watch out mariaaa

(I realized I chose the same article as Dom after I wrote this.) This week's Sunday New York Times featured an article entitled A Little Sleuthing Unmasks Writer of Wikipedia Prank. A man in Nashville admitted on Friday to being the jokester who edited information on Wikipedia. Thirty-eight year old Brian Chase told John Seigenthaler Sr. he was the one that edited his biography on the online encyclopedia. The material Chase wrote about the former editor of The Tennessean suggested he was involved in the Kennedy assasinations. Seigenthaler claims he will not take Mr. Chase to court and as a longtime supporter of free speech he said "I still believe in free expression, what I want is accountability." Chase did this to play a joke on one of his colleagues, but this had a terrible effect on the credibility of Wikipedia. It shows that the seemingly insignificant actions of one person can affect the credibility of an entire company.

This reminds me of the intense anti-Communist movement that existed in America from 1950 to about 1956. This period, commonly referred to as the Red Scare, was coined McCarthyism named after a man Joseph Raymond McCarthy. He served as senator of Wisconsin from 1947 to 1957. During this time as senator he accused many people in the media, government, military, and in the public eye of having Communist ties. As a result many of these people had their reputations tarnished by the accusations of one man. This example shows how just like a company, the actions of one person can affect the credibility of an entire group of people.