Talk:Nepotism

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Isn't the historical point about the use of the word for a nephew that the persons in question were not nephews at all. The use of the reference to a 'nepo' reflects the fact that it was customary to refer to the sons of the clergy in this way. It is reasonable to assume that medieval Italians were not without a sense of irony. The proscription on marriage for the clergy is almost unique to Roman Catholicism, so there is a linguistic sense in which nepotism is peculiarly Roman Catholic. The joke doesn't work unless the clergy are not supposed to have sons.

Nepotism motivational poster at despair.com


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[edit] Unfounded assertion

In China, nepotism is seen in a positive light and is seen as a legitimate reason to get hired. In fact, some citizens of the People's Republic of China (PRC) sued the government of the PRC because of the Great Leap Forward-forced migrations, claiming among other things that this separation from family impacted the "possibilities of getting hired."

This paragraph seems rather unfounded. Nepotism is generally regarded as a factor of corruption which the government suffers. Although it is true that some children may take the lost jobs of their parents who were persecuted during Cutural Revolution, those were actually special cases, not the norm. I am going to remove this paragraph.

~ Having lived in Asian cultures, I can attest that nepotism IS viewed in a postive light by some. It is even viewed as a *responsibility.* However, this positive view is primarily held among its benifactors! Those not in the loop can view it as nothing short of the tool of oppression that it is. CyberAnth


what asian culture might that be. there are many and your comment makes no sense. I've lived in western cultures and seen the same thing. It deserves an entry also. you can say the same for the west. Family connections play a big role in getting hired and certain field, many americans get jobs they aren't qualified for, which is why so the government is so corrupt.

[edit] The Clintons

How is this a case of nepotism? Expand. Hillary Clinton's father, Hugh Ellsworth Rodham, a conservative, was an executive in the textile industry, and her mother, Dorothy Emma Howell Rodham, was a homemaker. Bill Clinton's father, William Jefferson Blythe, Jr., a traveling salesman who died in a car accident three months before he was born.[1] His mother, born Virginia Dell Cassidy (1923–1994), remarried in 1950 to Roger Clinton, a car salesman. Utter liesatort.........


[edit] pope

Any source for the pope thing? Tony Bruguier 18:03, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

The Pope issue seems to be too much to claim. Seems like it has stayed here as truth for almost a year from August 2006. If there is no reliable source given, I will assume this as POV and remove the section. Thanks! Wiki San Roze talk 01:04, 2 June 2007 (UTC)

I have removed the Papal section since its long been unsourced. Thanks ώЇЌĩ Ѕαи Яоzε †αLҝ 18:45, 9 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Anti-nepotism laws

There should be more on that section, such as what laws there are and what countries, etc. Ohyeahmormons 02:40, 28 August 2006 (UTC)

~ Agreed. I placed that in as a start. I will try to add material, time permitting. If someone else can beat me to it, please do. :-) CyberAnth 04:33, 30 August 2006 (UTC)

He also likes small naked children....... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.211.255.84 (talk) 05:33, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] College Football example

I deleted the paragraph about nepotism in college football, being just an irrelevant and random example of nepotism. It seems to me it was written by someone who just wanted to voice his or her personal anger about the people involved in that particular example.

[edit] Question

Is a "nepotist" the person who hires the relative or the relative who gets hired?

[edit] In Praise of Nepotism

There's a book called In Praise of Nepotism that might be worth checking out for a counter-view. I might do it myself eventually. Recury 01:28, 24 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Heading

If the heading is too long, why not create a section devoted to examples of Nepotism?--65.93.163.81 02:03, 8 January 2007 (UTC)


Why don't we create a section for etymology and move the section in the introduction about etymology to it? Jenigmat429 14:51, 8 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Tony Blair

The Prime Minister would be an excellent example for this article. Lord Falconer (former flatmate), Lord Irvine (pupil Master) etc. ScMeGr 19:26, 26 January 2007 (UTC) Suggestions? Elevating your mates (as opposed to your family) like that is called "cronyism" 90.242.102.64 (talk) 08:45, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Notes

There is no text under the notes section. Should it be removed? Dachshund2k3 00:32, 21 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Etymology

For those editing this page:

Nepotism derives from "Nepote".

"Nepote" derives from it. nepote, which means cousin, and has a definition of:

1.  m. Relative and private to the Pope.

in the dictionary of the Spanish Royal Academy of Language. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 190.75.38.186 (talk) 21:25, 12 April 2007 (UTC).

so is yer maw, her slit makes me sick.......... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.211.255.84 (talk) 05:40, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Merge with Crown Prince Party

I don't think that's a good idea. The CPP is an example for Nepotism, but Nepotism is not identical to the CPP. -85.181.9.113 23:00, 31 May 2007 (UTC)


[edit] Nepotism in western politics

nepotism in western countries are common to. it should be listed along with other countries. Otherwise this website is slanted. The are plenty of western countries that belong on this list.

[edit] Offensive passage

those children who's parents participate in their childhood excel in that area later on in life, and those children who are unfortunate enough to have parents not involved in their activities usually suffer at being mediocre at best at anything they do.

I'm sure it's true that children with dedicated parents excel, however this passage generalizes and I think could be offensive to some readers. Particularly, much of Wikipedia's audience is made up of children and young adults, and the second half of the sentence uses unnecessarily provocotave language ("suffer", "mediocre at best") to inform those with fewer parental inputs that they should be expected to "suck". Wikipedia has no place making such an assertion. As this section of the sentence is also largely redundant, I will remove it.

66.233.215.126 12:43, 9 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Corporate world

Nepotism is one of the most destructive forces in the western corporate world. Family and friends - often not much more than just that - may be promoted ahead of more competent, talented and suitable staff. It doesn't take much imagination to calculate the consequences for a department or a company in the terms of loyalty and performance.

[edit] Singapore?

Lee dynasty, anyone? Alveolate (talk) 08:49, 18 November 2007 (UTC)

I have added comments on the ruling famiLee--99.225.90.25 (talk) 07:55, 28 December 2007 (UTC)

little girls smell better wet........... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.211.255.84 (talk) 05:36, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Max Gogarty

So we have Bashar al-Assad, Kim Jong-il, Qusay Hussein and Max Gogarty are examples of nepotism. What is Max Gogarty doing there? A minor storm in a teacup because he father writes for the Guardian too, and this equates him with the sons of dictators, tyrants and mass murderers. A little perspective, anyone? 89.100.206.251 (talk) 23:15, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

Talk about storm in a teacup! SeveroTC 23:55, 17 February 2008 (UTC)
And to add: I'm removing it due to lack of reliable third party sources. If it's quoted as an example of nepotism on a reliable source that's not The Guardian, then the burden of inclusion has been met. However, citations from The Guardian website and official website of the father are not enough. This affair says much more about The Guardian blogs than anything else, as the online editor referred. SeveroTC 23:59, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

Aww: Come on! It's bloody hilarious. Reinstate Gogarty! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.153.125.93 (talk) 01:13, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

I'm afraid something being funny does not make it encyclopaedic. And its encyclopaedic stuff on Wikipedia. SeveroTC 01:30, 18 February 2008 (UTC)
Yeah, nerver forget that Wikipedia is Serious Business. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.57.147.74 (talk) 19:17, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

This issue requires some balance. Just add Browserbutton to here would achieve that. 221.133.101.80 (talk) 05:21, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

The issue really isn't that Max Gogarty is not the son of a dictator, mass murderer or tyrant. Nepotism is not restricted to those in the tyrant business at all- it is rampant in the world of media and publishing the Max Gogarty example should be included, even if only for a sense of balance and perspective. This should not need any more third party references to be a valid entry- as far as I can see the main points are already established:

-Max Gogarty was employed by The Guardian - 19 year old Max Gogarty wrote a piece for the Guardian which was recieved overwhelmingly poorly by their readership and ultimately forced the section editor to reluctantly cancel the rest of his comissioned series - Max Gogarty is the son of Paul Gogarty and therefore has connections and hook-ups in the world of travel journalism

That Max Gogarty is listed alongside Bashar al-Assad, Kim Jong-il and Qusay Hussein will only ADD much needed balance and perspective to the article and will imply nothing other than the facts stated.Hahahoohoo (talk) 07:37, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

Hardly. There is no proof that Max didn't get the commission on his merit alone. The fact that his father has very occasionally contributed to the Guardian does not make this a case of nepotism necessarily. On top of which, most of the comments were not directed at the quality of the writing but attacking him for 'being a public schoolboy' living on 'Primrose Hill' and the fact that his father was a writer for the Guardian. Given that he is neither a public school boy nor lives on Primrose Hill and his father is not employed by the Guardian means that in fact most of the comments have little merit and do not statistically represent Guardian readers as a whole anyway. They read just like the ignorant rantings that you get on the web, and Wikipedia is not the place to continue that ranting. 221.133.101.80 (talk) 03:19, 19 February 2008 (UTC)
I would have thought the dreadful quality of the actual text to be proof enough that he didn't get it through his merit. Seriously, though, what's your connection to this story? --Mister Six (talk) 10:39, 19 February 2008 (UTC)
Citation from reliable source please that this is 'dreadful' quality and 'nepotism'. Given that the account is meant to reflect a typical 19 year old as it is written by a 19 year old, the writing was not bad. Perhaps in the top one percent of the 1000 or so posts on that page lets say. "Seriously, though, what's your connection to this story?" I read it. Seriously, though, what's yours given the desperation to have this non-cited, original researched, poor example on Wikipedia ? 221.133.101.80 (talk) 14:36, 19 February 2008 (UTC)
That would be original research. You need to cite that multiple reliable sources thought it was an example of nepotism. Finally, let's all assume good faith. SeveroTC 11:03, 19 February 2008 (UTC)
We do not accept "online comments" as a citation. See WP:SPS. --FOo (talk) 08:19, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

ladyboys have big willies, here da, stop sticking yer fat willy in ma face —Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.211.255.84 (talk) 05:35, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Protected.

This article has been protected (not by me, but at my request) to stop the revert wars over the inclusion of the Gogarty material.

As far as I can tell, our policies (specifically WP:BLP) simply do not permit the inclusion of controversial allegations of wrongdoing by a living person unless we have reliable sources for those allegations. "Online comments", as mentioned in the disputed text, are not reliable sources.

It is not clear to me that the Gogarty allegations are notable enough, or a strong enough example, to be included here. However, even if they were, we would need reliable sources for them: specifically, some third-party reliable source (not "online comments" or blog posts) that actually makes the case for nepotism.

So there are two issues for discussion before this article is unprotected: First, is this allegation notable enough to be included, or is this recentism and scandal-mongering? Second, what are the reliable sources for this allegation? --FOo (talk) 19:51, 18 February 2008 (UTC)