Is Wikipedia Orwell’s 1984 Newspeak Dictionary?: A proof in the Spanish entry dedicated to Antidarwinism in 2009 and the evolution of this concept 

 

– A guest article presented by Mike Sutton – 

The following article is written by Emilio Cervantes (IRNASA-CSIC. Salamanca Spain)

I was asked to assist in getting this information into the public domain so that it might be discussed by a wider audience. Doing so does not mean that I agree in any way whatsoever with its content, views or conclusions. Dr Mike Sutton

wIKIbbmORONS

Emilio Cervantes

The following is an updated version of an article Published in the blog Biologia y Pensamiento in March 9, 2009.

The idea then proposed was that Wikipedia is the Newspeak Dictionary, predicted by Orwell in his novel 1984. This was supported by the facts related in 2009, and it is now confirmed by the changes done in the Wikipedia articles mentioned here (see at the end)

Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it. Every concept that can ever be needed, will be expressed by exactly one word, with its meaning rigidly defined and all its subsidiary meanings rubbed out and forgotten. Already, in the Eleventh Edition, we’re not far from that point. But the process will still be continuing long after you and I are dead. Every year fewer and fewer words, and the range of consciousness always a little smaller. Even now, of course, there’s no reason or excuse for committing thoughtcrime. It’s merely a question of self-discipline, reality-control. But in the end there won’t be any need even for that. The Revolution will be complete when the language is perfect. Newspeak is Ingsoc and Ingsoc is Newspeak,’ he added with a sort of mystical satisfaction. ‘Has it ever occurred to you, Winston, that by the year 2050, at the very latest, not a single human being will be alive who could understand such a conversation as we are having now?

Orwell, 1984.

Might Wikipedia, the free and democratic encyclopedia, respond to an interest of indoctrination or manipulation? , could it include, between so much information, some with tendentious and manipulative intention in key questions? May we be confronting a wolf dressed with the skin of a lamb?

It seems that the answer to all these questions is going to be yes. That the popular and democratic encyclopaedia might contain here and there, between its entries, some written, corrected and supported, with the main intention of indoctrinating to the masses as propheticallly described Orwell in his novel 1984.

From some time now we find certain similarity between Wikipedia and Orwell’s Newspeak Dictionary. Now and then, an example comes to confirm it, but before entering in the matter, let’s see some fingerprints of newspeak in so popular encyclopaedia. Months ago we saw that the Wikipedia correctors, which are Darwinians, made a censorship to non-Darwinian interpretations of evolution. In the discussion of the article entitled “Biological evolution” this censorship was openly denounced by one of the participants:

La esperanza de que Wiki pudiese ser una fuente de información neutral y plural ha sido arrojada al basurero. La esperanza de que la Internet pudiese ser un medio de democratización del conocimiento está siendo asesinada en este sitio.

(The hope that Wiki could be a source of neutral and plural information has been thrown to the bin. The hope that Internet could be a way of democratization of knowledge is being murdered in this site.)

Another example came when I wanted to include an article commenting on the book of Fernando Vallejo entitled La Tautología Darwinista “The Darwinian Tautology” and Varano (big lizard) erased it, indicating that the comment of the book was a literary critique.

Also it was surprising to verify then that the same authors who write the articles of Biological Evolution in Spanish are those writing on Creationism (in Spanish, creacionismo), supporting the thesis that Creationism is a Darwinian invention. In fact, the word Creationism first appears in Darwin and Huxley’s correspondence.  But… Your attention please!: Faith or religion are not Darwinian inventions, … Creationism is. It departs from the basis that religious beliefs, opinions, or ideas can, in some moment, be confronted with scientific points of view. Something that was already discarded in the times of Galileo.

But there are more examples of manipulative zeal in Wikipedia. For example in the Spanish entry dedicated to Antidarwinism (2009).

The anonymous author, participant in the draft of other entries in Spanish related to education for the citizenship, the laic left, the European citizenship, the separation between Church and State, the Spanish exile in Mexico or the historical memory and others, almost all of them very far away from Science fields, dares he himself alone with Antidarwinism, a concept that would need a solid scientific formation not guaranteed in this author.
This way, the entry offers a notably antiscientific description. To such an end, once Antidarwinism was defined as the position opposite to Darwinism and therefore contrary to the general postulates of the theory of evolution by natural selection; then, instead of indicate which are such postulates and whether or not, they may admit perfectly opposite positions, we enter difficult areas. We continue reading:

Las posiciones antidarwinistas no son uniformes (se puede ser evolucionista pero no darwinista) y se apoyan en variados principios de la religión, el diseño inteligente, el creacionismo, el escepticismo, la magia, lo paranormal, la brujería, la ufología y otras pseudociencias de carácter sobrenatural

The antidarwinian positions are not uniform (it is possible to be an evolutionist but not Darwinist) and they are supported by diverse principles of religion, intelligent design, Creationism, skepticism, magics, paranormal, witchcraft, ufology and other pseudosciences of supernatural character

It is fascinating how fast Darwinian writers find a connexion between antidarwinism and witchcraft, ufology and other pseudosciences of supernatural character. It makes think that they are really worried by their own position close to all these aspects and situated in the middle of the pseudoscience.

But to these confusion we answered, when all this was still visible in 2009:

Not, anonymous author, you are wrong. The only lawful antidarwinism consists of a scientific position that denounces the deficiencies of the Darwinian postulates.

The scientific uselessness of those postulates that you did not want to indicate before but that anyone can read in Wikipedia’s corresponding entry consists in that they are full of mistakes. Therefore, please copy if you want to contribute to make this entry more precise:

Antidarwinism like a fully scientific position rests on two firm fundaments:

1- The poor scientific basis of the Darwinian postulates (Natural selection is a tautology).

2- The historical analysis of contemporary science discovers the predominance of social and economic interests on the scientific presentations and defense of Darwinism.

Everything else is in exceeds. Only serves to create confusion.

It ends here the article published in 2009. Now the entry dedicated to Antidarwinism has disappeared from Spanish Wikipedia and the reader is directed to Historia de las objeciones y críticas a la teoría de la evolución (History of the objections and critics to the evolutionary theory) where some of the Darwinist topics can be read again. For a page dedicated to objections and critics to the evolutionary theory it is surprising to find three illustrations: a phylogenetic tree and two images of Darwin. This demonstrating that even when we don’t want to read about Darwin we are obliged to, or… Do you remember?:

Every year fewer and fewer words, and the range of consciousness always a little smaller…

‘Has it ever occurred to you, Winston, that by the year 2050, at the very latest, not a single human being will be alive who could understand such a conversation as we are having now?

What Next?

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