29281: Kondrat (response) Chamberlain ( 29232) and Burke (29257) re Wikipedia "battle" (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Peter Kondrat <kondr8@gmail.com>

Correcting misstatements on the list could easily morph into a full-time
job, and I am already overworked! (Although not as much as the
indefatiguable Bob Corbett.) But I just couldn't let this mean little gem by
Mr. Greg Chamberlain pass. His news postings are often enjoyable and
informative. But when he makes a foray into commentary and analysis,
anything can happen. A few days ago he wrote:

<<Has anyone noticed the battle over the Wikipedia entry on Aristide
involving his white US-based propagandists? . . . As it stands now, the
entry gives our old friend Kevin Pina's fleeting discomforts nearly twice as
much coverage as the murder of the heroic Jean Dominique...  Extraordinary,
shameless...>>

Maybe extraordinary and shameless . . . if it were remotely true. I followed
the link that Mr. Chamberlain provided, and here is what the Wikipedia entry
on Aristide says about Kevin Pina:

<<Journalist Abdias Jean was gunned down by the Haitian Interim Police,
while others such as Jean Ristil and Kevin Pina were arrested and beaten up
at different times.>> [28 words]

and here is what it says later, in another paragraph, about Jean Dominique:

<<Prior to Aristide was elected (2000 Preval), one of Haiti's most famous
journalists, Jean Dominique, was assassinated. A Lavalas Senator Danny
Toussaint was alleged to have had a role. While three alleged gunmen were
arrested under Aristide (later escaped under Latortue) the case against
Toussaint has been tied up in court ever since. Groups such as Reporters
Without Borders (state dept funded) attempted to charge Aristide with having
a role in the murder. Danny Toussaint, the man charged with the murder of
Dominique, joined the opposition to Lavalas in late 2003. >>[91 words]


Attentive readers like Kathleen Burke breathlessly piled on, heaping sarcasm
on what Mr. Chamberlain calls the "white US-based propagandists" who had the
audacity to write "nearly twice" as many words (28) about Pina as about
Dominique (91).  Huh? What's going on here? Is this another case of an
Aristide-hater getting so worked up about their bogey man that he can't even
be bothered to read what he is criticizing? And what is up with the
skin-color requirement? How black must one be in order to earn Mr.
Chamberlain's respect and attention? Here again, another example of why it
is particularly important for readers to verify claims made on this list,
especially claims made by the more rabid Aristide-haters.

By the way, Dictionary.com Unabridged says that the noun propaganda means
"information, ideas, or rumors deliberately spread widely to help or harm a
person, group, movement, institution, nation, etc." Let's hope that Mr.
Chamberlain is not unwittingly engaging in the form of communication he
decries. Extraordinary? Nah. Shameless? . . . Perhaps.

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