledge the fact of already existing bias in the Wikipedia. It does exist. And it is preventing the Wikipedia from attracting credentialed contributors. In fact, it has driven away several credentialed contributors that I know of. And this fact prevents Wikipedia from gaining much academic esteem.
You always seem to come down on the side of those who are pro-Israel and/or populist, without regard to the merits or facts. That is your bias. As long as you decide who gets to play on your wiki, it will reflect your personal biases.
I don't know what can be done about this; obviously asking you not to be biased won't work, as you haven't admitted your biases to your own self yet.
Cunctator, what would you recommend? You seem to have ideas like soft-security, and so forth. What would be a solution?
Jonathan