[Wikipedia-l] Wikipedia and anti-Semitism

Tue Dec 10 15:55:07 UTC 2002

Can the Wikipedia say that a certain person is anti-Semitic? Or must an article step back and say only that the person is "regarded as anti-Semitic?"

Does it serve our neutrality policy to say rather that such a person is "universally regarded" or "all but universally regarded" as anti-Semitic?

Consider the following:

If someone ever quotes a Wikipedia article in a newspaper or book, should they be able to say, "According to Wikipedia, Joe Blow is anti-Semitic".

My interpretation of our neutrality policy may be a bit shaky, but something smells wrong here. The hypothetical quote above makes it seems like we are endorsing a view.

Is there any difference between stating that a certain person studied at a university and stating that the person "is anti-Semitic"?

Perhaps I am making a fact-value distinction:
* studied at the university (fact)
* is anti-Semitic (value judgement)

I'm not really asking for a chorus of opinions from the list, but an authoritative, once-and-for-all pronouncement from the Founders.

Ed Poor