RationalWiki:To do list/archive3

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47Human resourcesWikipedia, a department of a business in charge of hiring, firing, mediating employee disputes and so on. A minority of conservatives, racists, MRAs, etc. rail against them because, I dunno, because they "enforce diversity quotas and only exist to create jobs for people with useless liberal arts degrees", or something. One suspects that the real reason why so many of them hate them so much is because many of them have themselves been reprimanded by human resources departments for exhibiting racist or sexist attitudes at work that prompted complaints from co-workers...
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40DavosWikipedia and the associated World Economic ForumWikipedia are involved in various New World Order-type conspiracy theories.
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122Founding Fathers on IslamCreate draft - we should discuss what the rather heterogeneous group that declared independence from Britain, fought the war and wrote the Constitution had to say about Islam. Given that they are often cited by both sides to make some kind of point.
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73Gavin MenziesWikipedia or his book 1421: The Year China Discovered the World, which sounds like an entertaining work of pseudohistory about how the Chinese discovered North America before Columbus. Later books sound even madder: Wikipedia. (There is now an article about the 1421 theory.)
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92VolkstaatWikipedia - an Afrikaner political project in South Africa to basically start over with Apartheid on a smaller territory but without any black people in it WikipediaWikipedia has an article on it. Thankfully it has stayed a fringe movement even within white South Africans...
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61Anne Graham LotzWikipedia is the deranged daughter of Billy Graham and what Ann Coulter is going to look like in ten to twenty years. Check out her links at Right Wing Watch to get an idea of what were dealing with here.
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43350.orgWikipedia[1]: "Climate-focused campaigns, projects and actions led from the bottom-up by people in 188 countries. Email is how 350 connects — Join in and get started"
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66 A grand coalitionWikipedia is a government form in parliamentary systems that usually combines the two biggest parties (often one socialist/social democratic/liberal and one christian democratic/conservative) in an often temporary "unholy alliance". It is usually seen as a stopgap and perceived very negatively by all involved, but countries like Austria have ended up with the Grand Coalition as the "standard" government on the federal level. A RW article on the phenomenon should explore reasons that lead to grand coalitions and whether the purported negative consequences actually exist.
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91Disposition MatrixWikipedia is Obama's administration's official kill/capture list used for drone killings, rendition, and surveillance of suspected terrorists. The criteria for someone to end up on this list is classified and the CIA and Obama administration have refused to comment on it; this list has been said to most likely exist indefinitely. John Brennan has heavily shaped how this list works. The WaPo originally revealed this story and everyone from the ACLU to Rand Paul has condemned it. This should be chalk full of civil liberties violations and have many conspiracy theories surrounding it.
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73Frozen ConflictWikipedia are unresolved wars that end up in perpetual ceasefires. The first example came out of the Korean War, but has since been used by authoritarian governments as a tactic to take over land that has a large ethnic group that makes up their country. Some examples include Northern Cyprus (annexed by Turkey), Transistria, South Ossetia, Abkhazia, the Donbass, and Crimea (annexed by Russia), and Nagrano-Karabakh (claimed by Armenia, but owned by Azerbaijan)
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82Mere ChristianityWikipedia by C.S. Lewis. We can explain the book's history and thesis and probably do a side by side refutation of his arguments.
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46New Year's Eve sexual assaults in CologneWikipedia.
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90Sons of Iraq,Wikipedia a security contractor friggen death squad in Iraq. The "troop surge"? Those guys. Basically, Sunni militants made up of various groups including former Saddam soldiers who had been funded by Syria and Iran (yes those were Shia but they hated the US more), but cheaply, so the US hired them for 3-4 times the pay. Then used them to pacify murder the fraggle out of all the Shia militias that were ALSO being funded by Iran and Syria. And it worked. Until the US left and the mercenaries stopped getting paid, the Prime Minister sacked his Sunni President, and made every inclination that he'd begin oppressing the Sunnis. Where are they now? Well, most got integrated into the Iraqi forces or did other stuff, but a few of them ended up in another group you might have heard of...
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64Someone in the archives proposed we do an article on the phenomenon of the emergency managerWikipedia as seen in Flint and other places in Michigan and throughout these United States of America. Given the fact that it has recently become a lot more pressing to debate this issue, we should definitely cover it
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76Bioscience Resource ProjectWikipedia - according to their page on WP (which has been subject to at least one edit war) they do some agenda pushing related to genetics and GMOs. As some IP editor recently inserted them into our article on genetically modified food they seem to be something we should cover
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123Dogfighting,Wikipedia Cockfighting,Wikipedia Bullfighting,Wikipedia and maybe even Fox huntingWikipedia all involve vast amounts of animal cruelty, and with various batshit arguments in favor (or against) them.
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81Concussions in SportWikipedia, or more specifically Concussions in American FootballWikipedia a long tragic story of denial and lawsuits, now a major motion picture. Debunking those that say "ah getting hit on the head can't be that bad" should be a major component of the article.
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142 The whole tough on crimeCreate draft disaster, including three strikes lawsWikipedia could get the RW treatment. Do harsh sentences work? Do they have racial or class components? Who came up with this ideology in the first place? How do we end the epidemic of incarceration?
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60Simon MagusWikipedia is a famous magician from Christian tradition. He could change himself into a goat! As well as become invisible, jump off tall buildings, and antagonise pretty much everybody.
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82The Confederate ConstitutionWikipedia has many supporters who range from southern sympathizers to libertarians who see it as the true small government America ought to be and saw Lincoln as the ultimate tyrant. Ironically it would have limited states rights and didn't remove the government's ability to quash rebellion.
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58Robert KiviatWikipedia director of such hits as "Alien Autopsy" and "Aliens on the Moon: The Truth Exposed", the latter of which is available on Netflix. Also not just alien "documentaries", with "I Shot JFK: The Shocking Truth" and ironically "World's Greatest Hoaxes: Secrets Finally Revealed".
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86Oddly enough despite having articles on the rest of the manosphere we don't have an article on Red Pillers, an even more extreme and militant form of misogyny pushed on the internet. It's also arguably the most dangerous form of internet misogyny in the real world considering a good chunk of red pillers are rape apologists, pedophilia apologists, and a few mass shooters have been encouraged by their rhetoric.They're so bad even some MRA's dislike them.
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145Do we have an article on the tendency of cranks and their followers to dishonestly cite a letter to the editor in a peer-reviewed journal as if it indicates the journal supports their crackpottery or somehow magically proves their claims? Not quite quote mining. (It's similar to dishonest TV ads for a movie which quote "The New York Times", when in fact the quote comes from a newspaper ad for the movie and not from a legitimate critic.) Needs a snappy name too.
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7413 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi,Wikipedia the latest film from Michael Bay, the man who tried to outdo Titanic by turning Pearl Harbor into a poorly done love triangle and woefully inaccurate circle jerk of American exceptionalism. Currently only a small part of the larger article on the 2012 Benghazi attack.
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109Tong renCreate draft: smacking dolls with a hammer will heal you. Yeah, it's as silly as it sounds.
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75Retraction Watch,Wikipedia part of the immune system of science. Useful for flagging interesting terrible past science.
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42Shmuley BoteachWikipedia[2] came into the public eye for writing about sex. Er, that may not have been the best way of phrasing that. Anyway, being pro-sex (in a strictly religious sort of way) and Jewish are the main things that distinguish him from Christian fundamentalist conservatives. Has defended thinly veiled antisemitic remarks by Ted Cruz during the 2016 Republican primary campaign
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120Chemo KillsCreate draft (https://chemokills.info/) The absolute worst sort of quack website, as they don't just promote cancer woo (Paleo diet, Vitamin C megadosage, etc.), but also actively and very strongly encourage people to not get (life-saving) chemothrapy. Claims that "globally 1.5 million people a year are murdered by chemotherapy for profit.". A number that cited by Mike Adams (The Health Ranger) on http://pharmadeathclock.com/ . (Could perhaps also be covered in Chemotherapy, which is a stub).
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131Pro-smokingCreate draft is a thing. Pro-smoking example: https://smokerswrites.wordpress.com In the middle-ish example: https://www.heartland.org/ideas/smokers-rights Harassment: http://www.theguardian.com/society/2012/jun/01/pro-smoking-activists-health-campaigners
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80 National Socialist Underground,Wikipedia Jena Cell, NSU or whatever we want to call it. A far right group of terrorists who went around mrudering for nearly a decade - lots of Conspiracy theories out there. Did the intelligence agencies just fail or botch stuff on purpose?
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87InfomercialsWikipedia and shopping channels.Wikipedia How can we not have an article each (or together) on these two sources of fraud, pseudoscience and general crankery?
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77Rubin "Hurricane" Carter,Wikipedia a man popularly believed to be either guilty of a triple homicide or railroaded by a racist conspiracy. Here, discussion over the case and evidence on both sides (and the fact that it's possible that he's innocent while only being convicted because it was reasonable to think that the evidence pointed to him, with no frame-up needed), the Bob Dylan song "Hurricane", and the 1999 film starring Denzel Washington (and why he should've won the Oscar then and there, and that he was robbed because of well-intentioned but misguided protests to the Oscar board). One of various possible information sources: http://graphicwitness.com/carter/index.html
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110It Works!Create draft Actually, it's apparently some kind of body wrap that is supposed to help weight loss in spite of any evidence that it actually, y'know, works. Also promoted via multi-level marketing.
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136"Social engineering,"Wikipedia used to legitimately describe government/business practices, or alternatively as loaded language by cranks.
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71Deer Tribe Medicine SocietyWikipedia New Age claptrap cult about sex. Couldn't find much else about it
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45Avatar CourseWikipedia Former Scientology mission sued by the Church of Scientology only to convert into some kind of Free Zone cult
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91MOVEWikipedia Black Power & Radical Environmentalist/Animal Rights group that committed 2 shootings and 1 bombing.
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42Movement of Spiritual Inner AwarenessWikipedia New Age cult, former member says its founder has Narcissistic Personality Disorder.
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78Narcissistic Personality DisorderWikipedia A lot of cult leaders and dictators are said to have this. Jim Jones, David Koresh, etc. Currently just a redirect to personality disorder.
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48House of YahwehWikipedia Religious tolerance.org labels it as a "high risk group" and a "cult". Predicted the End of the World numerous times. Gave us this funny image https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Yahweh#/media/File:Hoy_botnb.jpg
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82Mexican Drug WarWikipedia A lot of the cartels often incorporate nutty Folk Catholicism in their chaos. Ties in with the whole War on Drugs legalize weed thing.
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61Order of the Solar TempleWikipedia Italian cult claiming they are the decedent of the Knights Templar. Committed some mass suicides & as well as some murders between 1994-1995.
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81Shining PathWikipedia A Maoist terrorist group/cult/insurgency/organized crime syndicate in Peru that operates to this very day.Been condemned worldwide for its brutality towards peasants and they smuggle cocaine.
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62True Russian Orthodox ChurchWikipedia An offshoot of the Russian Orthodox Church that threatened mass suicide if authorities intervened with them holding up a cave to await the end of the world.
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124NinjaWikipedia A lot of woo, myths, urban legends, and bullshit about them. Ties in with a lot of the mall ninja McDojo crap we talk about. (Currently a redirect to RationalWiki:Ninja.)
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67Crank magnet libertarianismWikipedia People like Alex Jones, Mark Dice, Bo Gritz, etc. Basically the antithesis of Rationalwiki's views in general
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82Julius and Ethel RosenbergWikipedia One of the most controversial executions Of The Last 30 Seconds, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were a couple with 2 kids at the time of their execution for espionage. A great way to delve into the politics of the Cold War and an omen to those who dare to repeat history.
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81Erin BrockovichWikipedia. Made a name for herself around a scary-sounding chemical whose carcinogeneity is still uncertain. Currently a strongly anti-GMO voice with her own following.
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85Phosphorus.Wikipedia Currently, the link redirects to the "Category:Elements" page. It's essential for life, it's the title character in White Phosphorus (sometimes used to horrific effect in warfare), it's why phosphates are called phosphates, and modern agriculture is using so much we're starting to face a shortage. What's not to love about this element?
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116TransethnicCreate draft. As nonsensical as this idea is, perhaps we should define it at least?
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80Frank MillerWikipedia A once critically acclaimed comic book writer & artist now a generally right wing sexist/misogynistic and racist who published Holy Terror. See Linkara's reviews for more information.
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83Long Island MediumWikipedia yet another of the many people who claim they can talk to the dead
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75BonoWikipedia deserves his own article, especially in terms of talking about why he's such a polarizing figure, why he and U2 are a popular target to attack these days, and debunking the more spurious claims.
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83Prop 65,Wikipedia named after the IQ of the people implementing it, is the reason everything in California causes cancer. By law, everything must state whether or not it contains any possible carcinogens or heavy metals in any quantity, but since virtually everything does, the result is that everything comes with a warning label that most people ignore. A number of small law firms exist only to sue companies that don't put this label on their products.
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130Symbionese Liberation ArmyWikipedia One of the cults responsible for the downfall of the New Left. Most famous for the kidnapping and brainwashing of Patty Hearst.
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110ScienceProvesIt.comCreate draft[3] a project of AIG.
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90Sesame CreditWikipedia, the Authoritarian game designed by Tencent that gives you points and benefits for toeing the CPP's line, and will become mandatory in 2020.
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136Marcus GarveyWikipedia was an early founder of the Pan-African movement and black nationalism, but he tended to see blacks and whites as two different peoples who would be unable to coexist and therefore believed all people of African descent should return to their homeland. He had a famous dispute with W.E.B Dubois and was against the idea of "racial mixing" in order to prevent mulattoes. He is also considered a prophet of Rastafari.
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921980 October SurpriseWikipedia, A conspiracy theory that the Ronald Reagan administration stole the election from Jimmy Carter by negotiating with Iran to delay hostage releases until after Carter left office. I don't have time, but it does seem on mission to me.
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112Joy of SatanEdit draft, Neo-Nazi UFO Satanic Cult, large presence on the Internet
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74Biblical Creation MinistriesWikipedia is a UK-based creationist organization "committed to developing a wide-ranging, multidisciplinary model of earth history consistent with the broad parameters given by the Bible’s story-line" (i.e. publishing pseudoscientific research, debating evolutionists, and spreading creationist ideas).
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94The Panama DeceptionWikipedia is a documentary about the 1989 US invasion of Panama. It asserts that the US invaded in order to renegotiate the Torrijos-Carter TreatyWikipedia , but also states that the US tested energy weapons in order to test them. This film won an Academy Award for Most Unexceptional Documentary.
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97Conspiracy theorists tend to call themselves Political prisoners.Wikipedia We could make a list of actually political prisoners and cranks who call themselves that. It would be similar to our whistleblower page.
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140Bill CosbyWikipedia should be discussed, especially why he was an idol and a voice of wisdom, his comments before the accusations, and his massive hypocrisy.
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115Village atheistCreate draft. The stereotype of the evangelical atheist did not begin with "New Atheism". The character of Miles Bjornstam from Sinclair Lewis's Main Street is one starting point.
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66Fulton Lewis,Wikipedia who was an influence on modern conservative talk radio with Charles Coughlin. If Coughlin provided the ranting style, Lewis provided the fact-free loopiness.
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106Something on the LessWrong "LessWrong SequencesCreate draft Treated as scripture there (in the sense of being proclaimed as the foundational text but roundly ignored in practice). The actual content is somewhere between stopped clock and Sherlock's criticism
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119The Voldemort EffectCreate draft, a neologism created by Maajid Nawaz, occurs when someone is afraid to name someone or something which can lead to them ignoring the problem. The idea comes from the Harry Potter universe where no citizen is willing to name Voldemort out of fear of retaliation; this is usually used against liberals who are supposedly afraid of calling out Islamic terrorism.
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74I personally think that an article on Sacco and VanzettiWikipedia as well as their trial is desperately needed.
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71P. J. O'Rourke,Wikipedia an epically quotable loveable bastard.
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137r/K selection theory,Wikipedia an obsolete biological concept, also taken up in the past by racialists (particularly Rushton) and currently a conservative meme (that conservatives are K and liberals are r, therefore science - frequently from people who previously didn't believe in evolution). This doesn't make coherent sense on any level, but we could do with a dissection of the meme version. (Koanic Soul of course gibbers wonderfully.) PZ Myers has a good dissection to crib from.
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104ADoseofBuckleyCreate draft, a Canadian humorist who posts YouTube videos under the tagline "Angry Humour From An Angry Man." He posts videos on everything from pop music and ad campaigns to social concerns, with purposefully snarky comments. In particular consideration to watch, and comment on either in an article or side-by-side list or refutation are his videos about Slutwalk, patriarchy, the Oregon bakery case (as a side note in the patriarchy video) nice guys, marijuana (specifically 420), AlterNet (in a video entitled Fox News vs. Alternative Media), and obesity. His YouTube channel is here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9kMnSZQd53hE-1sb1f9sdA/videos?feature=hovercard
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68Aaron Copland,Wikipedia an American composer with a distinctly populist streak in both his music and his apparent politics; had to testify before McCarthy, and was almost tried for perjury afterwards. FBI kept a very close watch on him for some while.
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76Islamic Society of North AmericaWikipedia is the largest Muslim group in North America. It has been accused by Stephen SchwartzWikipedia as a Wahhabi front group. The Justice Department had considered them as co-conspirators to radical Islamic groups.
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73Muslim American SocietyWikipedia is a front group developed by the Muslim Brotherhood. Its official policy is to keep this relationship ambiguous and they claim that Jihad is a "divine legal right" of Muslims. It has also been labeled as a terrorist group by the UAE.
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64Allan Kardec,Wikipedia who codified modern spiritist doctrine. The Portuguese version of WikipediaWikipedia has a more complete article on him.
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86Copulin,Wikipedia the latest gibbering nonsense from the manosphere. There are real things of this name, but the MGTOW version is Barely Noticeable. ZOMBIFYING VAGINA GOO!
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70Binding arbitrationWikipedia and its use as a tool for exploiting those without real economic power.
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81Soong May-ling,Wikipedia who lived a very long and storied life far too complicated to even attempt to summarize here. She and her husband had a unique synergy while in power, and she's also one of those people who eludes easy classification into "good"/"bad" categories. So basically, an article that will avoid being either hysterical ranting or effusive gushing.
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74A new moral panic called ChemsexWikipedia that involves taking drugs and having lots of sex. It is a real, dangerous problem though in the LGBT community even if it is very minor though.
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109Judicial review denialismCreate draft, the latest form of right-wing pseudolaw created to oppose same-sex marriage, by denying that the Obergefell v. Hodges decision is legally binding, which is being trotted out by Republican pundits ad nauseam. Could possibly be just a section in Judicial review.
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132CryosaunasWikipedia are the hip new exercise woo based on whole-body cryotherapy (WBC). While WBC has legitimate uses in treating the symptoms of multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis, cryosaunas were popularized by some professional athletes claiming that WBC alleviates post-exercise soreness. As a result, casual athletes are now jumping on the bandwagon. The practice's lack of regulation has come under scrutiny after a cryosauna worker was killed inside one on October, 2015.
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80Naprapathy,Wikipedia a variant on osteopathy and chiropracty. Popular in Scandinavia.
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90The Killian documents controversy,Wikipedia a.k.a. the forged documents which "proved" that Dubya didn't go to war.
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80The International JewWikipedia is an antisemitic booklet made by Henry Ford. He later launched The Dearborn Independent in order to expose the vast Jewish conspiracies.
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70NeotantraWikipedia is a new age cultural appropriation of the spiritual practice tantraWikipedia in Hinduism and Buddhism. It involves unconventional sex, called tantric sex, which is "sacred".
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68Liberty CentralWikipedia is wingnut organization run by Virginia Thomas,Wikipedia Clarence Thomas's wife. It has been used as prominent evidence for Clarence Thomas's conflict of interest.
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94EngramWikipedias are a supposed mental image of past pain in the "reactive mind" on Scientology. They are also a legitimate explanation for the consistency of memory; in neuroscience engrams are biophysical or biochemical changes in the brain which are a part of a biological neural network.Wikipedia
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84Not Dead YetWikipedia is a disability rights group that is opposed to euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. They argue that legalization will place pressure upon severely handicapped people to end their lives and avoid "being a burden" on others. They protested the removal of Terri Schiavo's feeding tube, and also protested the Clint Eastwood film Million Dollar Baby for its positive portrayal of assisted suicide.
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86The Palestinian right of returnWikipedia is a claimed right of those who lived in what is now Israel prior to 1948 and left it in the course of the fighting - Unlike any other refugee situation this right is claimed to be inheritable (including through adoption). There might be on-mission stuff to say about whether this unique interpretation of international law for this one case holds water
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113FIFA.Wikipedia The world's largest sports governing body is a filthy, corrupt cesspool.
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72Tim FarronWikipedia is the new LibDem leader. He is in favor of the UK taking in more refugees,voted against the tuition hike, replacing trident, and bedroom tax, but also voted against the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations.Wikipedia
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90Omar Al-BashirWikipedia (or any of the various other spellings) supreme dipshit of (North) Sudan and only sitting head of state to ever be accused of war crimes, I am sure we can elaborate on his guilt or innocence and maybe there are even some apologists for his deeds in some woo-ish crank corners...
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76Yoshiro Nakamatsu,Wikipedia Aka "Dr. NakaMats" - Prolific Japanese inventor and Ig Nobel Prize recipient. Has made some genuinely useful contributions (such as various advances on floppy disks) but most often his work goes into straight-up crankery and woo.
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108A Chinese therapy called paidaCreate draft ("pat therapy" or "slap therapy") was covered earlier this year by the BBC. There has been at least one death associated with it.[4]
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70 The Automotive cityWikipedia has been one of the driving forces in city design for the last century, and is heavily tied into the politics of race and class.
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80Christian persecution,Wikipedia documenting and debunking the widespread claims that Christians are being persecuted in modern America / Europe, and discussing real Christian persecution in non-developed countries (possibly merge with Christophobia)?
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77We need to have a page on "modern day Nostradamus" Gary SpiveyWikipedia because just look at him. What is this? The inverse of a tinfoil hat to better attune to the messages from God?
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74Hans Magnus EnzensbergerWikipedia
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70Ken JebsenWikipedia a former radio persona and all around kook and woo-meister. Got fired for an antisemitic dog whistle and instead of toning it down he went off the deep end completely. Likes to make common cause with Jürgen Elsässer and is/has been a major PegidaWikipedia apologist. English WP has nothing on him but German WP does. He's also rather active on Youtube
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104How to Good-Bye DepressionCreate draft If You Constrict Anus 100 Times Everyday. Malarkey? or Effective Way?. Might be a Poe, might be a racist joke, but dude has a website.
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73Greyhound Therapy:Wikipedia The "medical treatment" of putting unwanted/undesirable/troublesome patients, such as the mentally ill, on a bus and sending them on a one-way trip to the next state over.
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134Nudism wooCreate draft Especially in the 19th century when nudism first became a political movement instead of just people foregoing clothes, a lot of woo was associated with it. Be it antisemitism, nationalism or the believe that nudity was some kind of panacea. Some of this woo still remains, as a short visit to one of the places where it is practiced will show you.
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113Gentrification.Wikipedia When the white hipsters discover your funky and quaint neighborhood and price you out of it.
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91Consensual crimeWikipedia - A.k.a. victimless crimes, e.g. recreational drugs, prostitution, gambling, sodomy (in some jurisdictions), etc..
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71Tom Wolfe.Wikipedia Started his career as an avant-garde journalist. Turned into a conservative Very Serious Person and satirist of left-wing sensibilities in novels like Bonfire of the Vanities.
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70The Natural Resources Defense CouncilWikipedia (NRDC), an environmental organization that's much saner than Greenpeace but which still has an axe to grind.
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94European refugee crisisWikipedia, 2015 European refugee crisis, Syrian refugee crisis, or maybe just Refugees. Lots of missional stuff here. We have Immigration (stub), but IMHO refugees is not the same thing as (economic) immigration (although there is obviously a large overlap).
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66Bill Whittle,Wikipedia available on WikipediaWikipedia already. Cited by anti-gun control persons.
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100Gabor FeketeCreate draft a physics crank and troll. Emails physicists pretending to be from the Nobel committee; has attained some small fame for this in the field. [5][6][7][8][9] Has been at this for years[10].
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109OnionWikipedia - the vegetable, not the website. Provoked by encountering the idea that a red onion applied to the sole of your foot sucks out toxins and negative energy. (Really.) There's probably other fascinating woo.
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81Pink RibbonWikipedia/Susan G. Komen for the CureWikipedia/pinkwashing.Wikipedia Highly visible, highly questionable breast cancer awareness organization. Their antics include suing the bejezus out of other charities and plastering pink ribbons on carcinogenic products (and firearms). Is more interested in self-promotion than actually doing something against breast cancer. A general article on awareness raising/awareness campaign would also be nice.
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77A Joe jobWikipedia is a spamming technique for smearing a target by spoofing the sender ID so an unflattering or otherwise damaging message seems to have come from the target. See the Wikipedia article on Joe job.
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73International Red Cross and Red Crescent MovementWikipedia - Surely there are some conspiracy theories to debunk here.
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72Marcus AureliusWikipedia, Roman emperor from 161 to 180 and Stoic philosopher.
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77The al-Quds dayWikipedia is an antisemitic shitfest-lollapalooza invented in 1979 by Iranian supreme dipshit Khomeini and thus almost certainly part of our mission statement, if possible flamewar-bait.
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102 BoughtCreate draft, a movie about how vaccines and GMOs are evil -- and, worse, corporationy. (c.f. this examiner.com article)
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105Koanic SoulCreate draft: a deeply nuts ([11][12][13]) scientific racist site that actually gets >0 play in neoreaction. Mr. 74 liked them too. Vault-Co is also a fan. With added Bitcoin.[14]
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66 The Movement of Spiritual Inner AwarenessWikipedia is where Arianna Huffington of the eponymous Post apparently gets at least some of her wackier notions. Also connected in some way or other to the late medical marijuana and St. John's wort advocate and half-hearted Libertarian Peter McWilliams.Wikipedia
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77It might be useful to have an article on forensic science.Wikipedia Science News has a recent article on the problems and prospects of the field.[15]
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98Jennifer HoultCreate draft, because we should be weary of someone who had a false memory of child sexual abuse back in the day, still believes it, and does research on sexual abuse (because there is good chance her research is heavily tinged by her conspiratorial views). Also a parental alienation denier (why not, since both false memories and parental alienation are heavily linked?)
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81We should have an article on the "Right to be Forgotten".Wikipedia It has been in the EU for awhile now but there is a push to pass such a law in the US. It seems positive for those little mistakes we make on the internet but raises some interesting free speech questions. It also seems to get abused i.e. George Osborne.
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64Allan SavoryWikipedia and his concept of holistic grazing, interesting ideas and solutions about ecology of arid landscapes, claims he can help reduce global warming, but a bit of research reveals a lot of controversy over the man and his project. Unknown Hero ? Or full-of-shit opportunist ?.
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79Central South Slavic diasystemWikipedia - a bullshit concept in Slavic linguistics invented by nationalists to support splitting Serbo-Croatian into separate Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian and Montenegrin languages, whereas in fact they are standardized based on the same subdialect of the same dialect of Serbo-Croatian, are 100% mutually intelligible, have 95% identical lexis and 99% identical grammar. This is absurd to the point that Croatian linguists cite books written by Serbs as excellent sources of information on Croatian. Subject of content-forking articles on Wikipedia.
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86HeightismWikipedia - It's somewhat overlooked as a form of discrimination but there have been studies showing a wage gap between shorter people and taller people, and I have heard anecdotes about tall people not being taken as seriously when they're the victims of crimes. Not to mention the stereotypes.
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71The stuff that's happening in Calais with the migrants (The ones Cameron called a swarm) and the ferry strikers. Right wing response should be covered in this. Can't think of a good name for it.
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77SamaritanWikipedia is a redirect to Good Samaritan rather than a page on Samaritans. I say fix.
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66RationalWiki:Please climb the Riksdag dressed as Batman
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75Oswald Spengler,Wikipedia historian who was a major influence on the Nazis, although he was opposed to and eventually ostracized by them. (On Wikipedia.)
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102Article Four of the Articles of ConfederationCreate draft - Not sure the Most Unexceptional way to title the article, but I've noticed a lot of sovereign citizen nuts screaming about it in youtube videos where they get themselves arrested. They apparently believe that it's the basis for them not having to obey the law. Based on wikipedia, and my reading of that particular article just says States can't bar citizens of other States from entering unless they're criminals or homeless (apparently the Constitution made that part more PC), and has to treat them the same as citizens of the State they're entering. Thought we should tackle this.
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73Some kind of LessWrong-to-normal-person glossary, giving the terms the rest of the world uses for concepts Yudkowsky gave his own names to so he would seem more original.
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93The FederalistWikipedia, the latest socially conservative website masquerading as a force of reason.
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107The concept of a Baby BrainCreate draft which is basically the other side of the Mommy instinct coin. The idea that once a (previously competent) woman has had a baby, she magically is unable to do anything other that look after the baby (and often by implication, he husband.)
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86Max KeiserWikipedia is an American film maker who hosts shows on RT and Press TV. He is a goldbug and supports Bitcoin.
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71The Book of Matt,Wikipedia by Stephen Jimenez, which attempts to debunk that Matthew Shepard's murder was motivated by homophobia.
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105Cuckold,Wikipedia currently a redirect to Manosphere glossary, but the history of its use as a generic term of abuse would be good to write up, particularly with the recent prominence of cuckservative. [16] has some well-traced history, [17] has an anecdote on how it became common on 4chan (posters trolling /pol/ with interracial cuckold porn). "cuck" has a long history in both /pol/ and neoreactionary circles; as it happens, Robin Hanson of overcomingbias.com (predecessor to LessWrong) has done the hard thinking on cuckoldry (and how). Honestly, it's like these people literally spend all day every day thinking about nothing but BIG BLACK COCKS. More: [18]
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116Mommy UniversityCreate draft. Whereas the Mommy instinct is the notion that mothers magically know how to care for their children better than healthcare professionals, Mommy University is the even bolder notion that mothers know more about everything than everybody else. Products are hawked as having been "invented by a mom," for example, as though this makes the product better. Mommy bloggers are notorious graduates of this University, and tend toward a surprising level of anti-vax and food woo. (See also "sanctimommy," and the recent hashtag #MomHarder )
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73Bristol Palin,Wikipedia from out of the shadow of her mother comes a new challenger to all things ironic and hypocritical, shouting at teh gays and promoting abstinence while simultaneously having children out of wedlock.
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80MamajuanaWikipedia is a herbal alcoholic alternative medicine that is supposedly an aphrodisiac, flu remedy, digestion and circulation aid, blood cleanser, kidney and liver tonic.
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136The Rind et al. controversyWikipedia
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80OkraWikipedia, particularly the Facebook meme that it's a miracle cure for diabetes. It does help slow and regulate glucose uptake, though it's not the miracle cure it's touted as in way too many woo sites, videos, etc. Snopes, Healthline with papers linked; this paper appears to be the one originally hyped beyond reason.
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80Frivolous lawsuitsWikipedia[19] are often cited as arguments for tort reform or as proof that corporations can't accomplish anything because little people hold them back or other bullshit, and they're almost always fake or misreported.[20][21][22]
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81Lists of weird laws are generally cherry-picked if not made up entirely.
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133The Medea hypothesisWikipedia since we have an article on the Gaia hypothesis. There isn't a lot of info on the Wikipedia article.[23]
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85Opposition to pornography,Wikipedia separate and distinct from the article on pornography, since the opposition (Fight the New Drug, The End of Porn By Wire, SWERFs, Judith Reisman, certain religious groups, etc.) on both ends of the horseshoe tends to have its own special flavor of batshit arguments and questionable tactics.
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72 The Dominican Republic,Wikipedia the bigger one, land of Rafael Trujillo, next to Haiti. Not to be confused with Dominica, the smaller one, land of bizarre coups.
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82PeshmergaWikipedia, the ragtag band of Kurdish freedom fighters that are successfully holding against ISIS.
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87Fred RogersWikipedia. If more Christians were like him, this site would be vastly different. So would the world.
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94The idea of a FeminaziWikipedia (currently a redirect to Rush Limbaugh) should be discussed, and its minority status made clear. [24]
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72Eliot SpitzerWikipedia - the former attorney and governor of New York who had quite an impressive list of transgressions involving prostitutes and use of state funds to pay for them. His successor, David Paterson, might warrant an article too.
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87George Pataki.Wikipedia Former Republican governor of New York, currently running for President. May be of more note if he does well enough in the primaries, but he's one the very few sane Republicans left, even if he is a tad boring. (Currently redirect to 2016 Republican Party presidential nomination.)
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73Leaky gut syndrome.Wikipedia While the ailment may or may not be real, the snake oil and "superfood" cures for it are all too commonplace. c.f. this article.
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72Advanced Training InstituteWikipedia — the homeskoolin' organization behind the Duggar cult family. Gawker has a recent article on 'em.UNCOMFORTABLE-advice-on-sex-1706406324
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90Cathy YoungWikipedia - a self-described feminist who has been very critical of the movement since the early 1990s. She writes about gender issues, tending to focus on men's issues, and also speaks out against some of the SPOOK hysterics on the subject of rape and especially campus rape. Also one of the Gamergate supporters, and by extension a critic of its opponents. In addition, she comments on politics as a self-described libertarian.
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85Senkaku IslandsWikipedia - a bunch of uninhabited (but close to some oil) islands owned by Japan which China, rather dubiously claims as their own (as the Diaoyu Islands) and have in recent years threatened war with Japan over. With the latter's alliance with the US this dispute has the (albeit quite unlikely) potential to lead to a Third World War.
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87Internalized racismWikipedia - Same reason as the below. Definitely related to False consciousness.
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80Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife,Wikipedia by Eben Alexander, Harvard neurosurgeon. Widely popular book that claims to prove an afterlife exists; see eg here from The Spirit Science; one rebuttal here.
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70Al MurrayWikipedia - A British comedian Most Unexceptional known for his "Al Murray the Pub Landlord" act; a satirical impersonation of a right-wing, jingoistic publican. Recently however, he ran for Parliament as joke candidate for the Free the United Kingdom Party (or FUKP) in the same constituency as Nigel Farage. This of course, pissed off a lot of people who never got the joke, to the extent that he actually had break character a few times on his Facebook page.
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85Genocide WatchWikipedia - given their "2014 Countries at Risk" report lists the U.S. as a 10 (because "Colonists, US Army & slave traders" are going to kill "Native Americans & African slaves" and Japan as a 10, because the "Japanese Army" are going to kill "Chinese, Koreans and Philipinos" they appear to be way off the scale. It's a "countries at risk" report, not a "Countries that did bad shit in the past" report.[25] (Correction/comment by ScepticWombat: The "10" is a phase in genocide, specifically denial, not a risk factor for an imminent danger of genocide. Genocide Watch's description of the 10-stage model of genocide is found here)
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65Lionel R. MilgromWikipedia, associated with the Department of Chemistry at Imperial College of Science, has produced irony meter-stressing levels of quantum woo, tangled up with homeopathy.[26][27]
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62Theodore GrayWikipedia and his Barely Noticeable growth sprayis an element collector(which is always cool), cofounded Wolfram Industries with Stephen Wolfram, wrote a column for Popular Science magazine, tends to be pro-science, anti-woo, an outspoken critic of Global warming denial, and a general on-mission science populariser. It's so nice to see a Viz character turn up in real life.
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85Lokiarchaeota,Wikipedia a transitional form from about two billion years ago. See Lokiarchaeota.Wikipedia
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106Troubled teen homeCreate drafts, Christian and secular, for the abuse in them. (Example coverage from 2011, but I've seen a more recent one].) RW already has coverage of one, Hephzibah House, that is currently shoved as a section in Magdalene laundries where it doesn't belong.
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68Dieudonne M'bala M'bala,Wikipedia French comedian and raging anti-semite. Friends with Jean-Marie Le Pen in spite of being half African himself. Supposedly invented a reverse nazi salute.
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72Foucault's PendulumWikipedia, by Umberto Eco. Three editors at a vanity publishing house, exasperated by all the stupid manuscripts by conspiracy nuts they're forced to read, mock their clients by making up a Grand Unified Conspiracy Theory incorporating all of the lesser ones. Alas, inevitably, actual conspiracy theorists take their joke seriously, and start stalking them. A brilliant commentary on the gullibility of just exactly these types - a breath of fresh air after Dan Brown.
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81The Moynihan report.Wikipedia
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104Dogs NaturallyCreate draft - "the most complete source of natural health care for dogs" [28]. Has been called the NaturalNews of dog ownership. Animal abuse for the wootastic.
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65Theodore DalrympleWikipedia, British retired physician and conservative commentator who's written for Taki's Magazine and Townhall.com among others. His principal thesis: liberal intelligentsia and the welfare state have prompted the British underclass to devolve into lazy, scummy, entitled savages. Like Roger Scruton, the guy broadly seems to resent (and advocate the repeal of) the entire 20th century.
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96Pink taxWikipedia or things aimed at women being priced higher than the male equivalent. Is it real or just a conspiracy made up by people on tumblr.
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72A bunch of parapsychology journals: Journal of ParapsychologyWikipedia [29]; Journal of Consciousness StudiesWikipedia [30][31]; Journal of Near-Death Studies [32]. One we already have is Journal of Scientific Exploration.
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103Manifesto for a Post-Materialist ScienceCreate draft: Document arguing against scientific materialism. Cowritten by Rupert Sheldrake. ID supporters like it, as do Christians (Mormons?). The original is here, the fawning HuffPo is here, the less-fawning SciAm blog is here; Skeptiko forums likes it. A skeptical view is here, snarky comments here here and here.
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131SurinameWikipedia Small country in South-America; on-mission as it's the source of quite a bit of herbal nonsense and its ... interesting ... take on politics (the current present is a convicted drug smuggler in the Netherlands, and accused of playing a part in the december killings).
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85Akiane Kramarik:Wikipedia Child prophet and painting prodigy or hack exploited by her parents? It's worth it for RW to assemble the evidence scattered all over the web.
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102Alive.comCreate draft[33] is an alternative medicine quack fest from Biritsh columbia, it is a magazine and website about "natural" (ie Bullshit medicinal ways. it is full of random quackery
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134Midbrain activationCreate draft: woo marketed to parents in India to pay for coaches to train up their kids' midbrains. Skeptics in India deal with this one a bit. [34][35]
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141Ateshgah of Baku,Wikipedia This structure in Azerbaijan has been subject to some controversy for a while. It is an abnormally well preserved shrine of some sort just outside of Baku that depending on who you talk to, is either a Zoroastrian Fire Temple, a Hindu Temple, or both. While it was long assumed to be a Zoroastrian Fire Temple some Parsis back in the 19th century who visited the place doubted that and suggested that it could be a Hindu Temple. This association at first seems a bit far fetched due to its geographical implausibility (and the differences between Zoroastrianism as it was practiced during the Sassanian Empire and Zoroastrianism as it is practiced now in India). While the association with Hinduism isn't entirely made up, as it is clear that Hindu Merchants liked visiting the shrine as is evident by the inscription they left behind, the idea that it was founded as a Hindu Temple, or was only a Hindu Temple is rather far fetched. However the existence of a relatively even sided controversy has never dissuaded the Hindutva types from claiming that said controversy is settled in their favor and this case is no exception. The other wiki has an extremely one sided article on this building.Wikipedia I would advise visitors visiting the page with Google Chrome to visit the same page in other languages (specifically Russian, Azerbaijani, and Persian) to compare with the English article. They are all well balanced, presumably because Indians don't speak any of those languages... Given that Wikipedia seems to have ditched neutrality for this one article, and given our critique of Hindu Nationalism and our evaluation of their various claims, it would make sense to have an article evaluating this issue.
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102Yurugu: An African-Centered Critique of European Cultural Thought and BehaviorCreate draft, by Marimba Ani. One of the most popular black supremacist books. Some of its analysis is arguably defensible, but it's also full of bizarre woo and pseudohistory, such as this bit about blacks being more capable of absorbing "divine energy" due to their dark skin, and virtually every stick-shaped object (including, I shit you not, umbrellas) being a manifestation of the white man's fear of the black man's penis.
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75Hyperphysics:Wikipedia reader suggestion. "It's hosted by Georgia state University, and is run by Rod Nave. At first glance it seems to be an education resource. My problem is the creationist slant of the site. False claims made include: DNA is a true code, and that amino acid selection during protein synthesis is not chemically determined [36] Other pages directly relate to god, and creationism. [37]"
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73Sharyl Attkisson:Wikipedia CBS journalist and woo-pusher. Anti-vaxxer [38] [39] and general BSer. Also hates Wikipedia because it notes her anti-vaxxing.
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135Human nutrition;Wikipedia we have so many articles on food woo, why not a basic list of all nutrients you really need? Essential nutrients and what they do. Proteins lipids and carbs, various vitamins, trace metals, etc.
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164TerasemWikipedia[40][41][42] made the news not long ago for tricking NCIS actress Pauley Perrette into appearing to endorse their arrant bullshit. It's been described as a "robot cult" and calls itself a "transreligion".
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77Eurasian Economic UnionWikipedia - Putin's club for aging autocrats
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103PsycheTruthCreate draft - A channel on Youtube with over 880,000 subscribers, yet it's jam-packed with woo.
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82Interposition,Wikipedia the concept that U.S. state asserts rights to oppose actions of the federal government that the state deems unconstitutional. Under the theory of interposition, a state may "interpose" itself between the federal government and the people of the state by taking action to prevent the federal government from enforcing laws that the state considers unconstitutional. Interposition has not been upheld by the courts. Rather, the courts have held that the power to declare federal laws unconstitutional lies with the federal judiciary, not with the states.
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90Zoltan Istvan,Wikipedia a transhumanist "philosopher". His Wikipedia article is puffed-up to ridiculous proportions ("no really, he's a philosopher!") His transhumanist novel is an Objectivist diatribe. Even other transhumanists find him too annoying and not useful.
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88 The Freikorps,Wikipedia the infamous Weimar Republic-era volunteer paramilitary group that was well known for it's brutality (partially a result of personnel being derived from former Sturmtruppen) and regular use against communists. Like many shock troops left over from WWI, it soon became entangled with fascist elements.
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140Laplace's demonWikipedia -- the whole idea of scientific determinism and how it doesn't work/gets falsified.
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80Just ran into this really cogent counterargument to the idea that the bible is divinely inspired.[43] Could make an article from this, or part of one.
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136Great ZimbabweWikipedia (Better idea: a list of the major non-Egyptian African civilizations, to smack racists on the heads with.)
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72Michael Tellinger,Wikipedia a South African politician and "ancient aliens theorist", or his book Slave Species of God.
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71Bruno Bettelheim.Wikipedia Made a name for himself as a child psychologist and author of the "refrigerator parent" theory of autism. Turns out to have been mostly a fraud; his only academic degree was in art history. Still widely cited and respected.
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141Serial killer.Wikipedia We have several articles on individual instances. I could see that an article on stereotypes vs. reality might be relevant, as would some comment on their prominence in Western pop culture.
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713HOWikipedia "Healthy, Happy, Holy Organization", founded by a Sikh from India, but membership is mostly white Americans. Declared heterodox by mainstream Sikhs, it's teachings are primarily derived from Kundalini Yoga. There are some sex abuse accusations and cult accusations.[44] They own a billion dollar security firm.
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100Lindsey DuncanCreate draft and his companies agreed to pay the Federal Trade Commission a fine of $9 million for false claims about weight loss from their green coffee bean extract.
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77David Silverman,Wikipedia or at least more about American Atheists
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90Geuzen.Wikipedia They were a lose collection of Calvinist Christians who would launch terrorist attacks against Dutch towns (e.g. burning down churches associated with Catholicism; raping nuns when nunneries ran out of supplies to raid) to force people into converting to their religious ideology. They later set up ships for piracy attacking Spanish Catholics. Other than that, they believed Muslim Turks to be more favourable than Catholics and used the crescent in medals. (But see wp:Geuzen before you do anything about it.)
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71 Another Tumblr trend that needs a thorough thrashing, HeadmatesWikipedia or "multiplicity"Wikipedia is the trend of claiming multiple personalities and believing that integration of them is evil.
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100AuroraTekCreate draft I stumbled on this Webshite today; they sell a "Self-Charging Electric Scooter" for $1500 ... their "science" page talks about travelling faster than light, and their news page talks about "my contact with human-appearing extraterrestrials" ... It has all the indications of being complete bullshit (but didn't investigate too deeply)... ((I'm writing this; it'll be up in a few hours so no removing it tyvm ~$catb0t(Totally Not a Bot!) 10:06, Saturday, October 12, 2024 (UTC)))
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147Isaac BonewitsWikipedia was a prominent Druid and Neopagan as well as the only person to receive a degree in magic from an accredited university. (UC Berkeley of course.) He also wrote a commonly-used list of how to spot cultishness in an organisation. A fascinating fellow.
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60Ann McElhinneyWikipedia and Phelim McAleer Could do with a real article for all the anti science they do.