Chelm is the mythical town of fools in Jewish folklore. (There is actually a town named Chelm in Poland, but the stories have little to do with the actual town.) A tradition of Jewish children's literature exists that takes place in Chelm, where the well-meaning townspeople have foolish solutions to real-life problems.
In one classic tale the "wise men" of Chelm (as they're often called) decide to build a library. It had occurred to them that Poland's capital, Warsaw, is the center of cultural and intellectual activity because they have a library. "Scholars from hundreds of miles around travel to Warsaw to patronize its library," the residents of Chelm reasoned, so if Chelm had a library of their own, it could become a cultural center.
There was only one problem--where to get the books. Soon they arrived at a solution: they'd write the books themselves. I don't want to spoil the end of the story for you, but you can be assuredthat Chelm never became the center for cultural and intellectual activity in Poland.
Though a 6-year-old can easily see the flaw in the Chelmites idea, it's surprising that a large percentage of the adult population today are as foolish as the people of Chelm. Anyone can publish anything on the Internet, with no editors, publishing house, peer review, or oversight, and people accept it.
Recently, a misguided activity called "Wikipedia" came under attack for suggesting, based on absolutely no factual information, that a certain individual was somehow linked to the assassinations of both Robert and John F. Kennedy. The New York Times thought this story was worthy of front-page coverage. Wikipedia's misguided principle is that one can create an accurate, comprehensive encyclopedia "that anyone can edit." That's right-- anyone can edit the Wikipedia and contribute anything. A quick scan through its entries shows a bizarre slant toward pseudo-libertarian-everything-should-be-free politics, and juvenile Liberal thinking. Obviously, the people with the most time on their hands are able to contribute to something like this, while gainfully occupied productive members of our society would tend to stay away.
A similar disturbing trend is the addition of message boards to everything. Once reputable printed newspapers have succumbed to this for their on-line incarnations. I can't imagine someone who wants to see what the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, or the Washington Post has to say about something would care what Joe Random Internet User has to think. Conceptually, it's a preposterous notion, but the message boards exist everywhere you go.
This flawed perception that random unedited comments add value even shows up on shopping sites. While Amazon.com provides useful services to those shopping for books, it also lets anyone review books. I've long since stopped reading these reviews, because they're almost always worthless. Kirkus, The New York Review of Books, or the New York Times Book Review should have nothing to worry about.
Chelm's townspeople failed in writing their own library. A fable once intended as a children's joke is becoming a chilling reality. Let's stop the trend of making everyone equal in the publishing world.
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