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RFC on Various Proposed Edits

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Which of the following seven additions should be made to the article?

Each of the proposed additions is described, and is then followed by a Survey section. Answer Yes in each of the Survey sections to include the material or No to exclude the material. Be brief and concise in the Survey, and do not respond to other editors. A Threaded Discussion section is provided for discussion following each item, in which the most important rule is civility.


Item 1. Paragraph on Douglas Murray "The Suicide of Europe"

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Should the following paragraph be added to the article? The 2018 video "The Suicide of Europe" about immigration to Europe, presented by author Douglas Murray drew criticism in the media, with Sludge's Alex Kotch contending that the video's "rhetoric of 'suicide' and 'annihilation' evokes the common white nationalist trope of 'white genocide'".[1] Kotch interviewed Mark Pitcavage, a fellow at the Anti-Defamation League's Center on Extremism, who said that while he didn't consider the video fascist or white nationalist, there was "certainly prejudice inherent in the video" and that it was "filled with anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim rhetoric".[2] The Southern Poverty Law Center described the video as a "dog whistle to the extreme right",[3] while Evan Halper in the Los Angeles Times said the video echoed some of the talking points of the alt-right.[4]

References

  1. ^ Kotch, Alex (27 December 2018). "Who funds PragerU's anti-Muslim content?". Sludge. Archived from the original on 8 November 2020. Retrieved 20 December 2020.
  2. ^ Kotch, Alex (27 December 2018). "Who funds PragerU's anti-Muslim content?". Sludge. Archived from the original on 8 November 2020. Retrieved 20 December 2020.
  3. ^ Brendan, Brendan Joel (7 June 2018). "PragerU's Influence". SPLC Southern Poverty Law Center. Archived from the original on 12 December 2020. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
  4. ^ Halper, Evan (23 August 2019). "How a Los Angeles-based conservative became one of the internet's biggest sensations". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 18 December 2020. Retrieved 5 January 2021. Prager says he disavows the alt-right ideology that has gained ground in the Trump era, but the online lessons often echo some of the movement's talking points. A video of Dinesh D'Souza, the right-wing author, opining on why Western cultures are superior to others has been viewed 4.7 million times, for example. Another, featuring Douglas Murray, the British author of several books about Europe and immigration, laments that North African and Middle Eastern immigrants have been permitted to destroy European culture by refusing to assimilate. It has 6.7 million views

Survey on Item 1

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Threaded Discussion of Item 1

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Item 2. Paragraph on video "The Charlottesville Lie"

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Should the following paragraph be added to the article? The August 2018 video "The Charlottesville Lie" presented by CNN presenter Steve Cortes contested the claim that in the wake of the Unite the Right rally Donald Trump had used the phrase "very fine people on both sides" to refer to neo-Nazis. Cortes said in the video, which was later retweeted by Trump himself, that the media had committed "journalistic malfeasance" in reporting it as such.[1] The Forward's Aiden Pink and Mother Jones' Tim Murphy criticised the video, with Murphy calling it an attempt to "rewrite the History of Charlottesville",[2][3] while University of Virginia professor Larry Sabato bluntly rejected the notion that Trump was not referring to the far right with his "both sides" remark, saying that "anybody who tries to pretend that [Trump] wasn't encouraging the white nationalists [at Charlottesville] is simply putting their head in the sand".[4] Dennis Prager himself contended in The Australian that Google placed the video on YouTube's restricted list within hours of it being uploaded in an act of politically motivated censorship.[5] Cortes ceased working for CNN in January 2020, saying that he was "forced out" of the network for making the PragerU video defending Trump.[6]

References

  1. ^ Wagner, John; Parker, Ashley (14 August 2019). "Trump shares controversial video recasting his Charlottesville comments". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2 December 2020. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
  2. ^ Murphy, Tim (3 September 2020). "Donald Trump and His Allies Are Trying to Rewrite the History of Charlottesville". Mother Jones. Archived from the original on 11 December 2020. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
  3. ^ Pink, Aiden (9 August 2019). "WATCH: Biden Confronts Breitbart Journalist Claiming Trump Didn't Praise Charlottesville Marchers". The Forward. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  4. ^ Hawes, Spencer (7 August 2019). "Video Reopens Debate On Trump's Charlottesville Comments". News. Retrieved 6 January 2021. {{cite web}}: Text "VPM" ignored (help)
  5. ^ Praeger, Dennis (8 August 2019). "Thou shalt have no other gods but Google". The Australian. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
  6. ^ Brest, Mike (21 January 2020). "Trump defender says he was ousted by CNN for condemning 'the Charlottesville lie'". Washington Examiner. Archived from the original on 6 December 2020. Retrieved 6 January 2021.

Survey on Item 2

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Threaded Discussion of Item 2

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Item 3. Material on PragerU platforming far-right activists

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Survey on Item 3

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Threaded Discussion of Item 3

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Item 4. Material from Data & Society

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Should the following paragraph be added to the article? PragerU's videos on controversial topics are often highly visible and accessible through YouTube's search engine, with a report by the Data & Society Research Institute noting that a YouTube search for "social justice" returned the PragerU video "What is social justice?" that was highly critical of the concept as the first result.[1]

References

  1. ^ Lewis, Rebecca (2018). "Alternative Influence: Broadcasting the Reactionary Right on YouTube" (PDF). Data & Society Research Institute. p. 31. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 December 2020. Retrieved 6 January 2021.

Survey on Item 4

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Threaded Discussion of Item 4

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Item 5. Material about PragerU's videos with Owen Benjamin

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Should the following material be added to the article? PragerU received criticism for producing two videos in 2018 featuring comedian Owen Benjamin, who had attracted controversy for mocking Stoneman Douglas High School shooting survivor David Hogg, making racist and homophobic slurs in his material, and promoting conspiracy theories.[1][2] In February 2019, Benjamin attracted negative publicity for making anti-semitic remarks,[3] and in April 2019 the Jewish Telegraph Agency's Bethany Mandel reported that he had made a "full-blown descent into Holocaust denial and anti-Semitism", while noting that his appearances on PragerU had helped him "maintain a limited degree of visibility in the conservative world.[4] PragerU later removed their videos with Benjamin from their website and from YouTube.[5]

References

  1. ^ Initial criticism in February 2019: G, Cristina López (4 February 2019). "PragerU YouTube video features bigoted conspiracy theorist Owen Benjamin". Media Matters for America.
  2. ^ Subsequent criticism in July 2019: Gladstone, Benjamin (11 July 2019). "White House Disinvited Cartoonist Over Anti-Semitism - But Kept Others Who Promoted Similar Ideas". The Forward. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  3. ^ Holt, Jared (12 February 2019). "Owen Benjamin: Another 'Red Pill' Overdose Victim". Right Wing Watch. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  4. ^ Mandel, Bethany (8 April 2019). "How did conservative comedian Owen Benjamin became a darling of the 'alt-right'?". Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
  5. ^ Fisher, Anthony L. (12 January 2020). "Comedian Adam Carolla's new documentary accidentally reveals that a lot of conservative 'free-speech warriors' are just free-speech tourists". Business Insider. Retrieved 15 January 2021.

Survey on Item 5

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Threaded Discussion of Item 5

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Item 6. Material about PragerU's Robert E. Lee video

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Should the following item be added to the article? In November 2020, PragerU attracted criticism for its video "Who was Robert E. Lee?" in which it defended the historical legacy of the Confederate leader Robert E. Lee and criticized attempts to remove monuments dedicated to him.[1] Brandon Gage of Hill Reporter called the video an "overtly racist jumble of propaganda and historical whitewashing" and objected to the video's claim that Lee should be celebrated for his role in suppressing the slave revolt led by John Brown in 1859.[2] As of January 2021 the video is no longer available on PragerU's website or YouTube, but remains available in an archived form at the Wayback Machine.[1]

References

  1. ^ Montgomery, Peter (21 December 2020). "PragerU's Awful Defense of Statues Honoring Robert E. Lee". Right Wing Watch. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  2. ^ Gage, Brandon (21 December 2020). "Prager University Praises Confederate General Robert E. Lee After His Statue Was Removed From the United States Capitol". Hill Reporter. Archived from the original on 21 December 2020.

Survey on Item 6

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Threaded Discussion of Item 6

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Item 7. Header material including some of the criticisms frequently directed at PragerU

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Should the following material be added to the header of the article? The accuracy and reliability of PragerU's videos has been extensively questioned, with several sources referring to PragerU videos as containing propaganda[1][2][3][4] and misinformation.[5][6] Specific criticisms levelled at PragerU videos have included the claims that they perpetuate views associated with the far-right or alt-right,[7][8][9][10][11] contain controversial speakers,[12] including those linked to the far right,[13][14][15][16] promote racism[17] and Islamophobia,[18] promote misleading information related to the COVID-19 pandemic,[19][20][21][22] and contain misleading information related to climate change.[23][24][25][26]

References

  1. ^ Shea, Brie (30 April 2015). "Fracking Titans Spend Millions Proselytizing School Children". Rewire News Group. Retrieved 15 January 2021. But Prager University is noteworthy in two respects: the program seeks to insert right-wing religious and political propaganda into schools by providing content directly to teachers and students; and it has the generous backing of two of the richest men in the United States.
  2. ^ McMenamin, Lexi (5 December 2020). "Can the Gravel Institute compete with the right-wing YouTube machine?". Mic. Retrieved 15 January 2021. "We saw it as an existential threat, because it's a way of taking young people, and preventing them from being on the left," says Williams. "If you're just looking for an answer to a seemingly innocuous question, like what is the electoral college, or what is American history? If you Google those questions, chances are you're going to find a PragerU video, and they're going to masquerade to you as a university." But "they're not a university," Williams says. "What they are is very clever and very effective propagandists."
  3. ^ Molloy, Parker. "PragerU relies on a veneer of respectability to obscure its propagandist mission". Media Matters for America. Retrieved 2020-11-18.
  4. ^ Jackson, Gita (10 January 2020). "The Gravel Institute Is Trying to Make PragerU, But Good". VICE. Retrieved 15 January 2021. The Gravel Institute is taking aim at PragerU, a YouTube channel that spreads disinformation and right wing propaganda. The YouTubers who have already tried wish them good luck—they'll need it.
  5. ^ Silverman, Craig; Mac, Ryan (13 August 2020). "Facebook's Preferential Treatment Of US Conservatives Puts Its Fact-Checking Program In Danger". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  6. ^ Solon, Olivia (8 August 2020). "Sensitive to claims of bias, Facebook relaxed misinformation rules for conservative pages". NBC News. Retrieved 15 January 2021. In another case in late May, a Facebook employee filed a misinformation escalation for PragerU, after a series of fact-checking labels were applied to several similar posts suggesting polar bear populations had not been decimated by climate change and that a photo of a starving animal was used as a "deliberate lie to advance the climate change agenda." This claim was fact-checked by one of Facebook's independent fact-checking partners, Climate Feedback, as false and meant that the PragerU page had "repeat offender" status and would potentially be banned from advertising.
  7. ^ Bernstein, Joseph (March 3, 2018). "How PragerU is winning the Right Wing culture war without Donald Trump". BuzzFeed News. Archived from the original on February 14, 2019. Retrieved March 12, 2018.
  8. ^ Franz, Barbara (2020). "The New Right on American Campuses: Challenges for Higher Education". Digital Culture & Education. 12 (1). ISSN 1836-8301. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  9. ^ Kotch, Alex (27 December 2018). "Who funds PragerU's anti-Muslim content?". Sludge. Archived from the original on 8 November 2020. Retrieved 20 December 2020.
  10. ^ Halper, Evan (23 August 2019). "How a Los Angeles-based conservative became one of the internet's biggest sensations". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 18 December 2020. Retrieved 5 January 2021. Prager says he disavows the alt-right ideology that has gained ground in the Trump era, but the online lessons often echo some of the movement's talking points. A video of Dinesh D'Souza, the right-wing author, opining on why Western cultures are superior to others has been viewed 4.7 million times, for example. Another, featuring Douglas Murray, the British author of several books about Europe and immigration, laments that North African and Middle Eastern immigrants have been permitted to destroy European culture by refusing to assimilate. It has 6.7 million views
  11. ^ Brendan, Brendan Joel (7 June 2018). "PragerU's Influence". SPLC Southern Poverty Law Center. Archived from the original on 12 December 2020. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
  12. ^ Kaplan, Alex (9 August 2016). "Here are the extremist figures going to the White House social media summit". Media Matters for America. Retrieved 15 January 2021. PragerU offers a platform to extremists. PragerU has offered a platform to extremist figures, including anti-Semitic bigot and conspiracy theorist Owen Benjamin and anti-LGBTQ bigot Steven Crowder. In his five-minute rant for PragerU, Crowder took issue with Columbus Day conversations centered on America's original inhabitants in a video featuring racist cartoon depictions of indigenous people. PragerU is also home to a podcast hosted by former TPUSA Communications Director Candace Owens, who raised her profile through YouTube and Infowars punditry that included dismissing white supremacy and likening Black Lives Matter protesters to animals. She has also defended Adolf Hitler's actions by saying, "If Hitler just wanted to make Germany great and have things run well, OK, fine. ... I have no problems with nationalism."
  13. ^ Initial Owen Benjaim criticism in February 2019: G, Cristina López (4 February 2019). "PragerU YouTube video features bigoted conspiracy theorist Owen Benjamin". Media Matters for America.
  14. ^ Subsequent criticism in July 2019: Gladstone, Benjamin (11 July 2019). "White House Disinvited Cartoonist Over Anti-Semitism - But Kept Others Who Promoted Similar Ideas". The Forward. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  15. ^ Holt, Jared (12 February 2019). "Owen Benjamin: Another 'Red Pill' Overdose Victim". Right Wing Watch. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  16. ^ Subsequent Owen Benjamin criticism in July 2019: Gladstone, Benjamin (11 July 2019). "White House Disinvited Cartoonist Over Anti-Semitism - But Kept Others Who Promoted Similar Ideas". The Forward. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  17. ^ Lopez G., Cristina (8 October 2018). "PragerU posts a video about Christopher Columbus that features a racist depiction of indigenous people". Media Matters for America. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  18. ^ Bridge Initiative Team (17 March 2020). "Factsheet: PragerU". Bridge: A Georgetown University Initiative. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  19. ^ Peters, Jeremy W. (1 April 2020). "Alarm, Denial, Blame: The Pro-Trump Media's Coronavirus Distortion". New York Times. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  20. ^ Sommer, Will (16 May 2020). "Dennis Prager Licks Dirty Forks To Show COVID Who's Boss". Daily Beast. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  21. ^ Reuters Staff (3 December 2020). "Fact check: Sweden has not achieved herd immunity, is not proof that lockdowns are useless". Reuters. Retrieved 15 January 2021. {{cite web}}: |author1= has generic name (help)
  22. ^ Moran, Lee (29 April 2020). "Conservative Pundit's Hot Take On Coronavirus Lockdown Gets The Slapdown It Deserves". Huffington Post. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  23. ^ Silverman, Craig; Mac, Ryan (13 August 2020). "Facebook's Preferential Treatment Of US Conservatives Puts Its Fact-Checking Program In Danger". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  24. ^ Solon, Olivia (8 August 2020). "Sensitive to claims of bias, Facebook relaxed misinformation rules for conservative pages". NBC News. Retrieved 15 January 2021. In another case in late May, a Facebook employee filed a misinformation escalation for PragerU, after a series of fact-checking labels were applied to several similar posts suggesting polar bear populations had not been decimated by climate change and that a photo of a starving animal was used as a "deliberate lie to advance the climate change agenda." This claim was fact-checked by one of Facebook's independent fact-checking partners, Climate Feedback, as false and meant that the PragerU page had "repeat offender" status and would potentially be banned from advertising.
  25. ^ Carrington, Damien (8 October 2020). "Climate denial ads on Facebook seen by millions, report finds". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 January 2021. Analysis of the ads run by these groups found 51 examples of disinformation, including an ad paid for by the conservative group PragerU that ran to 1 October. Its headline was: "Make no doubt about it: the hysteria over climate change is to sell you Big Government control." The accompanying video said: "Fossil fuels are not an existential threat … The Green New Deal is an existential threat."
  26. ^ Roberts, David (27 January 2020). "YouTube has a big climate misinformation problem it can't solve". Vox. Retrieved 15 January 2021.

Survey on Item 7

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Threaded Discussion of Item 7

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Other Threaded Discussion

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