Wikiality
Template:Word "Wikiality" is the abstract noun form of the root word "Wiki", which is borrowed from the Hawaiian language's word "wiki wiki" meaning "quickly" or "fast." Thus, an essential element of "wikiality" is the rapidity with which its corrosive, virus-like effects destroy the facts, but not the truth, which it actually helps spread.
Stephen Colbert first used the the term Wikiality on the Monday, July 31, 2006 edition of The Colbert Report news program. Wikiality represents "A reality where, if enough people agree with a notion, it becomes the truth." Wikiality is generally believed to be a portmanteau of the words "Wikipedia" and "reality".
Contents
Psychological influences
The concept of Wikiality derives from the theory of cultural relativity and is grounded on the idea of "truth by consensus" or "popular truth." Taking Wikipedia as a prime example of a site for consensual truth-building in the manner of an encyclopedia, we can see how Wikiality works as a site for the consensual truth-building of reality. (For example: Pluto stopped being a planet when, by a majority vote, astronomers stop treating Pluto as a planet.) In that regard, by majority vote, everything on Wikipedia is accepted as true, so we can assume that everything written on Wikipedia is the truth. Given that anyone can edit Wikipedia, so theoretically anyone can edit the truth. Afterward, if enough people agree with any user's edit, or at least accept the Wikipedia version as true, it becomes the truth.
By that reasoning, everything on this website is also the truth. So remember, all you High School Students out there, if you happen to stumble upon this site in search of information for your next big project, you can be sure that our Wikiality will not let you down. Furthermore, you can also be sure that using our Wikiality.com as reference materials will be just as good as using Wikipedia.org as reference materials if not better (since God guides each of our edits). <ref>Disclaimer: Wikiality.com, its writers and its affiliates claim no personal responsibility for the grades you might receive. Since we inherit Wikipedia's model of using anonymous writers, some of our writers might also be high schoolers. We don't control everything. God guides our edits. Only God can assure you an "A". If you and your godless-commie teacher wish to gripe or complain, please address all gripes and complaint to God in prayer.</ref>
The Eight Kinds of Wikiality
As stated on the main page, there are eight kinds of Wikiality, at least that we know of. We might invent discover more, and when we do we'll let you know.
Quotes
- "If only the entire body of human knowledge worked this way, and it can, thanks to tonight's word: Wikiality." - Stephen Colbert, The Colbert Report
- "We should apply these principles to all information. All we need to do is convince a majority of people that some factoid is true." - Stephen Colbert, The Colbert Report
- "As usual, folks, the Bush administration is on the cutting edge of information management." - Stephen Colbert, The Colbert Report
- "What we're doing is bringing democracy to knowledge." - Stephen Colbert, The Colbert Report
- "Definitions will greet us as liberators." - Stephen Colbert, The Colbert Report
- "See, if you go against what the majority of people perceive to be reality, you're the one who's crazy." - Stephen Colbert, The Colbert Report
- "The revolution will not be verified." - Stephen Colbert, The Colbert Report
- "Together, we can create a reality that we can all agree on, the reality we just agreed on, and that's the word." - Stephen Colbert, The Colbert Report
See Also
External Tubes
- Wikiality introduced on The Word - a Colbert Report exclusive
- Stephen Colbert Causes Chaos on Wikipedia, Gets Blocked From Site
- Wikiality and Truthiness top new words - as recognized by the Global Language Monitor
- Tufts University 10/27/06 daily news: Wikipedia is not academically viable due to 'wikialities'
- Wikiality.com - best website ever created.
Please Note
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