Wikipedia Is More One-Sided Than Ever

[mr potatohead]

by Larry Sanger

blog post
June 30, 2021.

....  For these reasons, it is not too far to say that Wikipedia, like many other deeply biased institutions of our brave new digital world, has made itself into a kind of thought police that has de facto shackled conservative viewpoints with which they disagree. Democracy cannot thrive under such conditions: I maintain that Wikipedia has become an opponent of vigorous democracy. Democracy requires that voters be given the full range of views on controversial issues, so that they can make up their minds for themselves. If society’s main information sources march in ideological lockstep, they make a mockery of democracy. Then the wealthy and powerful need only gain control of the few approved organs of acceptable thought; then they will be able to manipulate and ultimately control all important political dialogue.

Like their MSM propaganda partners, Wikipedia is not a reference source for truth or facts.

[macky]

Actually Wiki is quite a dangerous platform for whatever is the going Official Story of the moment.  

I've read somewhere that it "has become Left-leaning" but my own experience with Wiki on my 9/11 investigations and the Jade Helm military exercise (for two) tells me Wiki is neither left or right, except where necessary to promote the OS. 

And that's more threatening than just being a solid Left (or Right) platform for "free knowledge that everyone has the right to know".  

A major problem is that Wiki has a solid base of factual data when it comes to academic subjects such as astronomy or mathematics, which can become used to by any reader who needs brushing up on those subjects and their like.  One can learn a lot off those types of articles/instructions. 

But moving into MS recent history such as 9/11, I found that Wiki conforms to the Official Story, which it sometimes contradicts itself in the same article.  That's certainly not impartial evidence gathering, it's just repeating MSM, as mikey implies. 

On the other hand, Wiki articles usually have tons of references at the bottom of their pages, that one can look up. 

[Unknown]

Interesting article on wikipedia:

off-guardian.org/2021/07/12/how-google-and-wikipedia-brainwash-you/

[BigBruvOfEnglandUK]

I only rarely use Google now. Duck Duck Go is my default search engine these days.

[Unknown]

Im on-off weaning myself from google with duck duck go. Keep going back and forth.

Webcrawler is good for occasional use for filtering out censorship.
Started experimenting with joshwho search engine – searches social media sites like twitter, gab and facebook etc.

[macky]

The Internet is the prime culprit when it comes to the means for manipulating, censoring, controlling thought and processes that are either good or bad for us. 

It's lost jobs, as online banking etc has bitten into the skilled workforce, enabled criminals to shut down essential services such as the Waikato hospital recently, and part of NZ's stock market. Cyber criminals hard at work, interfering in elections, running money-making scams, putting out bogus info designed to confuse and confuddle. 

Nasty people can hide behind a "nom de plume" and spread vitriol, attacking those who are largely innocent and helpless to respond.   

Some undoubtedly goods parts about the Net include those that have exposed corporate and govt lies and outright bullshit, something which I would never have been able to do re 9/11, if the Net didn't exist.   It hasn't made any difference to the military outcomes, but at least some interested souls may have a fresh viewpoint, or at least begin to ask questions instead of just believing everything they've been told by the MSM.

The Net has enabled forums and social platforms where people that would never have met otherwise, can gather and swap good things and argue their arses off all day (and night) long.

Like Sierra.

Whistle-blowers have benefitted from the Net ; the Black Vault (for one) a source of govt files on previously unknown schemes and issues.   

As a giant library for technical and academic information that is there at the press of a few keys, the Net has enabled those who cannot physically attend schools and universities to gain qualifications that have brought them jobs.  Businesses have grown around the Net.  Working from home etc.  The advantages are many. 

But like written history in books throughout the ages that is biased, the Net is an extension to TV and the newspaper, to censor and manipulate, suppress and victimize those that have "another viewpoint" just as firmly as if they were physically present among a crowd of believers of the Official Story pipelined through the MSM. 

And because Wiki and google (for two) represent the Big Money, ultimately the Net is used to promote the PTB through corporate power, big money interests that are intertwined with our govts, whose edicts which all of us that are not almost entirely off-grid dance to in so many ways that it's pretty hard in these times to clearly determine just where one's self-determination and original thought begins, and where our thinking and attitudes that are compelled by Authority via the Net, ends. 

I've read recently somewhere a question why that master of relaxation and tranquility, our pet cat, is vastly more happy that we are.  Cats don't read newspapers.  I could add to that, neither do they watch TV or participate in the news and related sections of the Net. 

As a Net-driven encyclopedia, Wiki has come under suspicion from many over the years, myself included.  Although I'm happy to accept some of what appears in Wiki's pages, (depending on subject) there is an over-riding sense of the Official Story/MSM party line being promoted, unless the title specifically includes "conspiracy theory". 

Some years back a homeland military exercise named Operation Jade Helm was held, and the Wiki on it clearly stated that it was overall directed by FEMA, who we know is the national emergency management organization.  That rang bells for me because it's long been thought among some that there are plans and camps inside the US especially for American citizen detainees, in bulk, and the FEMA aspect of the directions backed by military might, as well as the moving through towns ingratiating troops with the inhabitants, the use of plain-clothes and vehicles seemed to all tie up, with the inevitable unease of residents and the emergence of extreme conspiracy theories.  Residents' meetings were held, with military spokesmen trying to calm their fears.

Some several weeks later, the reference to FEMA was gone, and it was 'entirely a military exercise', nothing more.  Since Wiki is extensively checked and edited, it is hard to believe that such info re FEMA's involvement would have lasted so long without change, until disappearing altogether.   

Either Wiki was grossly in error regarding Jade Helm (which would also be hard to believe in the light of such a public and extensive military exercise), or deliberate censorship took place, leaving as usual, more questions than answers.   And the lingering suspicion that Wiki is ultimately no more than yet another information outlet of the PTB.  

  

[mr potatohead]

Jul 16, 2021 5:11:40 GMT Unknown said:

Interesting article on wikipedia:

off-guardian.org/2021/07/12/how-google-and-wikipedia-brainwash-you/

I guess that's an enlightening article for someone who was unaware of the extreme bias of the big pharma/medical (or any entity with an agenda and lots of money to push it) internet noise.
I ignore wikipedia entirely, same as I ignore google and TV.
I not wasting my time with the contradictions, the one-sided narrative or the footnote references that are orchestrated to be inclusive and/or omissive based on how the references reflect on their propaganda and the perception they wish to form in the reader's mind. Since the propaganda is so blatantly intrusive, I can't help but notice it anyway.

I've used Duck Duck Go for many years, almost as long as it's been available. I've also used Start Page.
I appreciated this statement in the article:

But who do we blame for the increasing power and influence that Google and Wikipedia hold? Perhaps we are to blame.
Blindly trusting in “authorities” to have our best interests at heart is the kind of infantile thinking that got us into this mess.

As the number one visited website in the world, Google controls ~90% of global search traffic.
Our minds, health beliefs, political stances, and world views are inseparably linked to information we read on the internet and
neither Google nor Wikipedia is an objective source for this information.

It is time that we take responsibility for our own health. We have to develop the ability to read and assess health knowledge objectively and intuitively.

[Unknown]

It’s a case of each to their own and what is right for you.

I look at Wikipedia sometimes – Connor Mcgregor fought last weekend, I like an occasional bet, quickly found out of his 22 wins 19 were by ko with 14 in first round.

I don’t want to live in the world of BS politics 24/7 for the sake of my own sanity.

I occasionally look at the edits section of Wikipedia to see who is editing the page and what their interests are, and what stuff has been taken out in the edits.

I don’t watch tv – BBC/Capita took me to court years ago for TV licence evasion and lost but that’s another matter.

That article most of it I’ve heard loads of times before, but comments and links to other information can be usefull – eg – haven’t heard of him so thought I look at his books:

b-ok.cc/s/?q=Alan+R.+Gaby

Ive used duck duck go since it first came out – the reason I don’t use it all the time is it can be a pain in the ass to find the commonest of websites (for me anyway).

To me virtually everybody on the internet is full of it and everything is BS, it’s a case of varying degrees.

[macky]

Both Wiki and google are okay to use, as long as the info you seek is as free as possible from political bias.  It's up to the reader to decide whether he/she goes with the info or not.  That has always been the case with any public information source.

To reject a source of info while trying to find answers is either because one simply hasn't got the time or energy to search through every source, or one is not confident in one's own intelligence to sort the BS from the true bits.   

The People have historically been led along by "masters of persuasion" in one form or another.  I doubt whether even those that are more skeptical of the info they are being fed have escaped a bit of mis-information somewhere in the works, and later refined their thoughts and position on matters they hold important, once they revisit their source of info.   

I don't ignore MS, google or Wiki info simply because of wholesale belief that it's propaganda, because sometimes in amongst it all there are snippets of truth that many could miss simply by their blanket rejection of said source. 

That is essentially limiting oneself only to sources that one's own beliefs coincide with, and rejecting the plain fact that times change, and the possibility that what was once true (and appropriate) is no longer.  It also may amplify rigid personal attitudes and a belief system which tolerates no argument.  Religions and extreme political systems have many followers that are typically like this, which is not necessarily a bad thing in itself,  but can expand to include other important everyday matters which effect us all, religious or not.

There are a few things that are black and white, but mostly the world consists of shades of grey somewhere in between those two extremes, and if one thinks about it for a moment, it's those extremes and their rigid support which cause the most trouble on this planet.   

[Unknown]

Pretty much agree with everything.
The main thing I do when using google is use private windows and not be logged into any google account, to limit the tracking and data collection they try to do on me.

[macky]

Jul 16, 2021 17:27:30 GMT Unknown said:

Pretty much agree with everything.
The main thing I do when using google is use private windows and not be logged into any google account, to limit the tracking and data collection they try to do on me.

That's what I do too.  I only log in to gmail, but once I finished log out for anything else except the bank's own login, this forum etc.  The Giant Information-gathering Machine on all fronts already "knows what brand of toothpaste" I use, but at least it's an attempt to restrict the activity.

Whether it works or not, I don't know, nor do I care particularly. There's a lot of information sharing that goes on, too.  

As far as Control, if they want to shut someone down all the "authorities' have to do is close their bank account(s).  Since in these modern times your mortgages and payments (both coming and going) are through the bank account which is required for you to have in the first place, unless you have some folding under the bed in a paper bag, you're not going to go far.  

And those with families depending on Dad to provide the goods, you, me and the milkman are well under the thumb.  

[BigBruvOfEnglandUK]

Jul 16, 2021 16:52:54 GMT macky said:

Both Wiki and google are okay to use, as long as the info you seek is as free as possible from political bias.

Yeah, that's how I use it these days. Somebody mentioned or posted a video of an actor or wrestler or something (Can't remember now) here a few weeks ago so I looked him up on Wikipedia. That was quite interesting. I wouldn't rely on it much for some topics though.

[macky]

Jul 16, 2021 21:55:02 GMT BigBruvOfEnglandUK said:

Jul 16, 2021 16:52:54 GMT macky said:

Both Wiki and google are okay to use, as long as the info you seek is as free as possible from political bias.

Yeah, that's how I use it these days. Somebody mentioned or posted a video of an actor or wrestler or something (Can't remember now) here a few weeks ago so I looked him up on Wikipedia. That was quite interesting. I wouldn't rely on it much for some topics though.

Yes, it's a matter of subject.  Also, the thing is that one can use Wiki as a prompt for other sites that may have more "authenticity".

An example could be a Wiki reference to Black Vault, where govt files (among other info) gained under FOIA can be viewed. I viewed a long list of files that dealt with Russian interference in the American 2016 election.   CIA, Select Committee investigation, etc.  

[trog]

I find it very funny when governments harp on about social media sites and the content that is unacceptable to said governments, and they want the content removed, as if some how it is the social media providers fault. If I write a racist comment on wall somewhere, is the fault of the wall for being there? If the comment stays on the wall for months or years, whose fault is it? The manufacturer of the paint for being too weather resistant? The owner of the wall? Often in the latter case, ownership of the wall may well be unknown.

I see social media and just a high tech version of a toilet wall. I've read many a sage piece of advice on toilet walls; I have also read much tripe.

[Unknown]

This is a good site I check every now and again for privacy related stuff, some to the things are easy to do others less so:

www.privacytools.io/

www.privacytools.io/providers/search-engines/

This looks like an interesting search engine (if I can get my head around it)

yacy.net/