World Net Daily has an interesting piece concerning Wikipedia and the treatment of Barack Obama’s biographical page.
Wikipedia scrubs Obama eligibility
Mention of citizenship issues deleted in minutes, ‘offending’ users banned
Wikipedia, the online “free encyclopedia” mega-site written and edited entirely by its users, has been deleting within minutes any mention of eligibility issues surrounding Barack Obama’s presidency, with administrators kicking off anyone who writes about the subject, WND has learned.
A perusal through Obama’s current Wikipedia entry finds a heavily guarded, mostly glowing biography about the U.S. president.
Some of Obama’s most controversial past affiliations, including with Rev. Jeremiah Wright and former Weathermen terrorist Bill Ayers, are not once mentioned, even though those associations received much news media attention and served as dominant themes during the presidential elections last year.
Also completely lacking is any mention of the well-publicized concerns surrounding Obama’s eligibility to serve as commander-in-chief.
WND goes on to tell of a user, “Jerusalem21”, who tried to add information pertaining to the legitimacy of Obama’s citizenship. Within minutes of posting this on Obama’s page, the post was removed by an administrator.
Trying again, the post was removed and the user banned for three days.
WND continues:
Ayers, Wright also missing in Obama’s bio
The entire Wikipedia entry on Obama seems to be heavily promotional toward the U.S. president. It contains nearly no criticism or controversy, including appropriate mention of important issues where relevant.
For example, the current paragraph on Obama’s religion contains no mention of Wright, even though Obama’s association with the controversial pastor was one of the most talked about issues during the presidential campaign.
That paragraph states: “Obama explained how, through working with black churches as a community organizer while in his twenties, he came to understand ‘the power of the African-American religious tradition to spur social change.’ He was baptized at the Trinity United Church of Christ in 1988 and was an active member there for two decades.”
Ayers is also not mentioned, even where relevant.
WND monitored as a Wikipedia user attempted to add Ayers’ name to an appropriate paragraph. One of those additions, backed up with news articles, read as follows:
“He served alongside former Weathermen leader William Ayers from 1994 to 2002 on the board of directors of the Woods Fund of Chicago, which in 1985 had been the first foundation to fund the Developing Communities Project, and also from 1994 to 2002 on the board of directors of the Joyce Foundation. Obama served on the board of directors of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge from 1995 to 2002, as founding president and chairman of the board of directors from 1995 to 1991. Ayers was the founder and director of the Challenge.”
Within two minutes that Wikipedia entry was deleted and the user banned from posting on the website for three days, purportedly for adding “Point of View junk edits,” even though the addition was well-established fact.
Contrast this with George W. Bush’s bio page:
The Wikipedia entry about former President George W. Bush, by contrast, is highly critical. One typical entry reads, “Prior to his marriage, Bush had multiple accounts of alcohol abuse. … After his re-election, Bush received increasingly heated criticism. In 2005, the Bush administration dealt with widespread criticism over its handling of Hurricane Katrina. In December 2007, the United States entered the second-longest post-World War II recession.”
The entry on Bush also cites claims that he was “favorably treated due to his father’s political standing” during his National Guard service.” It says Bush served on the board of directors for Harken and that questions of possible insider trading involving Harken arose even though a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation concluded the information Bush had at the time of his stock sale was not sufficient to constitute insider trading.
Not mentioned in the above article was any information regarding Obama’s opponent, John McCain. So I went to McCain’s bio page and found the following “skeptical” content which Wikipedia apparently has no problem posting.
It includes:
- Questions regarding McCain’s natural born U.S. citizen status (He was born in the Panama Canal Zone).
- References to his age
- References to extra-marital affairs
- Discusses his skin cancer
- Site’s his involvement with the “Keating Five”
- References his “temper”
The difference in describing Obama with either George W. Bush and John McCain is blatantly hypocritical.
Take a bit of time to read through each one. The bias is quite startling.
