Wikiality
The Globe & Mail has an article on Government of Canada computers being used to edit wikipedia entries, thus altering reality. Given the amount of editing that happens on Afghanistan memos by this government, that's not too surprising.
Most of the edits are fairly mundane - Jason Kenney and Dan McTeague have criticism replaced with praise and Paul Martin is called Canada's worst Prime Minister. If you're going to edit wikipedia entries...and I would certainly not suggest that any of my blog readers do...but, if you're going to, here are some edits that might be fun:
-Go through the entire Conservative caucus and say whether or not they are a member of the Quebec nation (e.g. "Lawrence Cannon is a member of the Quebec nation", "Monte Solberg is not a member of the Quebec nation"...)
-Add an entire article on Gilles Duceppe's 24 hour run for the PQ leadership. Add an "endorsements" section with Gilles Duceppe's endorsements being composed of...Gilles Duceppe.
-Add a few extra conditions to the Elizabeth May/Stephane Dion deal. "Stephane Dion agrees to compost at home while, in exchange, Elizabeth May gets the animation rights to a Kyoto the Dog cartoon series."
-"Jean-Pierre Blackburn is a member of the Harper Cabinet, although his actual existence has yet to be confirmed by anyone inside or outside of Ottawa since being sworn in last year."
-"Stephen Harper has looked positively dashing since hiring a taxpayer funded stylist last year."
-"Pat Martin is considered by most to be the one of the best puppeters on Parliament Hill...second only to Stephen Harper."
Most of the edits are fairly mundane - Jason Kenney and Dan McTeague have criticism replaced with praise and Paul Martin is called Canada's worst Prime Minister. If you're going to edit wikipedia entries...and I would certainly not suggest that any of my blog readers do...but, if you're going to, here are some edits that might be fun:
-Go through the entire Conservative caucus and say whether or not they are a member of the Quebec nation (e.g. "Lawrence Cannon is a member of the Quebec nation", "Monte Solberg is not a member of the Quebec nation"...)
-Add an entire article on Gilles Duceppe's 24 hour run for the PQ leadership. Add an "endorsements" section with Gilles Duceppe's endorsements being composed of...Gilles Duceppe.
-Add a few extra conditions to the Elizabeth May/Stephane Dion deal. "Stephane Dion agrees to compost at home while, in exchange, Elizabeth May gets the animation rights to a Kyoto the Dog cartoon series."
-"Jean-Pierre Blackburn is a member of the Harper Cabinet, although his actual existence has yet to be confirmed by anyone inside or outside of Ottawa since being sworn in last year."
-"Stephen Harper has looked positively dashing since hiring a taxpayer funded stylist last year."
-"Pat Martin is considered by most to be the one of the best puppeters on Parliament Hill...second only to Stephen Harper."
-"Jim Flaherty's 2007 budget ended the unproductive era of bickering between the provincial and federal governments, replacing it with a far more productive era of bickering between the provincial and federal governments.
-"Stephane Dion is not a hero. He has never appeared on Heroes. Not even in a guest role.
Labels: Canada's New Government
posted by calgarygrit at
6:54 p.m.
6 Comments:
Somehow I suspect (wink wink, nudge nudge) that altering Wikipedia entries is not the exclusive domain of the current government of Canada, err, the Stephen Harper One Man Band. I suspect that upon closer examination, we might find that staffers of all federal parties come to the table with dirty hands.
By
Sean Cummings, at 1:23 a.m.
You mean Paul Martin WASN'T Canada's worst prime minister?
By
Rob Huck, at 11:04 a.m.
I did some editing to the Wikipedia Star Wars page once. The changes are still there too, which is pretty cool.
That superfluous comment out of the way, just because you're in government doesn't mean you don't get to play on the Internet and have fun like everybody else. The scare tactic of labelling the changes as part of a "propaganda" technique by those big bad blue Tories is just that, and one that is really reaching for a way to criticize this government. Why not actually challenge them on something important, like their lacklustre climate change policy or their soft push on the many virtues of the mission in Afghanistan? This lame-ass optical politics garbage is contemptible when there are pressing national interests at stake.
By
RGM, at 4:04 p.m.
Positively dashing? Away from the parliamentary press gallery perhaps!(although I can't blame him)
By
Paul MacPhail, at 2:55 a.m.
"Why not actually challenge them on something important, like their lacklustre climate change policy or their soft push on the many virtues of the mission in Afghanistan?"
Good point. These BS tactics work in the sense that they distract us from the real issues.
By
900ft Jesus, at 1:53 p.m.
Here, I do not actually imagine it may work.
By
muebles badajoz, at 3:40 a.m.
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