Wikiality: Difference between revisions
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===Wikiality=== |
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#REDIRECT [[Wikipedia in popular culture]] |
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In a July 2006 [[List of The Colbert Report episodes|episode of ''The Colbert Report'']], Stephen Colbert announced the [[neologism]] "wikiality" for his segment "The Wørd". During the segment, Colbert joked "I love Wikipedia... any site that's got a longer entry on [[Truthiness]] than on [[Lutherans]] has its priorities straight." (This is true; its entry is approximately 40% longer.) Colbert then suggested that adding a fact to Wikipedia makes it true if enough people are convinced of it, thus creating a "wikiality" (Wikipedia reality) in which consensus of opinion trumps factual information. He suggested that viewers change the elephant page to state that the number of elephants has tripled in the last six months, although the addition of false information to Wikipedia is considered vandalism. The episode resulted in a number of people actually adding the fallacy to the page and Wikipedia administrators restricted edits to the page by anonymous and newly created users. Colbert also suggested that George Washington did not have slaves and that Oregon is Idaho's Portugal. According to him, together "we can all create a reality that we all can agree on; the reality that we just agreed on." |
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In a subsequent episode in which Colbert took viewer calls, a caller complained that he could not edit the elephant article because it had been semi-protected. |
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[http://www.wikiality.com Wikiality] now has its own website, that is in the form that it is a Wikipedia-style encyclopedia that encourages users to, when writing, "...don't use your brain. Use your gut." Unsurprisingly, majority of its entries (both fictitious and real) tend to be pro-republican, right wing and anti-liberal, much in keeping with the sentiments of majority of Colbert's fans. |
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Revision as of 08:57, 21 August 2006
Wikiality
In a July 2006 episode of The Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert announced the neologism "wikiality" for his segment "The Wørd". During the segment, Colbert joked "I love Wikipedia... any site that's got a longer entry on Truthiness than on Lutherans has its priorities straight." (This is true; its entry is approximately 40% longer.) Colbert then suggested that adding a fact to Wikipedia makes it true if enough people are convinced of it, thus creating a "wikiality" (Wikipedia reality) in which consensus of opinion trumps factual information. He suggested that viewers change the elephant page to state that the number of elephants has tripled in the last six months, although the addition of false information to Wikipedia is considered vandalism. The episode resulted in a number of people actually adding the fallacy to the page and Wikipedia administrators restricted edits to the page by anonymous and newly created users. Colbert also suggested that George Washington did not have slaves and that Oregon is Idaho's Portugal. According to him, together "we can all create a reality that we all can agree on; the reality that we just agreed on."
In a subsequent episode in which Colbert took viewer calls, a caller complained that he could not edit the elephant article because it had been semi-protected.
Wikiality now has its own website, that is in the form that it is a Wikipedia-style encyclopedia that encourages users to, when writing, "...don't use your brain. Use your gut." Unsurprisingly, majority of its entries (both fictitious and real) tend to be pro-republican, right wing and anti-liberal, much in keeping with the sentiments of majority of Colbert's fans.