[WikiEN-l] terrorism

Mon Jan 19 09:51:08 UTC 2004

Daniel Mayer wrote:
> On the other hand the fact that a great many people regard
> OBL to be a terrorist is one of the big reasons why he is
> famous.

No, most of his fame is due to his organizing a couple of
planes to fly into the WTC.  Some is due to his other attacks.
Some is due to the manhunt and invasion of Afganistan that
followed Sep 11.  Lots is due to the media focus on him.

However, that isn't what I wanted to reply for.  My mail on
this subject was not in relation to OBL or Sep 11 specifically.
I wanted to address the issue in general and of course most
cases are much less clearcut than OBL.  Nor would I want to
prevent reporting on public opinion about something PROVIDED
that public opinion has some actual significance to the case
and PROVIDED the report is made in a way that doesn't look
like the disguised opinion of the writer.

In the case of OBL, in addition to being a terrorist he is a
sort of celebrity.  This aspect of him is interesting, and
there's no reason to avoid reporting on it. A well-researched
section on OBL's public image in various parts of the world
would be an excellent addition to his page, and reporting there
that OBL's image in the USA is "arch-terrorist" would be fine.  

However, OBL is unusual in this respect.  In most cases where
I see things like "Many people regard ..." in Wikipedia there
is far less excuse and I stand by my judgment that it is often
(if not usually) just the POV of whoever wrote it.

Zero.

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