House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.)

Photo via Christopher Halloran/Shutterstock.com (Licensed)

After AHCA vote, Wikipedia page for ‘Villain’ edited to include Paul Ryan

According to Wikipedia Paul Ryan is "An archetypical sinister cartoon villain."

 

David Britton

Internet Culture

Posted on May 5, 2017   Updated on May 24, 2021, 3:24 pm CDT

The great thing about Wikipedia is that anyone can write or edit an article. The only problem is that anyone can write or edit an article. It’s pretty amazing that Wikipedia’s army of users/editors are able to keep things as accurate and factual as they do. Despite the best efforts of people like Stephen Colbert.

But things are always going to slip through the cracks. Like the case of the U.K. teen whose quick editing of a band’s Wikipedia page led to him gaining access to their VIP area. Nowadays, cracks are quickly sealed up, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t fun for the brief time the changes are live.

For instance, someone recently edited the Wikipedia entry for “Villain” so that that first picture is Speaker of the House Paul Ryan.

villain paul ryan
Screengrab via Wikipedia

Sure, he’s tried to defund Planned Parenthood, the largest single provider of reproductive health services in the United States, and sure, he might have voted against background checks for people who want to buy guns, and maybe he voted for a constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage, and he led the AHCA vote yesterday, but a villain? Seems harsh accurate. To add insult to injury, the caption refers to Ryan as “An archetypical sinister cartoon villain.” Sinister maybe, but let’s face it, the son of a b is handsome.

By the time most people read this, the picture will be changed back to Snidely Whiplash or Dick Dastardly or whoever it was before. Which is too bad, it never hurts for the American people to be reminded who’s really out to get them.

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*First Published: May 5, 2017, 12:50 pm CDT