Talk:Operation Reindeer

Latest comment: 1 year ago by Horse Eye's Back in topic Changes to avoid "Glorifying War Crimes"

Changes to avoid "Glorifying War Crimes"

edit

@CraigoGiarco / Talk , I have now reverted edits a few times on both Operation Reindeer and 44 Parachute Brigade (South Africa) by you. I strongly suggest that you use this opportunity on this talk page to discuss these changes you want to make to either or both of those articles, so we can attempt to gain consensus on what should be different from what is already there, and ensure we do so in a WP:NPV way that is supported by Wp:RS. Your edit summaries were disturbing at the very least. BoonDock (talk) 16:35, 16 April 2023 (UTC)Reply

Just to demonstrate what we are talking about, this is what you deleted:
and this is what you replaced it with
Your change is not only not WP:NPV, it is also adding a reference to support what you say which most definitely does not ay what you are implying it says, thus violating WP:V

References

  1. ^ a b c d Steenkamp, Willem (1989). South Africa's border war, 1966-1989. Gibraltar: Ashanti Pub. ISBN 0620139676.

BoonDock (talk) 17:31, 16 April 2023 (UTC)Reply

Have you noticed that the entire paragraph, in fact the majority of the Wikipedia article, relies on a self-proclaimed "citizen soldier", someone who has been personally involved in apartheid-era military activities against the majority population on behalf of the illegitimate (according to international and local consensus) apartheid regime? This is problematic, to say the least, regarding WP:NPOV
Irregardless of the biased nature of your "source", the overreliance on one source (even if we assume for a minute that the chosen source is credible and quotable) is not in line with Wikipedia's quality expectations. For further information please see:
WP:RS and WP:ONESOURCE
Obvious attempts to vilify the civilian victims of the Cassinga Massacre as legitimate military targets ("a mixture of combatants and civilians"), are not acceptable according to Wikipedia's policies.
I hope this helps! CraigoGiarco (talk) 19:24, 16 April 2023 (UTC)Reply
That's your point of view. It's NOT a "Neutral Point of View". It's also a WP:SYNTH of what you think. Willem Steenkamp is absolutely a reliable source, but as I said, let's wait for more voices. BoonDock (talk) 19:27, 16 April 2023 (UTC)Reply
According to Steenkamp's own biography, he has been involved in apartheid military activities from 1958 until the end of the apartheid regime in the early 1990s. An apartheid-era career soldier, who dedicated most of his life to white minority rule and the violent repression by military means of South Africans (and Angolans, Namibians, Mozambicans), is NOT a reliable source. Are you familiar with Crime of Apartheid?
This is not a matter of opinion. We don't rely on people personally involved in upholding regimes characterized as "criminal" and "against humanity" by the UN General Assembly and Security Council as the main source for accurate information about such events. CraigoGiarco (talk) 19:56, 16 April 2023 (UTC)Reply
Steenkamp does not appear to be a reliable source in this context. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 20:19, 16 April 2023 (UTC)Reply
How is Steenkamp not a reliable source? Gbawden (talk) 06:42, 17 April 2023 (UTC)Reply
You feel that an officer of a white supremacist government is a reliable source on the alleged war crimes committed by that government against black Africans? Reliable academics seem to trust Steenkamp just about as far as they can throw him, why should we do differently? Horse Eye's Back (talk) 14:58, 19 April 2023 (UTC)Reply