Wow! This was a fantastic paragraph, buried in Brion's longer letter,
and it was so good I wanted to just reproduce it here to highlight it.
Brion Vibber wrote:
The current versions of these articles aren't
necessarily the best way
to handle it; I think they would do better to discuss *and debunk*
racist notions as much as possible, putting them in the proper context
so when some kid hears about "racialism" or "reverse racism" and
then
looks it up on Wikipedia they'll see a rational, neutral explanation of
what makes some people think and speak that way -- so they'll
_understand_ why to discount those ideas. Pretending the terms don't
exist or saying "oh, that's just what RACISTS think, if you touch them
it might rub off on you! stay away!" strikes me as ineffective, or even
counterproductive ("look, those Wikipedians are so biased they're afraid
to take us on rationally!"). There are lessons to be learned from the
evil that men do.
--Jimbo