Eleven enemies of truth

(English) This is an essay. It expresses the opinions and ideas of some Wikimedians but may not have wide support. This is not policy on Meta, but it may be a policy or guideline on other Wikimedia projects. Feel free to update this page as needed, or use the discussion page to propose major changes.

There are eleven enemies of the truth in any wiki forum. They are:

• niceness – if you are nice, you will "let things go" too soon – leaving them wrong
• feelings – if you have feelings, you will have ad hominem reactions – always wrong
• allies – if you have allies, you will defend them when they are wrong – and vice versa
• lawyers – if you have lawyers, they will tell you to censor the truth – leaving lies
• publishers – if you have publishers, they will bend to liars' pressure – necessarily
• promoters – there are many forms of spam, all well-funded, and some of them subtle
• students – those who are just learning censor anything that they don't want to learn
• thugs – those very many who would do physical violence to others based on words alone
• outers – those who believe they can involuntarily attach bodies to words create violence
• "the community" – anything called a "community" will always be "defended" by violence
• experts – the slightest word from an expert authorizes all abuses by any of the above

A commitment to wikitruth requires abandoning all eleven of these enemies. It requires accepting conflict theory, dialectic, debate and adversarial process as routes to knowledge. That is all one can ever do in the realm of words.

It requires making a firm and irrevocable commitment to becoming a troll. It requires a doctrine which allows for no exceptions, and guarantees that those who violate the doctrine are subjected to a lifetime of harassment and ridicule. Yes: a lifetime. For that is what "outing" does, that is what thugs will do, that is what lawyers will do, they will alter the course of a life. Whether heroic journalists in Hong Kong or lying academics in Alaska.

The truth is made of hate. At least, that part of the truth that can ever be stated in words. The aspect of truth that allows for love, remains unwritten. And always will. Eradicate the eleven enemies, and accept that what remains on the page is pure hatred: Hatred of the body. Hatred of the emotional and incomprehensible moot of being alive. Hatred, pure and simple. Like an acid, the truth burns, but it burns emotionally – and the more true, the more painful.