[Wikipedia-l] The Anarchy of Wikipedia

[Frederick Noronha]

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/contentions/index.php/johnson/202

The Anarchy of Wikipedia
Daniel Johnson - 3.1.2007 - 9:13AM

Michael J. Lewis makes a fair point about Wikipedia: we have all used
it as a short-cut from time to time, and, provided that information
from it is checked and cross-referenced, it has its legitimate uses.
But he does not go far enough in commenting on its accuracy.

The site is the repository not merely of inaccuracy but of
disinformation on a vast scale. It is a minefield for those whom
Nietzsche called "die Halbgebildeten," the half-educated. According to
Tom Gross, Wikipedia recently deleted an entry that claimed "the bones
of Palestinian children" were one of five ingredients used by Jews to
make unleavened bread for Passover. Though the editors promised to be
more vigilant in the future, it is troubling that an Islamist version
of this ancient anti-Semitic blood libel could be posted on this most
popular of online resources for any length of time at all.

By chance, I discovered that the entry about me also included hostile,
anonymously authored material. At my request, it was removed without
question by the editors of Wikipedia. But what if I had not noticed
it, or had been dead or otherwise unable to lodge a protest?

I am alarmed by the notion that authoritative reference works such as
Britannica have been replaced by a "people's encyclopedia" based on a
primitive form of epistemological and moral relativism. Some people
know more than others, and works of reference are there to disseminate
the knowledge of the few to the many. In the realm of truth, Wikipedia
has replaced democracy with anarchy.

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