I was pleased to read this recent article – Wikipedia black helicopters circle Utah’s Traverse Mountain - in the Register about Judd Bagley and his recent encounters with the powers at Wikipedia. It is yet another reminder of the growing misuse of power on the Internet … and in my opinion the increasing danger that the public at large seems to see the Internet, Google, and Wikipedia (and many other websites) as the TRUTH.
The Internet has become an invaluable resource – if not an integral part of society – over the last two+ decades. As the public has become educated about the Internet, it seems that few have really looked at, or understand, the inner-working of the technology, but more importantly the sociology, politics, and business behind the Internet. It is amusing to me that so many people will cast a wareful eye towards so many things in the physical world … but then believe what they read on-line as unbiased “truth”. The scarey part to me is that we are now two-generations+ into the Internet, and the amount of “error in judgement” is being multiplied as the millennials and younger generations are not being taught to “consider the source”.
We all hear about the people in chat rooms masquerading as younger people to pick-up on children, and even recently to psychological harassment on MySpace that led to the suicide of a 13-year old girl. These are the overt misuses of the Internet that obviously can harm people … and lead to deaths. Are children being taught to thoroughly question these virtual contacts?
Next come the slightly less manipulative uses of the Internet, that can be caused by acts of omission. Google is a prime example off this … as it seems to me that younger and older generations are now becoming convinced that Google – and it’s first page of results – are the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Google’s first page of results are very useful … but a very small subset of “reality” … of the total amount of human knowledge in the world. Google’s software and algorithms are constantly being tweaked by humans, however they are only able to include information that they can find and interpret. In addition, as proven by the acts of Google-bombing, the information and links on Google can be easily manipulated to cause erratic, if not inaccurate results. Even Google’s own blog acknowledges the power and ability of determined users to Google bomb. Are children being taught that Google is only one – completely commercially and business biased – source of information?
Unlike Google Bombing, which is manipulating the computer algorithms of software running in systems, the above article about Wikipedia discusses – to me – one of the most disgusting and perverse misuses of the Internet, and a threat to the reality of human society. In the case of Wikipedia – which people actually believe is an attempt to create a useful and accurate resource for information about all subjects – if you read carefully, you will find it is actually a very tightly controlled organization that can alter and censor any information at any time. The Wikipedia inner circle can create, or omit, anything that they wish in order to re-write history any way they want to. Although Wikipedia is believed to be the “the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit” this is a complete lie!
The truth is that Wikipedia is “the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit if Jimmy Wales and his closest friends say so.” It is a controlled source of information that is now using its ability to manipulate public perspectives for unknown purposes. It is really now making choices about which “reality” the public are allowed to see … what they are allowed to learn about … and how they are supposed to think about subjects. Wikipedia is nowhere close to being on par with the printed encyclopedias of the past. Are our children being taught to question these people and this information? Or to just passively accept this perspective of reality as the truth?
As history has proven over and over again … any time a group of so few people are entrusted with so much power – and the public willingly hands over their freedoms to them – there will eventually be severe consequences to humanity. I believe that we are watching a time where society is slowly being lulled into believing everything we are told … and the efficiency of the Internet enhances this … and not question the motives of the people behind the technology.
From the Register article about Wikipedia:
If you ask Judd Bagley and Patrick Byrne what’s going on, they’ll tell you the ban is part of much larger attempt to discredit their views on naked shorting. They believe that a small group of people is using Wikipedia as means of controlling public opinion.
“When you think of how the public consciousness of an issue can develop, one of the first things that’s going to happen in today’s age is people are going to Google the issue and then read the Wikipedia article that comes up,” Byrne says. “So if you can control that article, you can really deflect the discourse.”
Whatever the motives behind it, there’s no doubt that the Wikipedia inner circle rules those four articles with an iron fist. And as Charles Ainsworth points out, this puts a cloud over the entire encyclopedia.
“Wikipedia, in its way, is of great benefit to the web community,” he says. “But I’ve also been greatly dismayed that Wikipedia has apparently attracted some intelligent but problematic personalities with ambition, secret personal agendas, and cold, ruthless behavior towards other editors and ideas that they perceive as threatening their power, position, or agendas. What’s disheartening is that Jimbo and the rest of the Wikimedia Foundation not only don’t do anything about it, but they appear to support these charlatans to some degree.”
“When Bagley attempted to level the playing field, he was banished immediately,” Ainsworth continues. “Obviously, there’s something seriously wrong with the way Wikipedia is being managed and administered. I don’t know if it threatens the long-term viability of the project or not, but it is cause for concern among those of us who spend a lot of hours actually trying to write quality articles.”
I know that I will be teaching my children to always question what they read … to always question the motives of the writers and creators of information. I’ll teach them to be very wary of everything that read on Wikipedia, and the results of every Google search. The rules will be to “consider the source” … and “beware of strangers.”