Wikipedia is supposedly a community of benevolent volunteers who spend their free time writing factually balanced articles for the benefit of mankind. It's held up as an example of what people are willing to do simply to serve their fellow men. However, when we look closer at what's being written, and how it's written, we see that the authors are not as altruistic as it may seem.
This has been particularly noticeable in the way the 2022 Monkeypox outbreak has been covered. The page came about only days into the outbreak, and it was immediately equipped with sophisticated data gathering mechanisms that were able to procure information from all over the world. Only a large corporation would be able to put something like that into place in such a short time.
Once put into place, the page was updated multiple times every day, indicating full time dedication to the page by whoever was operating it. One or more person acted as if they were in full time employment.
When the outbreak peaked some ten days into August, there was a noticeable change in focus. Data was no longer presented in easy to comprehend charts. Instead, we got a series of pictures illustrating how ugly and painful the disease is. There was no mention of the fact that things were looking up, and that we would most likely see the end of the outbreak by Christmas.
The page is now only updated sporadically. Data on Portugal, which was updated every week, hasn't been updated since the end of August. Only countries where there have been deaths get their data updated.
The authors are focusing on bad news, and the only good news they are willing to talk about is the vaccine that was developed shortly before the outbreak. The page appears to be a marketing vehicle developed in the spirit of Edward Bernays' Propaganda.
It's remarkable that Edward Bernays was able to foresee this type of development as early as 1928, when he wrote his book, but this is the exact thing he suggested as a way to sell products and services.
Wikipedia is a marketing vehicle dressed up as an information resource, and the marketing is ubiquitous because all things require marketing.
Everyone who wants to influence the public for various reasons needs to have someone dedicated to propaganda. This is obvious when it comes to products of various kinds. But it's also true for political parties. No serious political party should be without someone dedicated to propaganda, and that person must necessarily be paid by the party.
The need for propaganda doesn't stop at products and politics. It extends into all aspects of civil society, including the sciences. Universities need to promote themselves. The theories that they teach must be promoted. The theories that they oppose must be marginalized. Science articles found on Wikipedia are therefore produced by people working for universities.
This makes Wikipedia a reliable source when it comes to what's currently being promoted by the status quo. It's also a pretty good source when it comes to raw data. But it's not a neutral platform. Data that don't correspond well with the narrative is hidden or obscured. Opinions are projected and facts are presented selectively.
All articles on Wikipedia are written by paid professionals, or by people with an agenda to promote themselves and their ideas. There's no such thing as a benevolent volunteer.
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