Talk:Al Gore

Wording of Intro

Would anyone mind if I changed the intro from:

"Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American environmental activist who served as the 45th Vice President of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton."

to

(a) Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American environmental activist AND FORMER VICE PRESIDENT, who served as the 45th Vice President of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton.

or

(b) Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American environmental activist AND POLITICIAN who served as the 45th Vice President of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton.

because the way it is written now seems to say that he is an environmentalist who happens to have been a Vice president and I don't think that is fair to say because he was a very influential politician, taking up much of his life, with many important things (I suggest the second change because much of his influential work (THE INTERNET) was as a congressman). BCapp 04:14, 6 April 2009 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by BCapp (talk • contribs)

re: (a) - Since the sentence already says he served as "the 45th Vice President" ... adding "former vice president" would be redundant.

re: (b) - Someone who has served as vice president of the United States has obviously been a successful politician, so there's no reason to say the word. And since it appears that the first paragraph is focused primarily on his current life's work, the reference to his highest political office at the end of the first sentence is enough. NOTE: That the political career is summarized in the second paragraph.

Bottom line on this, I think, is that it's fair to say that it is standard practice in Wikipedia for biographies of living persons to let their current work lead the article. Not that there aren't exceptions to that, but since Al Gore has been successful enough as an environmentalist to have been awarded a Nobel prize, I think we can assume that it's fair to represent him in the light of his current work ... while immediately, of course, presenting (at the end of the first sentence) his success as an elected public servant. SO: It would not seem that the changes you would like to make would prevail in the eyes of other editors.

But, I think you can see, your views have not been ignored, even if they don't prevail this time. Cheers! :)

Hey, thanks for being so polite. I'll try one more time to convince you and if not, I'll accept the editors don't agree. The sentence as it currently reads, says that he is an environmental activist who was Vice President. But this is not true. He served his government as a politician, not as an environmental activist. Do you see the difference? Am I crazy?

I am not trying to say that his political life isn't covered properly or in the right spots. It completely is, with the proper emphasis on his current activities. I am just saying that that sentence reads funny. Any who thanks again for being polite. Cheers BCapp 10:47, 6 April 2009 (UTC)