[WikiEN-l] Re-evaluation per RK's request

Tue Jul 22 21:20:51 UTC 2003

Hi all -- 

Robert seems to think I've been unfair to him, and for that I am sorry.
It may even be that he is correct and that I chose a less than perfect
example.  Nevertheless, I stand by the following points:

First, I saw no evidence of ad hominem attacks or harassment on Robert's
page, with the exception of Jtdirl's "Arabophobe" comment, which seemed
to me to have been written out of frustration -- although this is not an
excuse.

Second,  I think that many people ( I cannot speak for others, but this
is based on much of what I have read on talk pages for a couple of years
now) are tired of the accusation of anti-Semitism being raised in almost
every (non-Gaia) RK edit war.  There is a real and valid difference to
many people between anti-Semitism and questioning militant Zionism or
being pro-Israeli.  Tarring all his opponents with the same brush is
unjust, blurs the questions at hand, and is often just plain insulting
-- certainly not wikilove, and certainly not an intellectual way of
defending a position.

Third, ditto as above, replacing "anti-Semitism" with "trolling, abuse,
harassment", etc.

I have noticed that most of the articles where this happens live in a
grey area.  That's as it should be.  In such situations (we could just
as easily be talking about The Troubles), no one is innocent and
everyone who resorts to violence has what he or she sees as a valid
motivation for doing so.  The roots of the conflict are often well out
of the participants' hands -- and the real roots often the result of
someone else's meddling.  Our job is not to say who is right or wrong.
It is not to pick sides.  It is to produce well-rounded, neutral,
informative articles.  If we continue to create articles with
non-neutral subjects (Arab violence against Israelis, Israeli violence
against Arabs), instead of trying to present a balanced article that
gives light to all sides of the story (maybe, instead, Conflicts over
Israel, Arab-Israeli conflict), we're doomed to continue to deal with
these types of edit wars and accusations.  But again, over two years of
watching, I can't really recall any direct accusations of the type RK
claims to see.  There may be insults.  But I cannot for the life of me
see how that adds up  to "people are picking on me because I am Jewish."
Especially when other Jewish wikipedians are not making the same
complaints.  And especially when the "people are picking on me"
accusation comes up all-to-often when it's convenient.
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