Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 04:55, 21 June 2009

I would like to remove the "Notability" tag. While Rathke may not be a household name, his stature on the left is undeniable and he has had his fingerprints on more projects than just about any other left-wing organizer over the last thirty years. You may not like what he does, but there's no denying that he's done it, and he's an important figure currently and historically. It's especially notable that he started and continues to lead ACORN, and that would be enough, but as this article shows, he has left many other notable impressions on the nation's political landscape. Politics608 (talk) 22:59, 7 December 2007 (UTC)Politics608

Actually, no, Rathke does not continue to lead ACORN (as discussed in ACORN Cracks Wide Open by Carl Horowitz). Asteriks (talk) 22:21, 9 August 2008 (UTC)

Recent Edits

A new editor has repeatedly inserted the following content:

A member of the radical ] ] (SDS), he dropped out in 1968 to join the anti-draft movement. <ref>Rael Jean Isaac, Erich Isaac. ''The coercive utopians''. Regenrey Publishing. 1983</ref><ref>Andrew C. McCarthy. ''

I have removed this for a number of WP:BLP violations, and will continue to do so. It is contentious material that requires solid sources. The citation provided doesn't provide a page number, but nowhere in the book does it refer to Rathke being a radical marxist, dropping out of anything, joining anti-draft movements, etc. Since this isn't discussed elsewhere in the article, it's also not lead-paragraph material. I will continue to remove it per WP:BLP; the content being added is not in the source provided. Xenophrenic (talk) 01:41, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

I added a page # and the National Review Article has been added as an additional source. -PC —Preceding unsigned comment added by Pecker Checker (talk • contribs) 02:01, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

Google books has the book ref; I can't get a full view, but on page 168 it does mention him being in SDS (I don't know the context, so I don't know if it supports the "marxist" or anti-draft portions. The McCarthy article is online here; the Rathke mention is on the second page. It mentions him in SDS and describes SDS as "communist"; nothing about the anti-draft movement. If the book or another cite does support this, I'd think the education section would be more appropriate than the lede. JeremyMcCracken (talk) (contribs) 02:13, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

The Misplaced Pages article on SDS specifically states they were neither Marxist nor Communist. Xenophrenic (talk) 01:43, 20 June 2009 (UTC)

I have a copy of the book on my shelf and the reference to Rathke going on to work against the draft is in the next paragraph. - PC —Preceding unsigned comment added by Pecker Checker (talk • contribs) 02:39, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

I now also have a copy of the book, and there is nothing at all about Rathke going on to work against the draft in the next paragraph... or anywhere else in the book. In addition, the reference to the SDS membership per page 168 of this book is cited to footnote (#4) to New Spirit magazine, March 1979 issue (page 22), which only speculates on the SDS relationship. As this is a WP:BLP, a more substantial source will be required. I find the outright deception that "the reference to Rathke going on to work against the draft is in the next paragraph," when it clearly is not, very disconcerting. Xenophrenic (talk) 01:40, 20 June 2009 (UTC)

SDS

I think the mention of "activist for SDS" in the Education section seems very weakly supported. There seem to be too highly partisan sources given, with no real evidence for the significance of this claim. Moreover, absent some connection to his known activities, "activist" seems like an over-characterization, where "member" might be more neutral. However, if we use "member", it is even more questionable that this factoid is particularly germane to the biography. LotLE×talk 04:55, 21 June 2009 (UTC)