Earlier this month, The New York Times ran an interview with Wikipedia cofounder Jimmy Wales titled, “The Culture Wars Came for Wikipedia. Jimmy Wales Is Staying the Course.” There, Wales painted Wikipedia as a well-intentioned site trying its best to remain unbiased — and being unfairly targeted by those on the right.
That couldn’t be further from the truth.
No matter how the NYT and Wales try to spin the narrative, reality remains: The culture wars didn’t “come for Wikipedia.” Wikipedia voluntarily threw itself into the fray — and contrary to its claims, it didn’t remain impartial.
It’s telling that even Wales’ co-founder, Larry Sanger, says the website is biased. He’s right: There’s no other way to describe a site that labeled Charlie Kirk, a mainstream conservative, a “far-right conspiracy theorist.”