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Wikipedia - The Online Credibility Gap
Recently, John Seigenthaler Sr., who was an administrative assistant to Robert Kennedy, was accused of having been involved in the assassinations of the Kennedy brothers. This man was one of the pall bearers at Robert Kennedy's funeral. The inflammatory content was deleted from Wikipedia after Mr. Seigenthaler contacted the company. "Wikipedia is a flawed and irresponsible research tool," Seigenthaler wrote.
The problem involved with an on-line encyclopedia is that we have no idea whether we are reading a person who is established in the field of study and research which is being discoursed on, or someone with a selfish aim or motive. For all we know, Wikipedia may contain articles of great scholarly value. How do we choose between a credible offering and one that contains falsehoods and errors?
Tom and I personally choose to rely upon tried and true references from our own bookshelves for research into the many areas we are interested in, two of which are mythology and history. We find that we can be relatively certain that the person writing the article or book is an acknowledged expert in that field, and we can take his or her words as being at least from a scholarly and educated point of view.
We noticed that an artist at an art site we are members of had quoted Wikipedia as regards Irish history and mythology, however from a Scottish point of view. While everyone has the right to their own perspective, there are known authorities as regards the history of the Celts in general, including their mythologies. One of these is Barry Cunliffe, Professor of European Archeology at Oxford University, and a noted historian of the Celts. He wrote “The Ancient Celts”, which is an authoritative book on the subject of the migration of these peoples. We have a copy of this wonderful book in our home.
This artist apparently has some kind of ax to grind with someone, but didn't do their homework very carefully. I am not sure if this narrative is directed towards Tom and myself, but given recent history, feel that it probably is. Thus is born this topic.
From Wikipedia:
“Gaelic mythology
Because of the close linguistic links between Ulster and the west of Scotland much of Gaelic mythology was imported and infact created in Scotland. The Ulster Cycle, set around the beginning of the Christian era, consists of a group of heroic stories dealing with the lives of Conchobar mac Nessa, king of Ulster, the great hero Cuchulainn, and of their friends, lovers, and enemies. These are the Ulaid, or people of the North-Eastern corner of Ireland and the action of the stories centres round the royal court at Emain Macha, close to the modern city of Armagh. The Ulaid had close links with Gaelic Scotland, where Cuchulainn is said to have learned the arts of war.
Scottish mythology”
The following is directly from the artists image narrative after quoting Wikipedia:
“The sad thing is that some individuals are so wrapped up in their own little universe that they fail even to understand that many people have shared heritages and some of those shared heritages were first found in another’s mythology and then brought into their heritage at some later time. Try as they might those facts escape them since the facts rip to shreds their carefully crafted fictions.
Being proud of one’s heritage and myths is always understood, but when those myths and heritages can only be of one person’s idea of what can and can not be then you have a myopic view of those myths and heritages. Only those that are so self-absorbed and rigid in thought think that their view of history and the importance of the myths and legends is the only proper manner in which to present them. Is that not the action of a bully?”
My recommendation to anyone is to do research before attempting to expound on any subject, read with comprehension, and make an educated statement. Otherwise, they will come across as the fool.
The problem involved with an on-line encyclopedia is that we have no idea whether we are reading a person who is established in the field of study and research which is being discoursed on, or someone with a selfish aim or motive. For all we know, Wikipedia may contain articles of great scholarly value. How do we choose between a credible offering and one that contains falsehoods and errors?
Tom and I personally choose to rely upon tried and true references from our own bookshelves for research into the many areas we are interested in, two of which are mythology and history. We find that we can be relatively certain that the person writing the article or book is an acknowledged expert in that field, and we can take his or her words as being at least from a scholarly and educated point of view.
We noticed that an artist at an art site we are members of had quoted Wikipedia as regards Irish history and mythology, however from a Scottish point of view. While everyone has the right to their own perspective, there are known authorities as regards the history of the Celts in general, including their mythologies. One of these is Barry Cunliffe, Professor of European Archeology at Oxford University, and a noted historian of the Celts. He wrote “The Ancient Celts”, which is an authoritative book on the subject of the migration of these peoples. We have a copy of this wonderful book in our home.
This artist apparently has some kind of ax to grind with someone, but didn't do their homework very carefully. I am not sure if this narrative is directed towards Tom and myself, but given recent history, feel that it probably is. Thus is born this topic.
From Wikipedia:
“Gaelic mythology
Because of the close linguistic links between Ulster and the west of Scotland much of Gaelic mythology was imported and infact created in Scotland. The Ulster Cycle, set around the beginning of the Christian era, consists of a group of heroic stories dealing with the lives of Conchobar mac Nessa, king of Ulster, the great hero Cuchulainn, and of their friends, lovers, and enemies. These are the Ulaid, or people of the North-Eastern corner of Ireland and the action of the stories centres round the royal court at Emain Macha, close to the modern city of Armagh. The Ulaid had close links with Gaelic Scotland, where Cuchulainn is said to have learned the arts of war.
Scottish mythology”
The following is directly from the artists image narrative after quoting Wikipedia:
“The sad thing is that some individuals are so wrapped up in their own little universe that they fail even to understand that many people have shared heritages and some of those shared heritages were first found in another’s mythology and then brought into their heritage at some later time. Try as they might those facts escape them since the facts rip to shreds their carefully crafted fictions.
Being proud of one’s heritage and myths is always understood, but when those myths and heritages can only be of one person’s idea of what can and can not be then you have a myopic view of those myths and heritages. Only those that are so self-absorbed and rigid in thought think that their view of history and the importance of the myths and legends is the only proper manner in which to present them. Is that not the action of a bully?”
My recommendation to anyone is to do research before attempting to expound on any subject, read with comprehension, and make an educated statement. Otherwise, they will come across as the fool.
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