Invidious labels of Chip Berlet in the SPLC Intelligence Report
[ed. note: the use and license granted to Chip Berlet of Political Resaearch Associates as cited in the SPLC's organ Intelligence Review, was deemed "clearly wrong" by Fred Bauder, Wikipedia Arbitration Chairman, the internal review committee charged to "self-regulate the dissemination of offensive material" refered to by the U.S. 4th Circuit of Appeals Court in Zeran v. America Online Inc., Case No. 97-1523 (Nov. 12, 1997). Yet no internal regulatory action was taken against the offending party. In fact punitive, or "coercive" action was taken against the complaining party.]
10) Describing an organization with an unfavorable adjective that they don't apply to themselves is inappropriate. Such characterizations are properly ascribed to critics, see Wikipedia:Neutral point of view#Fairness and sympathetic tone.
Comment by Arbitrators:
This applies in the present case to the use of "neoconfederate" by Willmcw as a derogatory label of Ludwig von Mises Institute and probably to behavior by Rangerdude also. Fred Bauder 18:17, 18 November 2005 (UTC)
Comment by parties:
I agree in general with this principle and favor it over the alternative. Regarding my own edits, the only thing I can think of that approaches it is using the description "leftist" for certain liberal groups, and I would be more than happy to remove any of these if that meant ridding all the unfavorable adjectives that are thrown around by Willmcw. It should also be noted that in many of the cases where I advocated adding "leftist" it was explicitly done to counterbalance the use of pejoratives like "neoconfederate" against conservative groups by Willmcw, after I had tried unsuccessfully to get him to remove that. Since he wouldn't remove his attack terms agains conservative groups I added "leftist" to the liberal groups mentioned so the article would at least be consistent and "neutral" in the sense that it applied the terms to both sides. It should also be noted that Willmcw found this unacceptable just like he found removing his own attack terms unacceptable, and revert warred extensively to keep the attack term on conservatives but simultaneously remove it from liberals at Claremont Institute. I have also generally been a proponent of having no attack terms rather than having attack terms against all, the Claremont Institute dispute included where I indicated as much on the talk page. When this principle has been shunned and outright disregarded, it has almost always been Willmcw who advocated a position of "having his cake and eating it too," i.e. keeping his attack terms on conservatives while removing any other attack term about liberals. Rangerdude 19:10, 18 November 2005 (UTC)
It is clearly wrong in both cases. Fred Bauder 19:41, 18 November 2005 (UTC)
You may observe him engaging in a similar strategy of straw man projections in response to evidence I presented of him inconsistently removing the term "controversial" from the opening sentence of an article on a liberal groups he supports while pushing to add it to the opening sentence of a conservative one he opposes. After I showed this behavior, Willmcw dug up every single instance I had ever used the word "controversy" or "controversial" anywhere and in any context on Wikipedia, then maliciously suggested that it was the same thing. Far from it, the issue was never the simple use of the word "controversial" but the inconsistent and POV application of it in contexts designed to denigrate conservatives in the opening sentence of articles about them while insulating liberals from a similar treatment.
His allegation that I "made the Neo-confederate article on attack on those who have used the term" is yet another falsehood. If anything, I have added neutrality to what was he sought to make into a very biased article against conservatives. Willmcw was essentially trying to use this article as a place to post lengthy lists of conservative individuals and groups who he could then label "neoconfederate" for political reasons based on the attacks of far left wing editorial comments from Morris Dees and the Southern Poverty Law Center. Throughout our edits there, he repeatedly attempted to diminish or remove any material that indicated the term also has pejorative connotations, that many of the groups who are accused of being "neoconfederate" dispute the use of the term, and that many of the supposed "watchdog" organizations that use the term apply it are highly partisan political groups on the left who use McCarthy-style scatter shot techniques to create guilt-by-association and falsely portray conservative political figures as white supremacists - e.g. saying George W. Bush has ties to "neoconfederate" movements. What's really going on here gets back to the issue that spurred this section - Willmcw's repeated insertion of "neoconfederate" as a pejorative attack description for conservative organizations and persons. Confronted with evidence of a record 15 successive additions and reverts to retain the term "neoconfederate" as a pejorative in one single article, which he also incidentally stalked me to, he has now taken to projecting his own behavior onto me. Thus he accuses me of adding "leftist" to liberal groups, which I did indeed do - but only in isolated instances, the most notable being an attempt to counterbalance Willmcw's constant reinsertions of "neoconfederate" at the Claremont Institute. Insofar as these comparatively minor indiscretions conflict with NPOV, I have been forthright in saying both here and elsewhere that I'm more than happy to see them removed. As I documented previously, I even advocated the removal of all attack terms, both left and right, on Talk:Claremont Institute as my preferred position and as a compromise we could all accept. Willmcw refused this. Furthermore - and this is the crux of the matter here - I have not done anything even remotely close to Willmcw's egregious, intentional, and disruptive sustained patterns of invidious term insertions as witnessed on Claremont Institute and other articles with his attack term "neoconfederate." Rangerdude 03:11, 20 November 2005 (UTC)
2. The use "invidious labels" is an important violation of NPOV. "If we're going to characterize disputes fairly, we should present competing views with a consistently positive, sympathetic tone."Wikipedia:Neutral point of view#Fairness and sympathetic tone. I have already noted how Rangerdude (and others) added hundreds of words of unsympathetic material about the SPLC in order to cast their criticism of the LVMI in an unfavorable light. I can show, though haven't yet, how he has made the Neo-confederate article on attack on those who have used the term rather than a discussion of the movement the term describes. I have shown how he has made a regular and frequent practice of describing subjects as "controversial", doing so on dozens of occasions in order to make the described groups appear less sympathetic. I given evidence that he added more than 700 words of criticism to a 96 article about Sheila Jackson Lee, including every bit of nasty gossip available.[58] I have noted that he has repeatedly called some subjects "left wing" (which he describes as a "pejorative term"), while changing the characterization of others from "right wing" to "conservative" on account of "NPOV" (and has declined to explain the difference). I have noted in the evidence that he has made a habit of using technical arguments about Wikipedia policies to either retain or remove epithets (or "invious labels") about subjects. Separately, I have also demonstrated how Rangerdude has applied invidious labels, such as "POV pusher" and "stalker" to myself other and editors numerous times, on dozens of occasions.
Taking the example of the article which Rangerdude mentions, the Claremont Institute. RD used a number of invidious labels about the subject in his first draft: "controversy", "cult", "Super-Hawks, Jaffanese Americans, Claremonsters, Lincoln Conservatives, and Claremontistas."[59] About its best known scholar, Henry V. Jafffa, RD has written that its best known scholar, Henry V. Jaffa is "no stranger to controversy...extremely polarizing figure...Some of his works have been criticized for being overly flattering toward Lincoln...became embroiled in a heated controversy with several prominent legal thinkers in the conservative movement...Though he has no scholarly legal training of his own... could be described as bitter and petty...Jaffa's theory was harshly critiqued" and so on.[60]
So after all these invidious labels applied to subjects and editors alike, Rangerdude now criticizes me for adding a single word to one article fifteen times. He further claims that he supports the removal of all negative characterizations, and always has, which appears to me to be hypocritical and inconsistent with his actions throughout his editing career. -Willmcw 02:17, 20 November 2005 (UTC)
Comment by others:
What about a term like conspiracist, see for example here, today [61]. nobs 06:04, 20 November 2005 (UTC)
10) Describing an organization with an unfavorable adjective that they don't apply to themselves is inappropriate. Such characterizations are properly ascribed to critics, see Wikipedia:Neutral point of view#Fairness and sympathetic tone.
Comment by Arbitrators:
This applies in the present case to the use of "neoconfederate" by Willmcw as a derogatory label of Ludwig von Mises Institute and probably to behavior by Rangerdude also. Fred Bauder 18:17, 18 November 2005 (UTC)
Comment by parties:
I agree in general with this principle and favor it over the alternative. Regarding my own edits, the only thing I can think of that approaches it is using the description "leftist" for certain liberal groups, and I would be more than happy to remove any of these if that meant ridding all the unfavorable adjectives that are thrown around by Willmcw. It should also be noted that in many of the cases where I advocated adding "leftist" it was explicitly done to counterbalance the use of pejoratives like "neoconfederate" against conservative groups by Willmcw, after I had tried unsuccessfully to get him to remove that. Since he wouldn't remove his attack terms agains conservative groups I added "leftist" to the liberal groups mentioned so the article would at least be consistent and "neutral" in the sense that it applied the terms to both sides. It should also be noted that Willmcw found this unacceptable just like he found removing his own attack terms unacceptable, and revert warred extensively to keep the attack term on conservatives but simultaneously remove it from liberals at Claremont Institute. I have also generally been a proponent of having no attack terms rather than having attack terms against all, the Claremont Institute dispute included where I indicated as much on the talk page. When this principle has been shunned and outright disregarded, it has almost always been Willmcw who advocated a position of "having his cake and eating it too," i.e. keeping his attack terms on conservatives while removing any other attack term about liberals. Rangerdude 19:10, 18 November 2005 (UTC)
It is clearly wrong in both cases. Fred Bauder 19:41, 18 November 2005 (UTC)
As noted, my first preference, which I repeatedly informed Willmcw of, has been to remove both pejorative terms where they exist. From the Claremont Institute dispute: "That said, I am and always have been supportive of a solution such as BenKovitz's where both (pejorative terms) are taken out and left to their respective articles.[53] Willmcw responded to this in favor of keeping "neoconfederate" but removing "leftist" [54]. Later that day he finally conceded to including them both by quoting Horowitz, but also added a third attack term "right wing pundit" in front of Horowitz's name [55]. I changed this to "conservative pundit" the next day [56] yet Willmcw reverted to "right wing pundit" again about 20 minutes later [57]. Whereas I expressed open willingness and and a preference to removing all the POV adjectives from group and person descriptions, Willmcw's behavior on this article shows him consistently pushing to reinsert those that reflect negatively on the conservative positions. It should also be noted that Claremont Institute was one of the articles that Willmcw stalked me to, and his edits there show a clear pattern of disruption and harassment thus constituting a violation of the wikistalking provisions. Rangerdude 20:43, 18 November 2005 (UTC)Willmcw's claim above that I used "invidious labels" against the Claremont Institute is just plain absurd, and appears to intentionally leave out both the context and content of this edit. The section he quotes about "Super-Hawks, Jaffanese Americans, Claremonsters, Lincoln Conservatives..." was added in a discussion of various nicknames used for the organization, the majority of them self-applied! That list was followed immediately by a source link to the article here on the Claremont Institute's own website where a discussion of the institute's nicknames by Ken Masugi appears. Masugi writes of his own organization: "Norman Podhoretz calls us “Super-Hawks.” Other labels, both serious and jocular, include Lincoln conservative, Declaration of Independence conservative, Claremonster, or (my favorite) Jaffanese American." The Harry Jaffa article (yet another Willmcw stalked me to) is more of the same. The descriptions of Jaffa as "polarizing" and "controversial" come directly out of a section in that article where I described several famous disputes between Jaffa and other conservative intellectuals. In the mid 1990's, for example, Jaffa got into an extremely heated argument in National Review and other conservative publications with Robert Bork over their respective constitutional theories. Both being prominent figures on the right, the dispute turned out to be very polarizing and contributed to an "east coast"/"west coast" rift between conservative think tanks that exist to this day. Naturally, Willmcw finds it in his interest to neglect this context from his presentation of events as well, and this context is what differentiates the edits he's attacking, which I made in good faith to expand article content, and his revert warring to retain ad hominems like "neoconfederate" at the Claremont Institute article and LVMI, which were plainly disruptive.
You may observe him engaging in a similar strategy of straw man projections in response to evidence I presented of him inconsistently removing the term "controversial" from the opening sentence of an article on a liberal groups he supports while pushing to add it to the opening sentence of a conservative one he opposes. After I showed this behavior, Willmcw dug up every single instance I had ever used the word "controversy" or "controversial" anywhere and in any context on Wikipedia, then maliciously suggested that it was the same thing. Far from it, the issue was never the simple use of the word "controversial" but the inconsistent and POV application of it in contexts designed to denigrate conservatives in the opening sentence of articles about them while insulating liberals from a similar treatment.
His allegation that I "made the Neo-confederate article on attack on those who have used the term" is yet another falsehood. If anything, I have added neutrality to what was he sought to make into a very biased article against conservatives. Willmcw was essentially trying to use this article as a place to post lengthy lists of conservative individuals and groups who he could then label "neoconfederate" for political reasons based on the attacks of far left wing editorial comments from Morris Dees and the Southern Poverty Law Center. Throughout our edits there, he repeatedly attempted to diminish or remove any material that indicated the term also has pejorative connotations, that many of the groups who are accused of being "neoconfederate" dispute the use of the term, and that many of the supposed "watchdog" organizations that use the term apply it are highly partisan political groups on the left who use McCarthy-style scatter shot techniques to create guilt-by-association and falsely portray conservative political figures as white supremacists - e.g. saying George W. Bush has ties to "neoconfederate" movements. What's really going on here gets back to the issue that spurred this section - Willmcw's repeated insertion of "neoconfederate" as a pejorative attack description for conservative organizations and persons. Confronted with evidence of a record 15 successive additions and reverts to retain the term "neoconfederate" as a pejorative in one single article, which he also incidentally stalked me to, he has now taken to projecting his own behavior onto me. Thus he accuses me of adding "leftist" to liberal groups, which I did indeed do - but only in isolated instances, the most notable being an attempt to counterbalance Willmcw's constant reinsertions of "neoconfederate" at the Claremont Institute. Insofar as these comparatively minor indiscretions conflict with NPOV, I have been forthright in saying both here and elsewhere that I'm more than happy to see them removed. As I documented previously, I even advocated the removal of all attack terms, both left and right, on Talk:Claremont Institute as my preferred position and as a compromise we could all accept. Willmcw refused this. Furthermore - and this is the crux of the matter here - I have not done anything even remotely close to Willmcw's egregious, intentional, and disruptive sustained patterns of invidious term insertions as witnessed on Claremont Institute and other articles with his attack term "neoconfederate." Rangerdude 03:11, 20 November 2005 (UTC)
2. The use "invidious labels" is an important violation of NPOV. "If we're going to characterize disputes fairly, we should present competing views with a consistently positive, sympathetic tone."Wikipedia:Neutral point of view#Fairness and sympathetic tone. I have already noted how Rangerdude (and others) added hundreds of words of unsympathetic material about the SPLC in order to cast their criticism of the LVMI in an unfavorable light. I can show, though haven't yet, how he has made the Neo-confederate article on attack on those who have used the term rather than a discussion of the movement the term describes. I have shown how he has made a regular and frequent practice of describing subjects as "controversial", doing so on dozens of occasions in order to make the described groups appear less sympathetic. I given evidence that he added more than 700 words of criticism to a 96 article about Sheila Jackson Lee, including every bit of nasty gossip available.[58] I have noted that he has repeatedly called some subjects "left wing" (which he describes as a "pejorative term"), while changing the characterization of others from "right wing" to "conservative" on account of "NPOV" (and has declined to explain the difference). I have noted in the evidence that he has made a habit of using technical arguments about Wikipedia policies to either retain or remove epithets (or "invious labels") about subjects. Separately, I have also demonstrated how Rangerdude has applied invidious labels, such as "POV pusher" and "stalker" to myself other and editors numerous times, on dozens of occasions.
Taking the example of the article which Rangerdude mentions, the Claremont Institute. RD used a number of invidious labels about the subject in his first draft: "controversy", "cult", "Super-Hawks, Jaffanese Americans, Claremonsters, Lincoln Conservatives, and Claremontistas."[59] About its best known scholar, Henry V. Jafffa, RD has written that its best known scholar, Henry V. Jaffa is "no stranger to controversy...extremely polarizing figure...Some of his works have been criticized for being overly flattering toward Lincoln...became embroiled in a heated controversy with several prominent legal thinkers in the conservative movement...Though he has no scholarly legal training of his own... could be described as bitter and petty...Jaffa's theory was harshly critiqued" and so on.[60]
So after all these invidious labels applied to subjects and editors alike, Rangerdude now criticizes me for adding a single word to one article fifteen times. He further claims that he supports the removal of all negative characterizations, and always has, which appears to me to be hypocritical and inconsistent with his actions throughout his editing career. -Willmcw 02:17, 20 November 2005 (UTC)
Comment by others:
What about a term like conspiracist, see for example here, today [61]. nobs 06:04, 20 November 2005 (UTC)
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