Main Page - Conservapedia
Conservapedia defines itself as the antithesis to that bastion of knowledge, Wikipedia. It makes the very observant note that Wikipedia is unwholesome and un-Christian, and is overwhelmingly controlled by those darned liberals.
Okay - let's take a look at this thing. It's a bit sparse, obviously due to those leftist pop-up propaganda windows that appear when you surf the net. It's got a nice list of the US Presidents - take a look at this segment from GWB's own page:
Economic issues
Though the liberal media continues to disparage Bush's handling of the economy, they often neglect to report the many aspects of the economy that Bush has improved. For example, during his term Exxon Mobile has posted the largest profit of any company in a signle year, and executive salaries have greatly increased as well [5]. This is due to changes in the stock market that lead to a record high in 2006, recovering from the Clinton years which lead to the lowest point of the stock market in January 2000 AD since the great depression of 1929 AD, and "Companies are churning out double-digit profit growth" currently.[6] Even the working class is benefiting from the Bush economy, as unemployment hits an all time low in March 2007.[7] Bush worked with Democrats to raise the minimum wage to a more livable level.[8]
Hey, not too far from the truth right? I mean, the fact that executive salaries have increased means that ordinary people are doing well, doesn't it? And Bush did ... try to help ... suggested ... passed ... allowed the Democrats to pass ... never mind.
To be fair, it is changing - the article on Clinton has improved over the one week I've been looking at it. And they eventually got an article on Kennedy, though that is quite short.
But the thing is, will it match Wikipedia? And is the whole user-created, crowd-controlled content just stupid, like Alex Beam says in the NY Times?
Well, as I said to a friend in an email:
Believe Wikipedia. It is based on the theories of economics: the same unseen hand described by Adam Smith that drives markets controls Wikipedia. People's own individual interests in making sure information about what they like and know about is correct will, when such a vast group of people are involved, produce a net force of correct, unbiased information. It is comparable to the idea that you get your bread to the highest quality and cheapest price not because the baker is kind enough to do so: it is because the baker wants to earn a living and edge out competitors.
Anyways, if you do get the chance to edit something, just don't try to be a complete idiot and give out false info, cos you're ruining the essays and projects of a whole generation of school children.
