User:Veritycheck
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The Truth is my goal, guide, and calling card.
I identify myself as a world citizen before all else. That being said, I acknowledge that living in the following countries has added to my experience, had a part in shaping the person I am today, and undoubtedly played a factor in the articles I choose to edit. 
Wikipedia: “The free encyclopedia" or “You get what you pay for”
To all who come to Wikipedia in search of enlightenment:
Let it be one step but not the last. Let it serve as a springboard for further research but not as your final unquestionable source. You can only expect to find here what has already been stated elsewhere, and that, unfortunately, does not always equate to the TRUTH. So, lastly and most importantly, whatever you take away from Wikipedia, take it with a grain of salt.
Why Wikipedia is not a Reliable Source
The Top 10 Reasons Students Cannot Cite or Rely On Wikipedia
How much should we trust Wikipedia?
Reflection
“Duncan, have I not told you that when you think you know something, that is a most perfect barrier against learning?” ― Frank Herbert, from the novel God Emperor of Dune
"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance; it is the illusion of knowledge." ― Stephen Hawking
"I was called a terrorist yesterday, but when I came out of jail, many people embraced me, including my enemies, and that is what I normally tell other people who say those who are struggling for liberation in their country are terrorists. I tell them that I was also a terrorist yesterday, but, today, I am admired by the very people who said I was one." - Nelson Mandela
"Whenever Israel faces a public relations debacle such as the Intifada or international pressure to resolve the Israel-Palestine conflict, American Jewish organizations orchestrate this extravaganza called the 'new anti-Semitism.' The purpose is several-fold. First, it is to discredit any charges by claiming the person is an anti-Semite. It's to turn Jews into the victims, so that the victims are not the Palestinians any longer. As people like Abraham Foxman of the ADL put it, the Jews are being threatened by a new holocaust. It's a role reversal – the Jews are now the victims, not the Palestinians. So it serves the function of discrediting the people leveling the charge. It's no longer Israel that needs to leave the Occupied Territories; it's the Arabs who need to free themselves of the anti-Semitism." - Norman G. Finkelstein
List of Articles Created:
Frivolous distractions to keep me sane when not editing articles related to the Israeli Arab conflict
| Gorilla Glass | The Catch Trap | The Summer Queen | Granny Dumping |
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Why I donate my free time to Wikipedia – the answer might surprise you.
It all started back in 2010 with no less than an innocuous falafel ball, but one that carried a lot of baggage with it; namely the intractable Israeli Arab conflict. I had come to the article to read about Falafel and there to my surprise was a statement that was completely untrue. I know my falafel! It was probably the first time, but certainly not the last by any means, that I realized Wikipedia was not entirely accurate and included false facts. What is more, the article, as I learned, was “Good-rated”, a rating that lends more authority to it. This only drew more consternation. The erroneous information included served as a tool of cultural propaganda for one side of the conflict.
So what did I do? I became an editor for no other reason than to correct that single misleading piece of information and boy did it bring down a storm around me. To some, it was as if my edit sought to throw out of balance the status quo in the Middle East.
What followed then was a mad dash to get up to speed. In the course of perhaps a week, I learned about the basics of editing, talk pages, consensus, sourcing, RfC’s, NPOV, reliable sources, the reliable sources noticeboard, templates, and having Good rated articles re-reviewed. I was instantly labeled a sock-puppet and had to find out what that meant and how to defend myself against such an accusation. In an instant, I lost my innocence/ignorance and discovered that editing Wikipedia was a serious battleground not for the fainthearted. A whirlwind ensued with a lot of pure nastiness hurled at me from a particular band of editors I had stumbled upon. I was thus initiated into the Wikipedia’s seedy underground world of cliques, those who help each other, in this case, to suppress fact offering up fiction in its place. Not on a level playing field and surrounded by tag-team reverters, I found myself trying to go up a river whose current was stronger than me. That after all, is precisely why these cliques exist, namely to maintain control of a preferred version of an article whether based on fact or not.
This just spurred me on. I paddled furiously faster calling in the cavalry via an RfC to the general Wikipedia community inviting their input which ultimately outweighed and squashed the clique's chosen edit. The error was finally expunged with a well sourced edit replacing the false one. No doubt the balance of power shifted in the Middle East as a result that day!
Truth is my goal.
Why had I come to Wikipedia? Because there was untruth. What lesson did I learn from that first experience? One, that Wikipedia does not concern itself overly much with truth, but rather on what has been repeated in the general media whether right or wrong. It's ruled by the lowest common denominator, not the highest. Two, that cliques with their own agendas have the power to manipulate the encyclopedia using it as a platform and forum for their own propaganda. This is certainly not always the case, but it's undeniably true for some of its most important parts that have the ability to sway public opinion. Wikipedia can be a tool for good, but equally can be a source of misinformation and propaganda used by some to win their wars. That makes it very powerful indeed. Thus, there is the necessity to remain extremely vigilant, scour out every falsity within it vast banks of data to safeguard, that at the end of the day, more good was done than harm. Veritycheck✔️ (talk) 19:21, 23 September 2018 (UTC)