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Links and ties
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The Wikipedia project has worked in close collaboration with several alleged humanitarian "watchdog" groups.  The "Notable Wikipedia Experts" entrusted with this venture [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikien-l/2005-December/033813.html] are immune to all Wikipedia's published policies, ''WP:Attribution'', ''WP:No self promotion'', ''WP:Experts do not hold a place of privilege'', ''WP:Citing self'', ''WP:No personal attacks'', ''WP:Civility'', and ''WP:Wikipedia is not a battleground'' are the most often cited policy violations that go unenforced against these private organizations which are granted license to publicly slander at will. <ref>Chirsi Arabia, [http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=10352 Leftist Lie Factory], ''FrontPageMagazine.com'', October 16, 2003.</ref> [http://wikipediareview.com/index.php?showtopic=6799&st=0&p=22830&#entry22830]
 
The Wikipedia project has worked in close collaboration with several alleged humanitarian "watchdog" groups.  The "Notable Wikipedia Experts" entrusted with this venture [http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikien-l/2005-December/033813.html] are immune to all Wikipedia's published policies, ''WP:Attribution'', ''WP:No self promotion'', ''WP:Experts do not hold a place of privilege'', ''WP:Citing self'', ''WP:No personal attacks'', ''WP:Civility'', and ''WP:Wikipedia is not a battleground'' are the most often cited policy violations that go unenforced against these private organizations which are granted license to publicly slander at will. <ref>Chirsi Arabia, [http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=10352 Leftist Lie Factory], ''FrontPageMagazine.com'', October 16, 2003.</ref> [http://wikipediareview.com/index.php?showtopic=6799&st=0&p=22830&#entry22830]
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==“Links and Ties”==
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{{Cquote|The ''fallacy of composition'' consists in reasoning improperly from a property of a  member of a group to a property of the group itself.... It occurs in two varieties: First, it falsely extrapolates a quality of one group member to all group members....Second, it is possible to transfer a quality of a member to the group itself.
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The ''fallacy of division'' is the converse of the ''fallacy of composition''. It occurs when somebody reasons falsely from a quality of the group to a quality of a member of group.
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The converse ''fallacy of difference'', on the other hand, renders a special judgment upon a group for a quality which is not special to it.
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The ''fallacy of the perfect analogy'' consists in reasoning from a partial resemblance between two entities to an entire and exact correspondence. <ref>David Hacket Fisher, ''Historians’ Fallacies: Toward a Logic of Historical Thought'',  New York: Harper Torchbooks, 1970, 219-223.</ref>}}
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Consider the following account of the “links and ties” of [[U. S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas]] offered by Chip Berlet of Political Research Associates. Berlet notes correctly that Thomas is on the editorial board of the ''Lincoln Review'', a quarterly black conservative publication of the Lincoln Institute. Berlet claims “it is a far right group that has worked in coalition with… fascist and anti-Semitic groups.”
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Berlet goes on to “link” Lincoln Institute head J. A. Baker with the Indiana [[Ku Klux Klan]] by virtue that Baker is on the board of the Council for National Policy and another board member is allegedly a former member of the Indiana Ku Klux Klan. Finally, Berlet says, The Lincoln Institute, with which Clarence Thomas has been affiliated in an official policy for close to ten years, was also a member group in the Coalition for Peace Through Strength. As author Russ Bellant discusses, the Coalition includes a number of racist, pro-Nazi and anti-Semitic groups. <ref>Chip Berlet, “A Few Facts About Clarence Thomas,” published by Rock Out Censorship (1997).</ref>
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“Links and ties” is another name for ''argumentum ad hominem'' or [[guilt by association]],
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which has both legitimate and illegitimate uses. If someone has been an active member of  an ideological organization for many years, or a regular writer for an ideological publication, or routinely and regularly associates with a particular ideological crowd while professing sympathy and solidarity with them, and this has bona fide bearing on a particular issue, then the “link” or “tie” is probably significant.
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This kind of analysis is subject to abuse, however.  For ideological thinkers, a mere hint of “links and ties” may lead to great intuitive leaps that have no basis in fact.
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Marxist or Nazi groups often demand great compliance with doctrine. It is unlikely that [[Chicago Area Friends of Albania]], for example, would let someone become a founding member unless that person had been in substantial agreement with its ideological program. In most cases the existence of “links and ties” or past political associations should be viewed as a statement of where people were at that particular time in their lives.
    
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