‘Conservapedia’

February 23, 2007

At first, I thought the “Conservapedia” was some kind of joke. Billed as a conservative rival to Wikipedia, Conservapedia would be an ideologically pure, right-wing online collaborative encyclopedia. Except the site was so laughably right-wing, and so intentionally devoid of diversity of thought, it seemed obvious that this was some Onion-like parody.

No such luck. Conservapedia is a project of Andy Schlafly, Phyllis’ son, which is serious about its goals.

Conservapedia is a much-needed alternative to Wikipedia, which is increasingly anti-Christian and anti-American. On Wikipedia, many of the dates are provided in the anti-Christian “C.E.” instead of “A.D.”, which Conservapedia uses. Christianity receives no credit for the great advances and discoveries it inspired, such as those of the Renaissance. […]

Conservapedia is an online resource and meeting place where we favor Christianity and America. Conservapedia has easy-to-use indexes to facilitate review of topics. You will much prefer using Conservapedia compared to Wikipedia if you want concise answers free of “political correctness”.

Again, this isn’t a joke. A Bush White House aide famously said a few years ago, “We create our own reality.” I suppose it stands to reason, then, that Bush’s supporters would want to do the same thing.

And Conservapedia seems to fit the bill nicely. Far-right visitors to the site won’t be confronted with anything that might bother them, ever. Pages are scrubbed of inconvenient truths, and replaced with right-wing talking points. In some instances, whole subjects (such as biological evolution) are denied pages, lest anyone get confused.

Shakespeare’s Sister had a fantastic post on the subject. (Jon Swift, who wrote the piece, crossposted it here.)

After spending the day hitting the random search button I felt like a Renaissance man, the good Christian kind. Of course, since anyone can edit the Conservapedia, the entries are constantly changing, so the links go to the last version I saw. Feel free to register and add your own insights, although it would be difficult to improve on some of these entries….

Theory of Relativity: “Nothing useful has even been built based on the theory of relativity.…’All things are relative’ became popular as atheists and others used relativity to attack Christian values. There remains enormous political support for the theory of relativity that has nothing to do with physics, and Congress continues to spend billions of dollars unsuccessfully searching for particles predicted by the theory of relativity.” […]

Scopes Trial: “Hollywood has little regard for the truth. Its movie version Inherit the Wind changed everyone’s name, thereby preventing libel suits, and changed the facts in order to ridicule religious belief. Thanks to Bryan’s victory in the Scopes trial, Tennessee voters have been educated without oppressive evolution theory for 75 years. Free from the liberal indoctrination, Tennessee voted against native son Al Gore in the 2000 Presidential election – probably the only time a candidate has lost the Presidency due to losing his home state. If Tennessee had a high level of belief in evolution comparable to that of East Germany, then you can bet Gore would have won his state and the Presidency.” […]

Holocaust: “The Holocaust was the massacring of the Jewish race during World War II. The Germans are not to blame for this but the Nazi are. Besides 6 million Jews dying, 3 million Christians were killed also along with many priests and nuns. This is a very touchy subject for the Jews and is not often discussed amongst them.”

And people wonder why liberals and conservatives often have trouble communicating.

Unless they plan on locking down the whole collaborative aspect there will be little to stop reality from defeating their effort. The site seems to be down but a diligent reality-respecting public would have no problem taking it over.

  • What a gift.

    I finally figured out what conservatives are actually conserving. They’re trying to use their brains conservatively because they are on average short about a dozen marbles.

  • I think the traffic directed from this blog has already crashed the site. That’s too bad; I was looking forward to reading about how the Devil put the dinosaur fossils out there to confuse us.

  • Wow, reality really does have a liberal bias.

    “Ideologically pure” apparently = devoid of intellectual or academic rigor.

  • While the site was still up, I enjoyed reading their take on math. Apparently they have something against imaginary numbers.

  • Normally I don’t like to laugh at people because it is just plain rude, but I will make an exception in this case.

  • what is the matter with these ass-hats? whatever makes them think that anti-christian= anti-american? in fact i would say that being pro-christian = anti-american. that’s what our bill of rights says. these people really have no clue. absolutely no clue.

  • I think it is interesting that they separate priests and nuns from Christians. They also say the holocaust is a touchy subject for Jews. That’s brilliant. Department of Education take note: you now have a great resource to be sure that many children are left clueless. I am sure the site will be a favorite at your neighborhood christian school.

  • the site can’t handle the traffic from the CarpetBagger … do you think ‘you’ve been carpetbagged’ will enter our vernacular like you have been slashdoted …

  • There were a lot of non-Jews killed in the Nazi Holocaust. That’s not wrong. My father who just turned 98 is a WWII concentration camp survivor. He is from Armenia, the first Christian nation.

  • gracious @#8 – what do you think will happen when all these good little christian kids in these wonderful neighborhood christian schools get to college (aka real-life) and start quoting from conservapedia as tho it were fact, and get their heads handed back to them for being so stupid? that would be fun to watch………

  • This is one of the goddamn funniest things I’ve ever read about (I saw this on Wonkette yesterday.)

    The quote on relativity is the fucking single most hilarious thing I’ve read. I guess I was taught the wrong liberal facts about nuclear energy, particle physics and the nuclear bomb.

    I’d never thought I’d live to see the day that E=mc^2 was a liberal plot.

    As I’ve said earlier. If they don’t want to fucking deal with reality then perhaps they should stop enjoying the benefits of evolution and realtivity. Stop taking medicine, eating processed food and stop using electricity, computers etc. Become a dumber version of the Amish.

  • I think they’re confusing relativity with cultural relativism (I doubt I have to explain this to a lot of readers of this blog, though). One is a theory from physics and the other is from history/anthropology and social sciences more generally. Comments about cultural relativism shouldn’t really be included in a theory of relativity article; it’s misattributing stuff.

  • It’s going to be really hard for them to keep out the fake right-wingers, like the spoof commenters who hang out at Balloon Juice. With things like bushfish.org, it’s impossible nowadays to tell what’s real and what’s a parody, so I imagine there’s going to be a fair amount of creativity exercised in those entries. No doubt the game will be to see how outrageous you can make it before someone will be moved to revert your change.

  • This is a very touchy subject for the Jews and is not often discussed amongst them

    This has to reach some kind of heretofore unknown critical mass of mean-spirited obtuseness. Any physicists out there? “Touchy”? “TOUCHY”? Yow.

  • It sorta makes reviving and paraphrasing an old line to “there’s a right way, a wrong way, and a conservative way” kinda fun.

  • There’s only so much good lying to yourself will do. Disavowing laws of nature because you don’t want to believe in them doesn’t mean you’re not still subject to those same laws. I clipped this snippet off of Shakes’ post and I can’t believe this would actually be printed under the heading of Sir Isaac Newon “(It should be noted that gravity, like evolution, is just a theory and has never been proven to be true.)” May these idiots suffer the full wrath of their self-imposed ignorance. It’s just a shame for the rest of us that the Darwinian extinction these idiots are willing to subject themselves to through their foolishness could also mean our end as well.

  • Besides 6 million Jews dying, 3 million Christians were killed also along with many priests and nuns.

    Hmmm. No mention of the gays and lesbians who were murdered. (Not that I’m surprised.) But maybe Andy’s brother will fix that oversight.

    I’ve tried to get on several times today. Not that I want to add anything…or anything [whistles nonchalantly]. I suspect someone cheaped out on the bandwidth so it is easily overloaded by troublemakers, I mean real Americans who are eager to get the REAL truth.

    Over on BJ they’re calling this thing exactly what it is: Spoof Magnet. I wonder if that’s the whole point. Put up a site that is guaranteed to get savaged and then whine that the nasty libruls messed up their little paradise of truth. Of course, I’m not sure the average FundyCon understands spoof. Or humour. Or thinking…

  • Put up a site that is guaranteed to get savaged and then whine that the nasty libruls messed up their little paradise of truth.

    Wasn’t that Lieberman’s blog strategy, until he decided screaming about being hacked by evil Lamont supporters was a better plan?

  • “..many of the dates are provided in the anti-Christian ‘C.E.’ instead of ‘A.D.'”

    Well, there’s your problem right there. Don’t call it “anti-Christian”, that’s just too negative. How about “pro-Jewish”?

    Former Dan,

    Sadly, they’re not the first ones to attack Einstein’s theory:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsche_Physik

  • Christianity receives no credit for the great advances and discoveries it inspired, such as those of the Renaissance.

    That’s really funny – I was always under the impression the Renaissance (‘rebirth”) was a cultural change against the suffocating control that the Church exercised learning during the 1000 years after the fall of the Roman Empire (i.e., the “Dark Ages”). Among the features of the Renaissance were the resurrection on re-incorporation into learning of the works of those pagans, the ancient Greeks and an increased secularization of society and learning. How can the Christianity get credit for the Renaissance when Gallileo was sentenced to death by the Church for this scientific observations and teachings as late as 1600?

    Here’s the description from Wikipedia – show me where Christians get to take credit for this?

    “The principal features were the revival of learning based on classical sources, the rise of courtly and papal patronage, the development of perspective in painting, and the advancements of science.”

  • Note the middle school level of writing.

    “Many Chirstians were killed also along with priests and nuns.” Catholics aren’t Christians?

  • Great for laughs. Read the entry on examples of bias in Wikipedia. Among the proofs of bias are the use of British spellings of words such as labor (labour), inclusion of pop culture (apparently over 1075 entries dedicated to Moby songs), and several examples of entries that supposedly cannot be found on Wikipedia (all of which were easily found on Wikipedia).

  • Catholics aren’t Christians?

    That is a bit dissonant with the complaint that Christians aren’t given sufficient credit for the Renaissance. But I bet that if someone tried to change all pre-16th-century references to “Christians” to “Catholics”, Conservapedia monitors would not be happy.

  • I don’t know who contributed the atheism article, but I dare say it won’t go unchanged for long:

    As Atheism is part of a scientific worldview which is based upon observable evidence rather than dogmatic insistence upon the veracity of superstitious claims which are unsupported by evidence, it also discounts supernatural phenomena such as ghosts, psychics, fairies, and other such ideas.

    Atheists hold that the Bible cannot be our source of morality as it contains countless calls for immoral behavior such as killing any who try to convert you, stoning homosexuals and adulterers to death, and the institution of slavery. Instead, most Christians actually rely on their own innate philanthropic sense (which has evolved as a necessary element of communal living over millions of years) to cherry pick the pleasant parts of the Bible and ignore the rest.
    Atheists often subscribe to the secular humanist idea that it is far more ethical to do what is right simply because you feel that it’s right, rather than because you fear divine punishment. Such ethical behavior facilitates civilized living and improves the quality of life for everyone.

    It also lists Einstein as an atheist, something that would be vehemently denied by many Christian who like to contend the opposite. Write on!

  • Here’s another one from near the end of the Bill Clinton entry, which prior to that is predictably anti-Clinton. How long will this part last:

    Bill Clinton managed to serve two terms without botching the prosecution of two wars, manipulating intelligence, engaging in a systematic program of torture, or mishandling the federal response to flooding of a major American city. Obviously, he is the devil incarnate. Clinton also attempted to use the American military to kill Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda, an action which was properly seen as a mere attempt to distract the nation from the Monica Lewisnky scandal.

  • Just posted this on the Colbert Report message board in the hope that this will filter its way up to the writers. The tag is Conserviality, maybe a few more comments will help grab their attention.

  • Christianity receives no credit for the great advances and discoveries it inspired.

    No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!

    And of course:

    Hey Torquemada, whaddaya say?
    I just got back from the auto da fey.
    Auto da fey, what’s an auto da fey?
    It’s what you auto to do but you do anyway.

    And who could forget Landover Baptist?

    Yep. Christianity has inspired some great comedy at least.

  • ethel-to-tilly@#24. my thoughts exactly. i laughed so hard and so long, you made the post long before i could recover long enough to type. let alone how long it took to wipe off my monitor…….

  • I went to the Reagan page expecting him to be listed as the second coming of Christ.

    I found this little gem, presumably left by page vandals, that was good for a chuckle.

    In one of his most famous challenges to Soviet Communism in Europe, he publicly uttered the words, “Mr. Gorbachev,it’s really cold here in Russia,” before the tearing down of the Berlin Wall with his bare hands, separating East and West Germany. He also introduced the idea of “Reaganomics” in which the rich would recieve tax breaks and poor people got nothing.

    I hope there’s some winger going into cardiac arrest over the perceived sacrilege.

    Oh, yeah. I’ll give the site a real negative for ripping off the look of Wikipedia.

  • Christianity receives no credit for the great advances and discoveries it inspired, such as those of the Renaissance.

    Other than getting some pretty non-Christian popes to pay for some good art, Christianity as these bozos would describe it had nothing to do with the Renaissance.

    Hey, did you know that black is white, that up is down, that in is out, that day is night? That’s the way things work in WingerWorld.

    They really are a separate species lacking frontal lobes and opposable thumbs. Homo Sap

  • Hey, did you know that black is white, that up is down, that in is out, that day is night? That’s the way things work in WingerWorld.

    Don’t forget the biggie: War is Peace.

    Every year is 1984 in WRingerWorld.

  • These people are completely beyond the ability of any creative artist to imagine:

    Communism: “Communists believe that if they share everything, no one will ever have to work.”

    the Law of Mass Conversation: “Matter cannot be created or destroyed, it can only change form.”

    Kangaroo: “Like all modern animals, modern kangaroos originated in the Middle East and are the descendants of the two founding members of the modern kangaroo baramin that were taken aboard Noah’s Ark prior to the Great Flood.”

    Gospels: “The greatest writing in the history of the world is the Gospel of John….This single book has done more to shape human thought and behavior than any other work. Our uniquely American First Amendment right of free speech is based on ministers preaching of the ‘Word’ of God as described in the first few verses of the Gospel of John.”

    George Washington: “Washington is perhaps the person other than Jesus who declined enormous worldly power, in Washington’s case by voluntarily stepping aside as the ruler of a prosperous nation.”

    The good news is, the more these people are homeschooled, the greater the likelihood they will be public morons to the rest of us.

  • “God doesn’t play dice” or something to that effect was muttered by Einstein in response to a comment on quantum mechanics. Anyone who has a the first clue about Einstein would know the man wasn’t an atheist. It disturbs as to how delusional people can be in this modern era.

  • At first I thought it was funny, and in a sense I still do, but on the other hand it also seems a little frightening. They’re indeed creating their own ‘reality’, their own bubble. And if their children really rely on such a site instead of a neutral, well-establish, high-quality site like Wikipedia then we’ll be surrounded by even more morons.

    It would be about time that God would let rain some brains on them …

  • I think we need to do some research here. The Onion has to be behind this. There can’t possibly be people this pathological out there who manage to have an audience.

    Does it matter that while a lot of Christians died during WWII, that it wasn’t a policy expressed by any country or individual to exterminate them from the earth?

  • I see this as a good thing.

    No matter what we say or do, conservatives are going to hold on to their views which are counter to reality. Typically they turn their beliefs into lists of talking points and cut and paste them over lots of liberal blogs. They think that by doing this they are debating us and proving we are wrong. Should we tire of reading the same things which have been refuted numerous times and stop allowing them to post such comments they can also claim to be the victims of liberal censorship.

    At least Conservapedia helps keep them busy among each other. The more time they are spending building up this source, the less time they have to cause other mischief.

    Of course ultimately they will probably start cutting and pasting Conservapedia items all over the blogosphere as “evidence” for their positions. The beauty of this is that those who are so inclined have a way to fight back. There’s already a number of people from the reality based community who have been correcting their entries until banned. With any luck this project could keep conservatives tied up with such busy work for ages.

  • Normally I don’t like to laugh at people because it is just plain rude, but I will make an exception in this case.

    Comment by ET — 2/23/2007 @ 4:25 pm

    Well – it’s okay to laugh. As long as you don’t point…

    Gallagher

  • These kids are actually pretty well trained and indoctrinated by the look of it. Beware. They clearly don’t (or their teacher does not) have much confidence or they’d keep the website as a wiki. It needs a new tagline “The Conservapedia is an Encyclopedia that can be edited by anyone who is a white, homeschooled, christianist nationalist of our choosing”

  • Well – not allowed to edit anymore – only the good Christian. The site do not seems to accept new account being created anymore.

    Another interesting quote from the Dinosaur history entry –

    http://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Dinosaur&limit=500&action=history

    15:12, 1 March 2007 Conservative (Talk | contribs) m (Protected “Dinosaur”: Material criticizing evolutionary ideas is being deleted at this site. I didn’t want to see all my hard work deleted [edit=sysop:move=sysop])

    enough said?

  • From the article on Benjamin Franklin:

    “Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) was one of the Founding Fathers, he was ambassador to France, and also he is on the $100 dollar bill. Benjamin Franklin was a prolific inventor, he invented the Franklin Stove and the bifocal and also proved the existence of electricity with an experiment involving a key attached to the tail of a kite being flown in a lightning storm. Benjamin Franklin was truly a great American.”

    Then, 15 paragraphs about Ben not being a deist.

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