[WikiEN-l] Classification of China?

Mon Apr 28 12:07:26 UTC 2003

It looks like there was a very long thread over the weekend, and I
couldn't possibly weigh in on all of it.  I *will* read all of it,
though.

But from the outset, remember that Vicki has very well summed up my
a priori position, with this:

Vicki Rosenzweig wrote:
> The determination to speak truth, while admirable, is not the same as
> NPOV, which is our policy.

That's exactly right.

NPOV statements are a subset of statements that I think are true.
Which subset?  The set of statements that I think are true, and which
almost everyone would also agree are true.

This usually means that NPOV statements are "softer" than we might
like if we strive to speak the whole truth.  I might want to say that
China has a terrible human rights record.  It's true, after all!  But
it is "softer" to say "China's human rights record has been criticized
by X, Y, and Z."

Is China authoritarian?  Sure it is.  But it's not necessary for us
to actualy make the claim ourselves.

--Jimbo