Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Malcolm Kendrick

• Keep. As my final contribution to the discussion, I’d like to point out that there are many comments on here calling for Kendrick’s deletion that are allegedly based on his lack of notability because he is not discussed by established mainstream medical sources, but there is a basic problem with this premise. It is the equivalent of saying the original civil rights movement in the US has no notability because it wasn’t embraced by the newspapers or government of the day, or that the anti-apartheid movement had no notability because it wasn’t recognised by the South African government. The first rule for institutions dealing with any kind of contentious or controversial subject is that it should not be given ‘the oxygen of publicity’. In fact, many of the comments on here are quite openly advocating deletion of Kendrick’s entry purely on the grounds of his opinions, including, ironically, the original recommendation for deletion by Skeptic from Britain; they make no real mention of his notability. If an institution does not approve of an upstart, renegade, or even a simple doubter, what does it do? It closes ranks and ignores the outsider. It’s not conspiracy theory to suggest that Kendrick is not validated by scientific and medical institutions simply because they don’t want to validate him. It’s just a basic fact of how institutions work. Why would they validate him, when he spends all his time questioning their position and poking holes in their current research/ideology? Given, therefore, that this cannot be a level playing field by its very nature, then notability must, surely, be established by other parameters – such as is he well-read? Has he had his books reviewed in national newspapers? Are his opinions sought by other researchers who do not agree with the current ideology? Are his books commonly and readily available, published by mainstream publishing houses, well-known, well-reviewed on Amazon? What are his current Amazon rankings? Do any other authors/writers/bloggers discuss his books or ideas? In other words, is he a notable public figure? Have people heard of him? Is he read and discussed in places where being a ‘conscientious objector’ is acceptable? - basic indicators that he is not some amateur crank in his basement talking to four people on the dark web. He meets all these standards for notability and, given that he is the aforementioned ‘conscientious objector’, then these are the only ways to establish his notability. You cannot judge someone who purposefully sets himself outside the mainstream as lacking in notability because he is outside the mainstream. He is beaten before he starts by that criteria. I don’t want to cite all the hackneyed Galileos of history, but it is nevertheless true that people who question the ‘ideas du jour’ in any field are never welcome inside the cosy circle of respectability, so notability cannot possibly be established within those parameters. Given this, I feel his entry should stay and be edited to include all his work to give a fuller picture of the man. I see no reason why it shouldn’t be edited to fully elucidate the contentious nature of his opinions so that readers are fully aware of just how much of his thought is outside the mainstream. That way a complete picture can be given, and populist notability, plus any shortcomings of notability within current medical orthodoxy, can be established in full view of the reading public. Pirate hamster (talk) 21:43, 4 December 2018 (UTC)