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| Does this look like a man who wants to discuss advertising? |
Wikipedia has banned the Church of Scientology from editing any articles. It’s a punishment for repeated and deceptive editing of articles related to the controversial religion. The landmark ruling comes from the inner circle of a site that prides itself on being open and inclusive.
It seems as though 'ole Jimmy Wales made one of his patented appeals to the Church of Scientology to quit deceptively editing their Wiki page, was promptly ignored, and JW dropped the hammer on Tom Cruise and Company. Ha, I can see Jimmy W. freaking out in his office while reading the Scientology page. "Wiki is like a national park! Or a library! And these liars are corrupting it! They keep deleting "Battlefield Earth" off the page!"
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| Jimmy, don't be so glib. |
The thing is, I'm not sure which group/cult is more batshit - the Scientologists or the people who run Wiki (apparently they have something called an "arbitration committee" that convenes to discuss...who freaking knows what?). They're both kooky organizations that beg for money and are run by individuals who seem completely delusional. Wiki with its insistence it will eventually become the center of human knowledge and inspire some kind of global enlightenment, and Scientology with, well, they do teach that life began when billions of people were brought to Earth from outer space and placed around volcanoes that had hydrogen bombs dropped inside of them. So there's that.
I find it hard to believe if Jimmy Wales and Cruise had sat down they couldn't have figured something out - in exchange for a yearly contribution to Wiki, Scientology can edit its Wiki page however they want. In the end, everybody wins. No more freaking appeals from JW begging for money, and the Scientologists can have free reign over their Wiki page (does anyone really care? No, right?). Alas, it seems like the Scientologists spit in the face of the Largest Encyclopedia in the World one too many times and now find themselves at the mercy of Jimmy Wales and his 150,000 volunteer army of editors...who will now accept any donations you have available.
what a fantastic match-up of nut jobs... though i gotta say, i am totally siding with the j-wale. i am literally on wiki every day.... scientology has been lampooned endlessly by southpark, which has provided me with hours of entertainment, but thats the only use i can think of for that nonsense.
ReplyDeletealso, when u first saw this post, for a brief second i thought that was a pic of charlie kelly in a tux... the crazed eyes and scruff, not a good look jimbo.
ReplyDeleteI'm on Wiki every day as well. I just find it hilarious that even the "most open website in the world" finally had enough of Scientology and shut them down.
ReplyDeleteThe funny thing about the Scientologists is they kept editing their page to make themselves less controversial/more attractive, but the basic tenets of their religion are so freaking nuts it doesn't matter. They can delete all the allegations about stealing money from people, but in the end they still have to explain their alien mythology and "Battlefield Earth".
it is pretty awesome that wiki is literally willing to forgo their founding pillar when it comes to tom cruise and co.
ReplyDeletei bet there are some people who will claim this "compromises their integrity"... but in reality most people are probably willing to just look the other way....
though i have to admit, if i had to choose between the inclusion of scientology on wiki, versus j-wale's money grubbing banner ads - i say let the hubbard disciples edit whatever they want on their kooked out wiki page.