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wikipediaredoengl199fa20 · 5 years ago

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Kyleigh Burns

Prof. Audrey Golden

ENGL 199

8 December 2020

Wikipedia REDO! Diana, Princess of Wales

Their engagement became official on 24 February 1981.[19] Diana was able to select her own engagement ring.[19] Following the engagement, Diana left her occupation as a nursery teacher's assistant and lived for a short period at Clarence House, which was the home of the Queen Mother.[37] She then lived at Buckingham Palace until the wedding.[37] Ingrid Seward, who wrote a biography on Diana, described the time before the wedding as “lonely” for the princess.[38] Diana was the first Englishwoman to marry the first in line to the throne since Anne Hyde married the future James II over 300 years earlier, and she was also the first royal bride to have a paying job before her engagement.[22][19] She made her first public appearance with Prince Charles in a charity ball in March 1981 at Goldsmiths' Hall, where she met Grace, Princess of Monaco.[37]

Twenty-year-old Diana became Princess of Wales when she married Charles on 29 July 1981. The wedding was held at St Paul's Cathedral, which offered more seating than Westminster Abbey, a church that was generally used for royal nuptials.[22][19] The service was widely described as a "fairytale wedding" and was watched by a global television audience of 750 million people while 600,000 spectators lined the streets to catch a glimpse of the couple en route to the ceremony.[19][39] They had notable vows, as Diana swapped Charles’ middle names and they has requested that they would not say they would obey each other.[39] .[40] Diana wore a dress valued at £9,000 (equivalent to £34,750 in 2019) with a 25-foot (7.62-metre) train.[41]

The couple had residences at Kensington Palace and Highgrove House, near Tetbury. On 5 November 1981, Diana's pregnancy was announced.[45] In January 1982 — 12 weeks into the pregnancy — Diana fell down a staircase at Sandringham, and the royal gynaecologistSir George Pinker was summoned from London. He found that although she had suffered severe bruising, the foetus was uninjured.[46]Diana later confessed that she had intentionally thrown herself down the stairs because she was feeling "so inadequate".[47] In February 1982, pictures of a pregnant Diana in bikini while holidaying was published in the media. The Queen subsequently released a statement and called it "the blackest day in the history of British journalism."[48] On 21 June 1982, Diana gave birth to the couple's first son, Prince William.[49] She subsequently suffered from postpartum depression after her first pregnancy and[50] decided to take William on her first major tours of Australia and New Zealand. By her own admission, Diana had not initially intended to take William until Malcolm Fraser, the Australian prime minister, made the suggestion.[51]

A second son, Prince Harry, was born on 15 September 1984.[52] The Princess said she and Charles were closest during her pregnancy with Harry. She was aware their second child was a boy, but did not share the knowledge with anyone else, including Charles.[53]

Diana was an involved mother and gave her children a variety of different experiences while they were growing up. She was firm in her beliefs around parenting and was strong in her role as a mother to William and Harry. Her and Charles worked together to raise them, along with nannies their family hired. Like most parents, she was very interested in their schooling and social lives. She would dress and drive them to school and often scheduled her work in order to spend the most time with them.

Public Image

Diana remains one of the most popular members of the royal family throughout history, and she continues to influence the principles of the royal family and its younger generations.[301][302] She was a major presence on the world stage from her engagement to Prince Charles in 1981 until her death in 1997, and was often described as the "world's most photographed woman".[19][303] She was noted for her compassion,[304] style, charisma, and high-profile charity work, as well as her ill-fated marriage.[157][305] Diana's former private secretary, Patrick Jephson described her as an organised and hardworking person, and pointed out Charles was not able to "reconcile with his wife's extraordinary popularity",[306] a viewpoint supported by biographer Tina Brown.[307] He also said she was a tough boss who was "equally quick to appreciate hard work", but could also be defiant "if she felt she had been the victim of injustice".[306] Diana's mother also defined her as a "loving" figure who could occasionally be "tempestuous".[240] Paul Burrell, who worked as a butler for Diana, remembered her as a "deep thinker" capable of "introspective analysis".[308] She was often described as a devoted mother to her children,[19][309] who are believed to be influenced by her personality and way of life.[310] In the early years, Diana was often noted for her shy nature.[301][311] Journalist Michael Whiteperceived her as being "smart", "shrewd and funny".[302] Those who communicated with her closely describe her as a person who was led by "her heart".[19] In an article for The Guardian, Monica Ali described Diana as a woman with a strong character, who entered the royal family as an inexperienced girl with little education, but could handle their expectations, and overcome the difficulties and sufferings of her marital life. Ali also believed that she "had a lasting influence on the public discourse, particularly in matters of mental health" by discussing her eating disorder publicly.[157] According to Tina Brown, in her early years Diana possessed a "passive power", a quality that in her opinion she shared with the Queen Mother and a trait that would enable her to instinctively use her appeal to achieve her goals.[312] Brown also believed that Diana was capable of charming people with a single glance.[307]

Diana was known for visiting sick and dying patients, and people poor and unwanted who were often seen as outcasts of society. The attention she gave these people increased her popularity with the people, as she was see as being kind and empathetic. [313] She was often thought of as mindful of other people's thoughts and feelings, and later revealed her wish to become a beloved figure among the people, saying in her 1995 interview, that "[She would] like to be a queen of people's hearts, in people's hearts."[311] Known for her easygoing attitude, she reportedly hated formality in her inner circle, asking "people not to jump up every time she enters the room".[314] Diana is often credited with widening the range of charity works carried out by the royal family in a more modern style.[157]Eugene Robinson of The Washington Post wrote in an article that "Diana imbued her role as royal princess with vitality, activism and, above all, glamour."[19] Alicia Carroll of The New York Times described Diana as "a breath of fresh air" who was the main reason the royal family was known in the United States.[315] Anthony Holden, a journalist and fan of Diana, wrote about the ways he thought the period after her divorce was one of relief and growth in a new, more independent life .[147] Despite all the marital issues and scandals, Diana continued to enjoy a high level of popularity in the polls while her husband was suffering from low levels of public approval.[19] Her peak popularity rate in the United Kingdom between 1981 and 2012 was 47%.[316] In Theodore Dalrymple's opinion, her popularity stemmed from "both her extreme difference from common people and her similarity to them". He believed that by going public about her marital issues and bulimia she won the admiration of "of all those who have been unhappy in their marriages" as well as people who suffered from psychological problems.[317]

Diana had become what Prime Minister Tony Blair called the "People's Princess", an iconic national figure. He had reportedly said that she had shown the nation "a new way to be British".[308] Her sudden death brought an unprecedented spasm of grief and mourning,[318] and subsequently a crisis arose in the Royal Household.[319][320][321] Andrew Marr said that by her death she "revived the culture of public sentiment",[157] while The Guardian's Matthew d'Ancona dubbed Diana "the queen of the realm of feeling" and said that "the impassioned aftermath of her death was a bold punctuation mark in a new national narrative that favoured disinhibition, empathy and personal candour."[322] Her brother, the Earl Spencer, captured her role:

Diana was the very essence of compassion, of duty, of style, of beauty. All over the world she was a symbol of selfless humanity. All over the world, a standard bearer for the rights of the truly downtrodden, a very British girl who transcended nationality. Someone with a natural nobility who was classless and who proved in the last year that she needed no royal title to continue to generate her particular brand of magic.[323]

In 1997, Diana was one of the runners-up for Time magazine's person of the Year.[324] In 1999, Time magazine named Diana one of the 100 Most Important People of the 20th Century.[325] In 2002, Diana ranked third on the BBC's poll of the 100 Greatest Britons, above the Queen and other British monarchs.[326] In 2003, VH1 ranked her at number nine on its 200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons list, which recognises "the folks that have significantly inspired and impacted American society".[327] In 2006, the Japanese public ranked Diana twelfth in The Top 100 Historical Persons in Japan.[328] In 2018, Diana ranked fifteenth on the BBC History's poll of 100 Women Who Changed the World.[329][330]In 2020, Time magazine included Diana's name on its list of 100 Women of the Year. She was chosen as the Woman of the Year 1987 for her efforts in de-stigmatising the conditions surrounding HIV/AIDS patients.[331]

Despite being regarded as an iconic figure and a popular member of the royal family, Diana was subject to criticism during her life. Patrick Jephson, her private secretary of eight years, wrote in an article in The Daily Telegraph that "[Diana] had an extra quality that frustrated her critics during her lifetime and has done little to soften their disdain since her death".[301] Diana was criticised by philosophy professor Anthony O'Hear who in his notes argued that she was unable to fulfill her duties, her reckless behaviour was damaging the monarchy, and she was "self-indulgent" in her philanthropic efforts.[224] Due to these remarks, the charity organisations that Diana had worked with countered O’Hear’s narrative about her charity work. [224] Further criticism surfaced as she was accused of using her public profile to benefit herself,[107] which in return "demeaned her royal office".[301] Diana's unique type of charity work, which sometimes included physical contact with people affected by serious diseases occasionally had a negative reaction in the media.[301]

Diana's relationship with the press and the paparazzi has been described as "ambivalent". On different occasions she would complain about the way she was being treated by the media, mentioning that their connstant presence in her proximity had made life impossible for her, whereas at other times she would seek their attention and hand information to reporters herself.[332][333] Writing for The Guardian, Journalists like Peter Conrad and Christopher Hitchens analyzed the situation and surmised that Diana was cognizant of the influence the press had on her public standing. She therefore involved herself in public activities, perhaps to her own detriment, and often used them to show her philanthropic work.

Essay

The culture and lore around Princess Diana has been ever evolving despite her death over twenty years ago. Although she remains a steadfast, beloved figure in Western celebrity culture, the narratives and bias surrounding her have shifted her memory farther and farther away from the woman herself. This is understandable and in some ways how the human brain responds to loss - by filling in memories or ideas of who the person might be instead of who they were. Lauded as the “queen of people’s hearts”, she became idolized to the extreme in death by the press, who were once her biggest critics. Thought of as endlessly kind, beautiful, and just an ordinary girl who fell victim to the malicious royal family, much of the dialogue around Diana reflects her idolization and serves to inform it even further. This rhetoric can become harmful because it conflates the idea of a person with who they actually are, which creates false images and unattainable standards.

Throughout her wikipedia entry, the author(s) bias towards Diana as a selfless saint is seen in both explicit and implicit ways. Selective wording and the inclusion of quotes by many different supporters which describe Diana in loving ways, the author paints the same portrait of Diana painted by pop culture. An example of this would be in the section on Diana’s Public Image, when the Wikipedia article quotes Peter Conrad, who wrote an article on Diana for the Guardian, as saying that she “overburdened herself” with the press. The connotations of “overburdened” imply that she didn’t realize what she was doing, and once she did she was unable to escape. The inclusion of this quote paints Diana as unwitting and innocent to the power of the press, even when she was an accomplished public figure who understood how to manipulate the press.

In order to try and reconcile with the bias shown in Princess Diana’s wikipedia article, I rewrote portions of the text to include less biased language and present a clearer image of the person, not the persona. I used more neutral language which carried less implication and connotation in order to paint a more balanced picture of who Diana really was. Through careful diction and paraphrasing instead of direct quotes, I was able to include the same information but presented in a way which allows the reader to draw their own conclusions about the subject. For example, in the passages discussing the way she chose to parent William and Harry, I tried to make the language less aggressive. To think of and speak about Diana in a way that only describes her as a victim or as someone who could do no wrong is not only inaccurate but implies that who she actually was was not enough. The bias’ weaved in throughout the wikipedia article reflects the cultural thought surrounding female celebrities and specifically Diana - although the author(s) are providing an accurate portrayal of her life, they’re approaching the article with pre-formed conclusions in their mind. These conclusions present in the form of bias and influence the reader to think about the subject in a certain tone or light. By approaching this piece with the knowledge that it contained bias language, I was able to identify and correct it in the selected passages.

Bibliography

The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. “Diana, Princess of Wales.” Encyclopedia Britannica, 27 August 2020, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Diana-princess-of-Wales. Accessed 8 December 2020.

Harris, Daniel. “The Kitschification of Princess Diana.” Salmagundi, no. 118/119, 1998, pp.

279–291. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40549319. Accessed 9 Dec. 2020.

Hobbes, Micheal and Marshall, Sarah. “Princess Diana Part 2: The Wedding”, You’re Wrong About, 5 October 2020, https://open.spotify.com/episode/4Ty4blFiX86hMybf1QSkd9?si=vPAtvf1VSAqizSeVh0frLQ.

Mantel, Hilary. “The Princess Myth: Hilary Mantel on Diana.” The Guardian, 26 August 2017,

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/aug/26/the-princess-myth-hilary-mantel-on-diana

. Accessed 8 December 2020.

Saukko, Paula. “Rereading Media and Eating Disorders: Karen Carpenter, Princess Diana, and the Healthy Female Self.” Critical Studies in Media Communication, vol. 23, no. 2, 2006, pp. 152-169. Simmons Library, https://eds-b-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.simmons.edu/eds/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=dde5e9f9-537c-4c92-b738-fa172ed177d8%40pdc-v-sessmgr04&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmUmc2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ%3d%3d#db=ufh&AN=21783111&anchor=AN0021783111-8.

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wikipediaredoengl199fa20 · 5 years ago

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Brennan’s Wikipedia Redo on Elon Musk page

Edits are in bold. Original Wiki page can be found here.

Early Life, Human Flight and SEC Lawsuit

Early life and family

Elon Reeve Musk was born on June 28, 1971, in Pretoria, Transvaal, South Africa.[15][16] His mother is Maye Musk (née Haldeman), a model and dietitian born in Saskatchewan, Canada,[17][18][19] but raised in South Africa. His father is Errol Musk, a South African electromechanical engineer, pilot, sailor, consultant and property developer.[20] He has a younger brother who was an early business partner of his, Kimbal (born 1972), and a younger sister, Tosca (born 1974), the CEO of the video streaming site Passionflix.[19][21][25] His maternal grandfather, Dr. Joshua Haldeman, was an American-born Canadian.[26] His paternal grandmother had both British and Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry.[27][28]

After his parents divorced in 1980, Musk lived mostly with his father in the suburbs of Pretoria,[27] a choice he made two years after his parents separated but which he subsequently regretted.[29] Musk has become estranged from his father, whom he has described as "a terrible human being... Almost every evil thing you could possibly think of, he has done."[29] He also has a half-sister[30] and a half-brother on his father's side.[31] After his parents divorced in 1980, nine year old Musk and his younger brother primarily lived with his father in the suburbs of Pretoria,[27]. This was a choice he made two years after his parents separated but it was one that he subsequently regretted.[29] Musk has become estranged from his father, describing him as emotionally abusive and tough to his children. [Kosoff 2020] He also has a half-sister[30] and a half-brother on his father's side.[31]

During his childhood, Musk was an avid reader.[32] At the age of 10, he developed an interest in computing while using the Commodore VIC-20.[33] He learned computer programming using a manual and, by the age of 12, sold the code of a BASIC-based video game he created called Blastar to PC and Office Technology magazine for approximately $500.[34][35] His childhood reading included Isaac Asimov's Foundation series, from which he drew the lesson that "you should try to take the set of actions that are likely to prolong civilization, minimize the probability of a dark age and reduce the length of a dark age if there is one".[29]

Musk was severely bullied throughout his childhood and was once hospitalized after a group of boys threw him down a flight of stairs.[29][36][37] He attended Waterkloof House Preparatory School and Bryanston High School[37] before graduating from Pretoria Boys High School.[38]

Although Musk's father insisted that Elon go to college in Pretoria, Musk became determined to move to the United States, saying "I remember thinking and seeing that America is where great things are possible, more than any other country in the world."[39] Musk knew it would be easier to get to the United States from Canada and moved there against his father's wishes in June 1989, just before his 18th birthday,[40][41] after obtaining a Canadian passport through his Canadian-born mother.[42][43]

Human flight

On May 30, 2020, SpaceX launched its first manned flight called Demo-2 becoming the first private company to both place a person into orbit and to eventually dock a crewed space-craft with the ISS.[108] Further, the launch was the first time since the end of the Shuttle Program that an American astronaut has been launched from American soil on an American rocket.[109]

During discourse with his peers when the technology of SpaceX was criticized or had the potential to cause fatalities, Elon Musk has described himself as the company's responsible chief engineer/designer, while giving the entire team at SpaceX credit for its success.[110][111]

On November 16, 2020, Space X successfully launched with NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) four astronauts into their space mission on SpaceX Crew Dragon. They docked with the International Space Station (ISS) approximately 27 hours later. Unlike the test flight in May, 2020, this flight had a full set of scientific experiments planned for the trip, as well as plans for a stay on the ISS for six months. The launch was nearly stopped, as Elon Musk announced that he had symptoms of COVID-19 the day before the launch, but careful contact tracing verified that the astronauts had not been exposed. This joint project, where the space vehicles are owned by Space X but with NASA buying their use for missions, means that Space X will be able to fly tourists, private scientists and others, with a projected ticket cost of $50 million for the trip. [Wattles 2020]

SEC lawsuit

In September 2018, Musk was sued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a tweet claiming that funding had been secured for potentially taking Tesla private[149] (at a price of $420 a share, an alleged reference to marijuana[150]). The lawsuit claimed that verbal discussions Musk held with foreign investors in July 2018 did not confirm key deal terms[151] and thus characterized the tweet as false, misleading, and damaging to investors, and sought to bar Musk from serving as CEO of publicly traded companies.[149][152] Musk called the allegations unjustified and that he had never compromised his integrity.[153] Two days later, Musk settled with the SEC, without admitting or denying the SEC's allegations. As a result, Musk and Tesla were fined $20 million each, and Musk was forced to step down for three years as Tesla chairman, but he was able to remain as Tesla's CEO.[154]

Musk has stated in several interviews since that he does not regret sending the tweet that triggered the SEC investigation. According to Reuters, Musk said the tweet was "Worth It".[155] According to ABC News, "As recently as Oct. 4, 2018, Musk issued a sarcastic tweet, describing the agency [SEC] as the 'Shortseller Enrichment Commission,' despite having agreed to settlement terms a week earlier that his company, Tesla, would monitor his tweets and other communications."[156] In a December 2018 interview with CBS's 60 Minutes, Musk stated, "I want to be clear. I do not respect the SEC."[157] On February 19, 2019, according to Forbes, Musk stated in a tweet that Tesla would build half a million cars in 2019.[158] The SEC reacted to Musk's tweet by filing in court, initially asking the court to hold him in contempt for violating the terms of a settlement agreement with such a tweet, which was disputed by Musk. This was eventually settled by a joint agreement between Musk and the SEC clarifying the previous agreement details.[159] The agreement included a list of topics that Musk would need preclearance before tweeting about.[160] On May 19, 2020, a judge prevented a lawsuit from proceeding that claimed Musk's tweet on May 1 regarding the price of Tesla stock ("too high imo") was in violation of the agreement.[161][162]. Legal experts suggest that some of the legal actions by the SEC against Musk for stating his view, is a violation of First Amendment rights of free speech, and that he should have equal protection of free speech about his viewpoints on how successful his Tesla company will be. These experts argue that this is no different that the free speech protection provided to political figures. [Markham 2019]

Essay -

This essay addresses a review of the Wikipedia page of Elon Musk, an entrepreneur, industrial designer, engineer and also billionaire. It is a detailed web page covering his extensive business ventures, and when converted to a single-spaced Word document, it was approximately sixteen pages long. Three sections were addressed in this review, his Early Life, Human Flight, and SEC lawsuit.

There seem to be a number of biases in the Wikipedia page by omission of content. This might be considered implicit, perhaps someone forgot to add the information, perhaps they did not think it was important or necessary. It also might be considered explicit, such as purposely excluding content that might give someone a different view of the subject, in this case of Elon Musk. Some of the omissions could be in progress, such as the discussion of the November 16, 2020 successful space launch, which was covered in depth by the United States Press, both on media and print. On the other hand, Wikipedia pages can be updated in a day, which often seems to happen when someone dies.

In the first part, Early Life and Family, there seems to be an explicit bias against Elon Musk’s father, and includes a quote from Musk, according to Rolling Stone Magazine, saying of his father, that he was "a terrible human being... Almost every evil thing you could possibly think of, he has done." There is no clarification of what these evil things might have been, but it sounds pretty horrendous. There is no counter argument to provide any context for his father. I modified it, changing the line above to one used in an article by Kosoff that refers to his father as being emotionally abusive and tough on his children. This still conveys a difficult home life, but without evidence it doesn’t seem right to describe it as evil. There did not seem to be any available resources on the father’s perspective of his son. Also added the detail that Musk was only nine years old when he moved to live with his father. I removed the line that described some of his ancestors as it seemed to try to provide implicit bias for him, in particular to explain why he might have the right to come to Canada first and then the United States as a citizen, since his ancestors were from there. This convey that he is entitled because of his ancestors, but it seemed out of context to list one maternal and one paternal grandparent.

The section on Human Flight ended with the May 2020 test launch and did not include the highly publicized and successful mission launched with four astronauts on November 16, 2020. This seems a dramatic omission, as it was all over the news. This seems to me to be an explicit omission, perhaps because of the COVID-19 scare, which also meant he could not attend the launch, or if it was because some are jealous of the success of his ventures.

The SEC Lawsuit section presents an implicit suggestion that Musk is rejecting the right of the SEC to regulate company officers, in particular to protect investors. The SEC did have a number of legally defensible points, which led to a large fine and limiting Musk’s participation in the Tesla company. However, there are some legal experts that also defend the right of Musk to have free speech about his opinion of how the company will do in the future, which is different that suggesting he has arranged for company financing to go private.

The revisions that I made primarily fill in gaps in the Wikipedia page, that indicated potential bias. While much of the document appears to be very factual, the omissions, although only a few, can lead to bias.

The sources reviewed and then used for this review are included in the Works Cited section below. These included news articles, business stories and biography sites. There are also books available, that would have provided some additional depth and analysis, but they were not used for this particular review.

Works Cited -

"Elon Musk." Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk. Accessed 8 Dec. 2020.

"Elon Musk Biography." The Biography.com website, A&E Television Networks, 17 Nov. 2020, www.biography.com/business-figure/elon-musk. Accessed 7 Dec. 2020.

"Elon Musk Promoted Coronavirus Misinformation for Months. Then His Own Infection Kept Him out of SpaceX's Astronaut Launch." The Business Insider (Blogs on Demand), 2020. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsgao&AN=edsgcl.642824056&site=eds-live&scope=site.

Kosoff, Maya. "Elon Musk's childhood was 'excruciating' and he got beaten up a lot." Business Insider, www.businessinsider.com/elon-musks-childhood-was-excruciating-2015-5. Accessed 7 Dec. 2020.

Markham, Jerry W. "Securities & Exchange Commission vs. Elon Musk & the First Amendment." Case Western Reserve Law Review, vol. 80, no. 2, 2019, pp. 339-79.

McLean, Rob. "Elon Musk Says He Has Moved to Texas." CNN.com, 9 Dec. 2020, www.cnn.com/2020/12/09/tech/elon-musk-texas/index.html. Accessed 9 Dec. 2020.

Shephard, Alex. "Oligarch of the Month: Elon Musk." New Republic, vol. 251, no. 3, Mar. 2020, p. 5. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&AN=141536506&site=eds-live&scope=site.

Wattles, Jennifer. "SpaceX launch: Four astronauts take off aboard Crew Dragon bound for ISS." CNN, 16 Nov. 2020, www.cnn.com/2020/11/15/tech/spacex-nasa-launch-crew-dragon/index.html.

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wikipediaredoengl199fa20 · 5 years ago

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Nicolazzo - Wikipedia Rewrite for Overpopulation Page

Edits are in bold. The original page can be accessed here.

Current population dynamics, and cause for concern

Further information: Population dynamics

As of December 8, 2020, the world's human population is estimated to be 7.836 billion.[10] Or, 7,622,106,064 on 14 May 2018 and the United States Census Bureau calculates 7,472,985,269 for that same date[11] and over 7 billion by the United Nations.[12][13][14] Depending on which estimate is used, human overpopulation may have already occurred.[citation needed]

Nevertheless, the rapid recent increase in human population has worried some people. The population is expected to reach between 8 and 10.5 billion between the years 2040[15][16] and 2050.[17] In 2017, the United Nations increased the medium variant projections[18] to 9.8 billion for 2050 and 11.2 billion for 2100.[19]

As pointed out by Hans Rosling, the critical factor is that the population is not "just growing," but that the growth ratio reached its peak and the total population is now growing much slower.[20] The UN population forecast of 2017 was predicting "near end of high fertility" globally and anticipating that by 2030 over ⅔ of the world population will be living in countries with fertility below the replacement level[21] and for total world population to stabilize between 10 and 12 billion people by the year 2100.[22]

The rapid increase in world population over the past three centuries has raised concerns among some people that the planet may not be able to sustain the future or even present number of its inhabitants. The InterAcademy Panel Statement on Population Growth, circa 1994, stated that many environmental problems, such as rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, global warming, and pollution, are aggravated by the population expansion.[23]

Other problems associated with overpopulation include the It has been theorized that continued global population growth would lead to increased demand for resources (such as freshwater and food), starvation, malnutrition, consumption of natural resources (such as fossil fuels) faster than the rate of regeneration, and a deterioration in living conditions.[24] However, there is evidence to suggest that alleviating the effects of these crises (which already exist without Earth’s population passing any sort of “overpopulation” threshold) lie outside of population control, but rather, in an equal redistribution of resources from corporations and wealthy individuals (those in “the 1%”) to populations currently affected by these issues. Certain critiques of economic structures such as Capitalism suggest that the encouragement of endless growth for the economy is more damaging for the future of natural resources than individual impact, and therefore efforts do not need to be centralized around population. Moreover, there are certain ethical issues around the concept of overpopulation - mainly, which populations are being controlled, and who makes these decisions. While fears of overpopulation are not the outright cause of atrocities such as forced sterilization or eugenics (enacted against communities of color as opposed to white communities), the concept could easily be appropriated as a justification for the eradication of non-white populations, so an oppressor would not have to reveal their true intentions behind population control (or other policies such as immigration control).

Wealthy but densely populated territories like Britain rely on food imports from overseas.[25] This was severely felt during the World Wars when, despite food efficiency initiatives like "dig for victory" and food rationing, Britain needed to fight to secure import routes. However, many believe that waste and over-consumption, especially by wealthy nations, is putting more strain on the environment than overpopulation itself.[26] This relates back to the prior argument, suggesting that the idea of overpopulation incorrectly shifts the blame of climate change to individuals rather than the social systems in place globally. Focusing on the concept of carbon emissions alone, the sheer output of multiple corporations would far outweigh the impact of most human populations. Again, the impact the 1% has on carbon emissions is simply further argument for the redistribution of resources, rather than the focus on reducing one’s own “carbon footprint”.

(261 words)

Essay and Sources:

For this Wikipedia editing assignment, I decided to edit the Wikipedia page for “Human Overpopulation”, or the concept that the world will eventually no longer be able to sustain human life due to extreme population growth. I approached the subject from the angle of recognizing that humans are depleting natural resources at an alarming rate, while also acknowledging the fact that a specific number of humans are contributing to the depletion of these resources, making the issue of population size less relevant. Therefore, while reading this article, I quickly realized the pervasive viewpoint suggested that individual humans are largely to blame for issues such as climate change as opposed to the output that corporations produce or the lifestyles of the 1%, and that a smaller population size is absolutely necessary for the survival of the human race. Arguments similar to the one I discussed were confined to one or two sentence afterthoughts, with no section for the various questions surrounding topics such as “Who exactly is controlling population growth, and why? Would it be possible or ethical to regulate this (outside of reproductive rights and family planning, which is both ethical and necessary)?” I do not believe this exclusion was a case of explicit bias and deliberately withholding information, but this lack of information instead displayed implicit bias and a lack of foresight.

Since the article was extensive, I focused on revising a subsection titled “Current Population Dynamics, and Cause for Concern”. I altered the first sentence of a paragraph to reflect the fact that the term “overpopulation” itself has a vague definition, and added more information to this paragraph to express the opposing viewpoint more clearly. I summarized the various sources I read and included the relevant articles in links throughout the paragraph. The second paragraph is mostly a continuation of the arguments presented in the first, using one of the only examples of a differing viewpoint in the article as a starting point. This paragraph also had more of a focus on environmental issues in general, while the first paragraph addressed a variety of other topics.

Most of the articles I researched addressed similar topics and expressed discontent with the popular narrative surrounding overpopulation. The articles written by Lyman Stone, Heather Alberro, and Peter Wells and Anne Touboulic focus on the economic argument, tackling the issues of natural resources and supply and demand. As previously mentioned, those who are concerned about overpopulation will cite the impact humans are having on the environment as an example that the human race is living beyond its means. In fact, a small population of humans are living beyond these means, and manufacturing products that simultaneously use up and pollute the earth’s resources. Alberro, in the article “Debunking ‘Overpopulation’”, cites the statistic “The consumption of the world’s wealthiest 10 percent produces up to 50 percent of the planet’s consumption-based CO₂ emissions, while the poorest half of humanity contributes only 10 percent” (Alberro). This shifts the blame back from the individual consumer to the capitalist system which produces more than it needs, then hordes the surplus and says the population needs to decrease for everyone to get their share. The article by Erle C. Ellis takes a more personalized approach to the subject, citing first hand conversations with colleagues about overpopulation and the misconceptions around the subject.

There is one article, written by Robert Fletcher, which not only addresses the economic arguments surrounding overpopulation, but also has a detailed explanation of the link between eugenics, race, and the idea of overpopulation. The article “Barbarian Hordes: the Overpopulation Scapegoat in International Development Discourse” discusses how the idea of overpopulation can be used as a justification for atrocities such as eugenics or forced sterilization: ...the state’s concern with nurturing life applied primarily to its own population, conceived as an organism in competition with other national populations for limited resources and living space…” (Alberro). The fear of overpopulation is not an excuse for these actions that oppressors use against an oppressed group (generally white against communities of color). It is important to challenge the narratives surrounding overpopulation to ensure oppressors are not able to hide behind this idea.

In short, I did not think the wording of the Wikipedia article outwardly displayed a bias. However, the glaring lack of a counterargument was an example of implicit bias. The fact that overpopulation is being used to blame issues such as food scarcity on individuals instead of corporations needs to be addressed. Also, the usage of the concept of overpopulation could encourage oppressors to attempt to disguise eugenics as an attempt to solve the aforementioned issues of climate change, food scarcity, and others. If these changes were to be implemented, I would hope that this perspective allows readers to think critically about the concept of overpopulation.

Works Cited

Alberro, Heather. “Debunking ‘Overpopulation.’” Ecologist, 16 April 2020. Web.

https://theecologist.org/2020/apr/16/debunking-overpopulation

Ellis, Erle C. “Overpopulation is Not the Problem.” The New York Times, 13 September 2013.

Web. https://my.vanderbilt.edu/greencities/files/2014/08/overpopulation-is-not.pdf

Fletcher, Robert. “Barbarian Hordes: The Overpopulation Scapegoat in International Development Discourse.” Taylor & Francis Online, 2 October 2014. Web.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01436597.2014.926110?casa_token=DHJuHTs76sUAAAAA%3AsHy3C0NkWG8qnMvxIiGJgMQbOrk1ONGSBuZbe3HW7Pk_hzcxKsaZ-ifpXNKj_8i-q1KjDNtaklBO

Stone, Lyman. “Why You Shouldn’t Obsess About ‘Overpopulation.’” Vox, 11 July 2018. Web.

https://www.vox.com/the-big-idea/2017/12/12/16766872/overpopulation-exaggerated-concern-climate-change-world-population

Touboulic, Anne and Wells, Peter. “Rich and Famous Lifestyles are Damaging the Environment in Untold Ways.” The Conversation, 23 January, 2017. Web. https://theconversation.com/rich-and-famous-lifestyles-are-damaging-the-environment-in-untold-ways-71641

Wikipedia Contributors. “Human Overpopulation.” Wikipedia, 8 Dec. 2020. Web.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_overpopulation

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wikipediaredoengl199fa20 · 5 years ago

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Beatrice’s Wiki Redo on Trump’s page

Wiki Rewrite : (revisions in bold)

Lafayette Square Protest Removal and photo-op

On June 1, 2020, President Trump issued a Presidential Statement in the White House rose garden fives days after the unconscionable death of George Floyd, in which he condemned the public civilian violence and looting following Floyd’s murder, and issued a 7 p.m curfew for the District of Columbia, this was at 6:43 pm. In front of a large press conference President Trump declared himself an “ally” of peaceful protests in his statements, but that anyone “who threatens life or property will be arrested, detained, and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law”. Meanwhile across the road, Attorney General William Barr, after walking through the peaceful protest at Lafayette Square, a historical protesting site due to its proximity to the white house, issued the U.S Park Police and other present federal agencies to issue a warning of the new 7 p.m curfew to the crowd. Major Adam Demarco of the National Guard, who has since come out in defense of the protestors, stated that the warning was issued via megaphone, and he recognized no sign within the protestors that they had heard the announcement from roughly 50 yards away. Major Demarco then stated the National Guard and Park Police made no second attempt to clear the crowd. Then, roughly thirty minutes before the 7 pm curfew, federal law enforcement officials mounted on horses and on foot began their forcible movement of the peaceful protesters outside the White House used batons, rubber bullets, pepper spray projectiles,[380] stun grenades, and smoke to remove the crowd of protesters from Lafayette Square, outside the White House. The removal had been ordered by Attorney General William Barr[380][381], who has stated his team had made the plan to move the perimeter (subsequently moving protestors) north from H to I street at 2 pm, but action was continually delayed. Barr also defends his decisions to use tear gas, rubber bullets, etc. and federal force to move to protestors who, according to Barr, were becoming increasingly unruly, ad would not disperse Northward after being asked three times. A statement that has been disputed by Major Demarco, press statments, and protestors themselves. Trump then walked to St. John's Episcopal Church, taking the newly cleared H street[382] He posed for photographs holding a Bible, with Cabinet members and other officials later joining him in photos.[380][381][383]

Religious leaders condemned the treatment of protesters and the photo opportunity itself, although Barr has stated that the timing of the removal had nothing to do with the press conference, this has been widely debated. There has since been a hearing put in motion to determine the lawfulness of the manner in which protestors were removed.[384][385] Many retired military leaders and defense officials condemned Trump's proposal to use the U.S. military against the protesters, including a Major in the National Guard who was present on June 1 2020. Some saying they were there as “decoy pawns”, since Park Police ignited and perpetuated the violence.[385][386] The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark A. Milley, later apologized for accompanying Trump on the walk and thereby "creat[ing] the perception of the military involved in domestic politics".[387]

On November 8, 2016, Trump received 306 pledged electoral votes versus 232 for Clinton. The official counts were 304 and 227 respectively, after defections on both sides.[282] Trump received nearly 2.9 million fewer popular votes than Clinton, which made him the fifth person to be elected president while losing the popular vote.[e][285] Clinton was ahead nationwide, with 65,853,514 votes (48.18%) compared to Trump's 62,984,828 votes (46.09%).[286] The Libertarian party received 42,241 votes, and the Independent party received 40.635 votes.

Trump's victory was a political upset.[287] Polls had consistently shown Clinton with a nationwide – though diminishing – lead, as well as an advantage in most of the competitive states. Trump's support had been modestly underestimated, while Clinton's had been overestimated.[288] It was widely speculated after Trump’s election that there was fraud surrounding the results of the general election via Trump’s involvement with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. In 2017, an investigation was held by the National Intelligence Council to asses Russia’s involvement and motives in “recent US elections”. The assessment concluded that Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign from cyber-attackers in Moscow. The assessment further concluded that Russia has a strong influence over mangling nominee Hillary Clinton’s electability. This conclusion is highly supported by both the FBI and CIA.

Essay on Bias:

Over the last four years, America has been under Donald Trump’s executive rule. Trump’s presidency has been characterized by rollbacks of legislation implemented in other president’s administrations, mainly Obama’s more liberal legislation. However, Trump’s presidency has also been characterized by politically incorrect events. In fact, Trump has said he based his 2016 campaign in political incorrectness. When I was searching for a Wikipedia page to use for my project, I actually had a relatively hard time. Many of the topics I searched had a lack of biased language. However, many of the pages I explored had missing information that was critical for remaining objective when learning about a topic. In particular, Trump’s Wikipedia page had several sections that were lacking key information. I believe that this is an explicit choice, potentially in attempts to make the page more brief, but also leaving out vital details that would paint the Trump administration in a poorer light.

To further expand on this idea, there is a section on Trump’s Wikipedia page regarding the Lafayette Square Incident that occurred on the first of June 2020. I found the section to be hugely lacking in context that is essential to wholly understanding the situation. The section basically states that federal law enforcement officials removed a largely peaceful crowd of protestors. Upon further investigation of several points of view, the crowd of protestors on Lafayette Square showed no signs of violence or aggression. The section does state that it’s reported the clearance of the crowd was for a photo-op in front of St.Johns, this is still not the entire story. I added revisions that briefly detailed the events of the day, June 1, 2020, giving context to the situation. These contextual details include President Trump’s Remarks on Nationwide Demonstrations and Civil Unrest following the Death of George Floyd, given as the protestors were being cleared. The address declared that Trump allied itself with peaceful demonstrators, and that he was ready to deploy military force if prompted by unlawful rioting or looting. While the existing page does state that the clearing of protestors was debated by many, the addition of this information allows the reader is able to form their own opinion about whether or not Trump’s actions were unconstitutional.

Another gap in information I found on Trump’s Wiki page was regarding his election in 2016. This section is very brief, much like the Lafayette Square Protestor Clearing section. It provides the numbers of popular votes and electoral votes for both Trump and Clinton, clearly showing on a domestic level how Trump won the 2016 election without the popular vote. The section also states how Trump is only the fifth president who has been elected without winning the popular vote. Although this may seem like an objective statement, there is a connotation about him being the fifth president that puts him in the “Top Five” of electable presidents. There is no mention of Russian interference in the 2016 election. I found this extremely shocking, considering there was a legitimate government investigation concerning Russian involvement in the 2016 election results, which concluded that there was cyber interference from Moscow. To combat the light Trump is painted in in this section, that of being someone who pulled a massive upset after being the projected loser, I included several sentences including the official conclusion of the National Intelligence Council who conducted an investigation of the 2016 election results.

In conclusion, there are several sections on Trump’s wikipedia page that are missing crucial details. This lack of details prevents the reader from having the whole story and in some cases, forming their own informed opinions. This is dangerous because many people instinctively use Wikipedia as a search engine and unfortunately take its word as fact. It’s important to constantly be aware of biases, whether implicit or explicit, that may be present in a source of information. By adding brief context and new information to several sections of Trump’s Wikipedia page, the information is made more objective and in some cases less bipartisan focused.

Works Cited

Allen, Jonathan. “Trump and tear gas in Lafayette Square: A memo from the protest front lines.” NBC News, NBCUniversal. 2 June 2020, https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/memo-front-lines-different-america-n1222066

“Assessing Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent U.S Elections.” Office of the Director of National Intelligence. National Intelligence Council 2017-01D. 6 January 2017. https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/3719492/Read-the-declassified-report-on-Russian.pdf

Becket, Stephen and Hymes, Clare. “Barr defends decision to forcefully clear protesters near White House.” CBS News. Simon & Schuster. 4 June 2020. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/barr-defends-decision-forcefully-clear-protesters-lafayette-park-white-house/

C-SPAN. “Whistleblower Testifies on Use of Tear Gas in Lafayette Park Protest.” C-SPAN 3. 28 July 2020. https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4895671/whistleblower-testifies-tear-gas-lafayette-park-protest

“Election Results for the U.S. President, the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives“ Federal Election Commiteee. Public Disclosure and Media Relations Division. Washington, D.C. Dec 2017.

Remarks on the Nationwide Demonstrations and Civil Unrest following the Death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Daily Comp. Pres. Docs., 2020 DCPD No. 00421 (June 1, 2020) https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/DCPD-202000421/

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wikipediaredoengl199fa20 · 5 years ago

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John Lasseter: Hannah Chestnut’s Wiki Redo! Assignment

TW: SEXUAL ASSUALT, SEXISM

Hannah Chestnut

Wiki! Redo Revisions: Sexual Assault Allegations against John Lasseter

In January of 2019, John Lasseter stepped down from his position as Chief Creative Officer over both Pixar and Disney’s animation studios. As I read through the article at that time, I found Lasseter’s statements extremely underwhelming. He claimed he had taken “missteps” and that he was sorry “to anyone who has ever been on the receiving end of an unwanted hug or any other gesture they felt crossed the line in any way, shape, or form,” and I found my eyes stuck on that phrase, “unwanted hug or any other gesture.” I was thinking to myself that there must be more to the story for a man, who had a net worth of $100 million dollars and was in charge of two of the most successful and prominent animation studios in the world, to voluntarily step down from a company he played a pivotal role in creating. As someone who had extensive knowledge of animation history and the history of both studios, I was extremely confused as to why John Lasseter, one of the most influential advocates for computer animation, would step down from the company and technology he pioneered, to go and work for another studio because of a few “unwanted hugs.”

John Lasseter had been one of the most influential individuals in animation history. He had pioneered computer animation and was a driving force behind bringing that technology to Disney. His influence was not inconsequential, he was one of the most powerful people in animation. So, when I read through all of this, it just didn’t add up to me. It didn’t add up, I was so sure there had to be more to the story. I had forgotten about it until now, and once I found the Wikipedia article for this assignment, I read through it. When I found the section about the allegations, I found one quote detailing the unwanted “grabbing, kissing, making comments about physical attributes.” While this was more than what Lasseter himself had described, it still felt like it must be an understatement. So I decided to do some more investigation into the matter, and thanks to the bravery of a former Pixar employee, I found a full account of the sexist workplace environment Lasseter had created and more details of the allegations against him. Most of the statements and quotes from victims were anonymous, in order to protect their careers within the tightly knit animation community, however Cassandra Smolcic came forward after working at Pixar for 7 years. Her detailed account of how difficult it was to speak out against these microaggressions shed more light onto Lasseter’s discreet departure.

The first revision I made was fixing the language of the first sentence. The original statement was as follows: “In November 2017, Lasseter took a six-month leave of absence after acknowledging allegations of workplace sexual misconduct that he described as "missteps" with employees in a memo to staff.” I changed it to “In November 2017, Lasseter took a six-month leave of absence after allegations of workplace sexual misconduct.” I made this revision in order to take out Lasseter’s underwhelming characterization of his behavior from the first sentence regarding these allegations. I find the inclusion of said quotation to undermine the reality of his harmful actions and to also exclude the voices of women from the account of this problem. This is an example of implicit bias in favor of a powerful man who had abused his power to objectify women in the workplace. The next revision I made was to write an additional paragraph, citing Smolcic’s account of his behaviors at work. Originally there had been no additional information regarding what exactly he had been accused of, and it included no quotations or citations of the women Lasseter assaulted. I felt the exclusion of these quotations failed to give voice to the victims, another example of how the exclusion of information is a form of implicit bias.

Lastly I added more information in the second section about Lasseter’s departure from Pixar and his new position at Skydance Studios. This section only quoted Lasseter, painting himself as someone who “deeply” regretted his actions, and felt acknowledging this behavior would “make him a better leader,” further undermining the unsafe environment Lasseter created at Pixar Studios. In order to remain as neutral as possible, I left this quotation in this section in order to allow Lasseter to speak for himself and to keep record of Lasseter’s statement. But in order to challenge the implicit bias of only quoting Lasseter and Skydance, I added an additional paragraph about how Skydance’s decision to hire Lasseter was not unanimously supported by Skydance employees. In fact, both the actress Emma Thompson and director Alessandro Carloni left the production of the 2021 film “Luck,” after Lasseter’s hiring. Since Emma Thompson made a public statement claiming the reason she left was because of Lasseter joining the production team, I felt giving her a voice as a woman in the entertainment industry would be much better than silence. This was another example of how omitting a certain perspective is indicative of implicit bias.

Sources

Amidi, Amid. “Is Skydance Endangering Its Female Employees? Here Is A List Of Accusations Against John Lasseter.” Cartoon Brew, Toggle Navigation Sign in Membership Film TV Shorts Awards Tech VFX CG Animation VR Tools Biz Business Box Office Report Artist Rights Studios Cities Bay Area London Los Angeles Montreal New York City Vancouver Paris Toronto Charts & Data 2021 Animated Features 2021 New Animated TV Series For Broadcast, Streaming & Cable Most-Viewed Indie Youtube Shorts Streaming Animation Guide Search: Film TV Shorts Interviews Business VFX/Tech Artist Rights Box Office Festivals, 10 Jan. 2019, www.cartoonbrew.com/artist-rights/is-skydance-endangering-its-female-employees-here-is-a-list-of-accusations-against-john-lasseter-168942.html.

Masters, Kim. “John Lasseter Taking Leave of Absence From Pixar Amid ‘Missteps.’” The Hollywood Reporter, 22 Nov. 2017, www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/john-lasseter-taking-leave-absence-pixar-missteps-1057113?utm_source=twitter.

Masters, Kim. “John Lasseter's Pattern of Alleged Misconduct Detailed by Disney/Pixar Insiders.” The Hollywood Reporter, 22 Nov. 2017, www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/john-lasseters-pattern-alleged-misconduct-detailed-by-disney-pixar-insiders-1059594.

North, Anna. “John Lasseter, CEO of Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios, Sexual Misconduct Allegations.” Vox.com, Vox, 9 Jan. 2019, www.vox.com/a/sexual-harassment-assault-allegations-list/john-lasseter.

Smolcic, Cassandra. “Pixar's Sexist Boys Club.” Medium, Be Yourself, 24 Sept. 2019, byrslf.co/pixars-sexist-boys-club-9d621567fdc9

Statt, Nick. “Pixar's John Lasseter to Leave Disney Following Sexual Harassment Complaints.” The Verge, The Verge, 8 June 2018, www.theverge.com/2018/6/8/17443370/pixar-walt-disney-animation-john-lasseter-leaving-company-sexual-harassment.

Wit, Alex Dudok de. “Skydance Animation's 'Luck' Loses Director Alessandro Carloni Over 'Creative Differences'.” Cartoon Brew, Toggle Navigation Sign in Membership Film TV Shorts Awards Tech VFX CG Animation VR Tools Biz Business Box Office Report Artist Rights Studios Cities Bay Area London Los Angeles Montreal New York City Vancouver Paris Toronto Charts & Data 2021 Animated Features 2021 New Animated TV Series For Broadcast, Streaming & Cable Most-Viewed Indie Youtube Shorts Streaming Animation Guide Search: Film TV Shorts Interviews Business VFX/Tech Artist Rights Box Office Festivals, 16 Jan. 2020, www.cartoonbrew.com/feature-film/skydance-animations-luck-loses-director-alessandro-carloni-over-creative-differences-184832.html.

Aguilar, Carlos. “Read Emma Thompson's Scorching Resignation Letter To Skydance Over John Lasseter Hiring.” Cartoon Brew, Toggle Navigation Sign in Membership Film TV Shorts Awards Tech VFX CG Animation VR Tools Biz Business Box Office Report Artist Rights Studios Cities Bay Area London Los Angeles Montreal New York City Vancouver Paris Toronto Charts & Data 2021 Animated Features 2021 New Animated TV Series For Broadcast, Streaming & Cable Most-Viewed Indie Youtube Shorts Streaming Animation Guide Search: Film TV Shorts Interviews Business VFX/Tech Artist Rights Box Office Festivals, 26 Feb. 2019, www.cartoonbrew.com/artist-rights/read-emma-thompsons-scorching-resignation-letter-to-skydance-over-john-lasseter-hiring-170742.html.

Allegations of sexual misconduct and exit from Disney/Pixar