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This morning, I chanced upon the wiki page for "George Floyd protests". I consider myself more liberal than many, and yet I was struck by the obvious left slan

This morning, I chanced upon the wiki page for "George Floyd protests". I consider myself more liberal than many, and yet I was struck by the obvious left slant of that page. Not that it has inaccuracies, but its selection of facts and how they are presented, are definitely not neutral. From the header ("protests" or "riots"?) to the prevalence ("George Floyd protests in Minnesota"[0] and "George Floyd protests"[1], etc[2], [3], [4], [5] ...) to the descriptions and topics.... IMO such bias erodes their trust, and the more centrist will have to choose between one echo chamber and another and decide their facts by emotion. Unfortunately, I am beginning to feel that the more "woke" a subject is, the less likely the facts will be presented fairly. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Twin_Cities_riots https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Twin_Cities_riots [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Floyd_protests https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Floyd_protests [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Floyd https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Floyd [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_George_Floyd https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_George_Floyd [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_George_Floyd_protests_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_George_Floyd_protests_... [5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_George_Floyd_protests_outside_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_George_Floyd_protests_...

belly_joe 6y ago
I've noticed this as well. Reminds me of this from Scott Alexander: https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/05/01/neutral-vs-conservative-the-eternal-struggle/ https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/05/01/neutral-vs-conservativ...
mdpye 6y ago
I'm not sure I understand your point. By questioning the choice of "protests" vs "riots", are you suggesting that the actions taken by a minority of those participating should be used as the header for the whole article? Because that would seem to be a much more biased way to record the events.
- sam_goody 6y ago
  Per that one example. The URL of the article being linked to was "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Twin_Cities_riots" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Twin_Cities_riots" (it has now been changed). Compare the two: "Twin Cities whatever" used in the URL is a lot less political than "Goerge Floyd whatever". And the "riots" used in the URL is obviously something people were searching Google for. Wikipedia could have used the more conservative name, and acknowledged that "the protests, also known as the "George Floyd Riots" (as is obvious from the URL).... Don't get fixated on that example though - the whole article reads like it was written by the press team of a large corporation with a narrative to sell.
  - htfu 6y ago
    The current name of the article is "George Floyd protests in Minnesota", and first paragraph contains "The course of events in Minnesota has also been referred to as the Minneapolis riots". I disagree riots is a more conservative name - this would imply an article solely about the riots, necessiting an additional article about the protests, one which, being written in a way as to minimize overlap, would probably be accused of downplaying the very much existing riots. Or at the very least balkanize coverage.

belly_joe 6y ago

I've noticed this as well. Reminds me of this from Scott Alexander: https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/05/01/neutral-vs-conservative-the-eternal-struggle/ https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/05/01/neutral-vs-conservativ...

mdpye 6y ago

I'm not sure I understand your point. By questioning the choice of "protests" vs "riots", are you suggesting that the actions taken by a minority of those participating should be used as the header for the whole article? Because that would seem to be a much more biased way to record the events.

sam_goody 6y ago
Per that one example. The URL of the article being linked to was "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Twin_Cities_riots" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Twin_Cities_riots" (it has now been changed). Compare the two: "Twin Cities whatever" used in the URL is a lot less political than "Goerge Floyd whatever". And the "riots" used in the URL is obviously something people were searching Google for. Wikipedia could have used the more conservative name, and acknowledged that "the protests, also known as the "George Floyd Riots" (as is obvious from the URL).... Don't get fixated on that example though - the whole article reads like it was written by the press team of a large corporation with a narrative to sell.
- htfu 6y ago
  The current name of the article is "George Floyd protests in Minnesota", and first paragraph contains "The course of events in Minnesota has also been referred to as the Minneapolis riots". I disagree riots is a more conservative name - this would imply an article solely about the riots, necessiting an additional article about the protests, one which, being written in a way as to minimize overlap, would probably be accused of downplaying the very much existing riots. Or at the very least balkanize coverage.