Editors on Wikipedia, the site relied on by the Masters of the Universe for reliable and accurate information, have added President Trump to a list of advocates for the “white genocide conspiracy theory” due to his recent tweets about South Africa farm attacks and government land expropriation. Other prominent conservatives were also added to the list including Donald Trump Jr., Tucker Carlson, and Ann Coulter.
Last Wednesday, President Trump tweeted about the regular attacks on white-owned farms in South Africa and recent government plans to expropriate land from white farmers without compensation. Following media criticism of his statement, the President was added to a Wikipedia list of “advocates” for the “white genocide conspiracy theory” described there as “a neo-Nazi, alt-right, conservative, white nationalist, and supremacist conspiracy theory.”
At the same time President Trump was branded as an advocate of a “conspiracy theory,” South African politician Julius Malema was added to a list of “critics” of the “conspiracy theory” due to his criticism of Trump’s tweets. Malema, head of South Africa’s Economic Freedom Fighters party and advocate of expropriation of white land without compensation, is well known for his own remarks flirting with the idea of genocide as noted on his Wikipedia page. Such remarks include singing “Shoot the Boer”, a reference to descendants of Dutch settlers in the country, and stating they were not “for now” calling for the slaughter of whites.
The article’s intro was also changed to claim Trump “made the conspiracy theory a part of United States foreign policy” with his tweets. One editor repeatedly removed the addition of Trump to the article, but his edits were undone by several established editors. An editor did alter the material to clarify Trump was merely accused of being an advocate.
At the discussion page for the article, another editor objected that Trump was not an advocate of a conspiracy theory, but merely stating facts. Current and former members of the site’s powerful Arbitration Committee, previously involved in defending the violent far-left Antifa, responded to cite sources mentioning Trump in connection with this “conspiracy theory” and endorse his inclusion on the list. One of them, administrator Drmies, did express some annoyance citing policies stating Wikipedia is not a news site. Drmies, however, also told the editor objecting to Trump’s inclusion he was “treading on really thin ice” with his objection. Drmies has previously threatened and made questionable bans on similar topics.
Many other conservative figures were included on the list due mostly to comments about South Africa, which was initially added to the page by editor Carpatho, whose contributions appear to be focused entirely on the subject. Carpatho made numerous expansions to the list. Among those added were conservative commentator Ann Coulter, libertarian philosopher, and previous subject of Wikipedia smear campaigns Stefan Molyneux, Lauren Southern due to her documentary Farmlands about South Africa farm attacks, Katie Hopkins of Rebel Media, and Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes. Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., was added based on media speculation about his beliefs.
The editor who added President Trump, Perspex03, also added several conservative figures and similarly shows a singular focus on the subject. Andrew Sullivan was added to the list citing his criticism of newly-hired New York Times editorial board member Sarah Jeong’s anti-white tweets and professor George Ciccariello-Maher’s joke about wanting white genocide for Christmas. Previous Wikipedia smear target Congressman Steve King was added mostly citing left-wing rags New Republic, Mother Jones, and ThinkProgress. Fox News host Tucker Carlson was added citing sources such as Salon and the Southern Poverty Law Center, which was cited for several other additions.
Edits removing some listings, noting Wikipedia’s policy regarding defamation, were frequently reverted by established editors including administrators. Perspex03 also listed “critics” of the “white genocide conspiracy theory,” noting mostly South African politicians criticizing Trump’s remarks.
Big Tech’s reliance on Wikipedia has previously propagated smears of conservatives as when an act of vandalism resulted in Google listing “Nazism” as an ideology of the California Republican party. Editors also briefly listed ICE detention centers on a list of concentration camps in response to Trump’s hardline immigration policies. This contrasts with the spirited defense of Jeong’s anti-white bigotry. Despite claiming to be the neutral encyclopedia anyone can edit, Wikipedia’s track record suggests it is the opposite.
(Disclosure: The author has been involved in disputes with several of the parties mentioned in the article)
T. D. Adler edited Wikipedia as The Devil’s Advocate. He was banned after privately reporting conflict of interest editing by one of the site’s administrators. Due to previous witch-hunts led by mainstream Wikipedians against their critics, Adler writes under an alias.
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