CIA editing Wikipedia – Congressional investigation underway
Tucker interviews co-founder of Wikipedia, Larry Sanger who is now challenging its legitimacy and how the information site has evolved into a disinformation tool of the left.
Larry Sanger [00:11:07] Well, I think it happened like this. I think Wikipedia developed in sort of in tandem with the development of media. So basically as media from the founding of Wikipedia 2001 to about 2012 or so became solidified in a center left establishment standpoint. So if you were to read Wikipedia from 2012 or so, 2010, it read a lot like the New York Times or the BBC. I remember saying that at the time. And then especially around about 2016 and maybe a few years before that, the media. A landscape changed almost overnight so that once stayed mainstream sources became totally biased. They stated in their own voice that the president was lying and so forth. And racist. And racist, exactly. Racist. Tucker Carlson is a conspiracy theorist. So for example, and that of course then was echoed in Wikipedia. So Wikipedia feels perfectly free to say that Donald Trump is telling lies and that various pundits are conspiracy theorists.
Tucker [00:12:52] Here’s my question. I mean, so Wikipedia became a weapon of ideological theological war used to destroy its enemies. Of course, and that’s what it remains. Someone had to allow that. And that’s so far from what it was created to be. In fact, it’s the opposite. It’s the mirror image of what it created to to be that you have to ask like, was there a fight over that? Who allowed it? Like if you’re getting to the point where you’re disallowing quote fringe theories or conspiracy theorists or some other term made up by the CIA to hide its secrets, someone has to like, okay that. What was that process?
Larry Sanger [00:13:34] It’s a good question. You can look at it from an organic point of view. I can’t tell you what was going on behind the scenes. If there were any puppet masters that were controlling the process, I don’t know. What I can tell you is that over the years, conservatives, libertarians were just pushed out. In many cases, well, there is a whole. Army of administrators, hundreds of them who are constantly blocking people that they have ideological disagreements with. And that’s not new. So if somebody really does become a problem from their perspective, then they can be simply gotten rid of on a pretext. It’s very difficult now. It’s possible, it’s possible. But it’s very for conservatives to get into Wikipedia and actually play the game. But you have to play the games. And that means you have walk on eggshells. So the point is it wasn’t always like this. Over the years, basically, the left consolidated its power. The way I like to put it is that you know, the left. Has it’s marched through the institutions. And when Wikipedia appeared, it was one of the institutions that they marched through.
Tucker [00:15:15] The difference is it’s brand new. So like I grew up in this country. I’ve never believed in Harvard. It’s absurd. I’ve always thought it was absurd. I really believed in Wikipedia. I sent money to, I mean, you can check the records. I have sent money, like significant money to Wikipedia because I was so thrilled by its existence. So thrilled. And so it wasn’t always this. And now it’s like the leading source of dishonesty or I would say disinformation. I mean most topics in Wikipedia seem totally straight to me. But if you go to anything that intersects, any topic that intersects with theology, politics, ideology, power, and you know something about the topic. And in my case, a couple of topics that I have firsthand knowledge, direct knowledge of it, they lie. They leave out key information. They load up the top of the entry with either superlatives or insults that are not, they’re totally subjective and insane. Far right conspiracy theory. I’m with a straight face like. If you’re calling someone a far right conspiracy theorist before even explaining to me who this person is, then you’re a propagandist. You’re a liar.
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