Wikipedia is no longer what it used to be, and co-founder Larry Sanger knows exactly why.
“Wikipedia can be used to advance a particular social and political agenda,” Sanger tells James Poulos on “Zero Hour.” “This becomes evident only if you know a lot about the topic. So sometimes the only people who are really qualified to tell whether a treatment of a topic is neutral are the people who know a lot about the topic.”
“It’s gotten really, really bad, though, in the Trump years, I mean really noticeably,” he continues, “and I think that is what sort of enlightened people about the problem. So while conservatives and Libertarian and anti-establishment types, they generally continue to despise Wikipedia, this seems to have had little impact on Wikipedia itself.”
“Why would it?” he adds. “This is a feature of the mainstream media. They’re not going to change, and Wikipedia now is essentially a summary of what the mainstream media thinks, at least when it comes to current events, politics, social issues, and so forth.”
However, it’s not just the twisting of the truth to fit a political agenda that’s bothered the co-founder, but the lack of care taken to stop others from spreading horrifying imagery on the website.
This became an issue to Sanger when he was enlightened to the existence of pedophile rings and “graphic representations of child rape on Wikipedia.” He reported it to the FBI in 2010.
“It didn’t do any good. They didn’t follow up. It’s still there. That did change my views insofar as I felt now it’s important to speak out about this, especially in this context,” he explains. “They’re not trying to hide their disdain at all any more, and from my point of view, it felt like simply speaking about such things as a moral imperative has emboldened me to say things that I have believed for many years.”
Want more from James Poulos?
To enjoy more of James’s visionary commentary on politics, tech, ideas, and culture, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.
