User talk:2607:FEA8:BF03:F900:AD2D:B492:17C4:A9A4

Gerry Adams page

The third paragraph of the page reads,"Adams has often been accused of being a member of the IRA leadership in the 1970s and 80s, though he consistently denied any involvement in the organisation." On Jan. 8, 2025, I changed that to read something to the effect: "Despite the reporting of journalists, the accounts of historians, and Adams's own participation in an IRA negotiating team, that suggest otherwise, he has consistently denied any involvement in the Provisional IRA, let alone being part of its leadership". This change was reversed. I believe it should not have been.

The current sentence is worded (particularly the qualifying use of "accused") and structured in such a way that it seems to lend more credence to Adams's denials than to the accusations against him. At the very least, it equivocates.

I changed the sentence so as to both reflect the facts that are known about Adams's involvement with the IRA, and the information that is actually included in the page later on under "IRA membership allegations". That section, as it should, leaves no doubt that Adams was a member and a leader of the Provisional IRA.

The fact is, the evidence that Adams was a member and leader of the Provisional IRA is overwhelming to the point where it is indisputable. Adams's denials are simply a fiction he has constructed and maintained for a variety of widely-seen reasons: from avoiding prosecution to giving negotiators on the other side plausible deniability and therefore political protection that they engaged with a terrorist. But for anyone familiar with the many, many pieces of evidence, Adams is simply saying the sky is blue no matter how much it is raining. That's his story and he's sticking to it. But that does not mean, in the face of flagrant falsehood, that his Wikipedia page should reflect that.

For all of these reasons, that one sentence should be altered, so that it leaves the reader with the correct impression that Adams's accusers are the ones who are correct and it is Adams who is lying. The change in wording and structure I suggested, I believe, accomplishes that better than the current formulation. 2607:FEA8:BF03:F900:E485:A86A:9990:5CD8 (talk) 05:47, 9 January 2025 (UTC)

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