# Iran proposes badges for Non-muslims **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 19, 2006, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iran-proposes-badges-for-non-muslims/357416 "2006-05-19T16:06:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2006, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iran-proposes-badges-for-non-muslims/357416/41 "2006-05-23T05:01:57Z")
> [@Rune](#): > > Somehow I never counted Canadian media as a whole as insufferable propagandistic and pro-Bush leading up to the Iraq war, apparently I was mistaken. Well, this _is_ the National Post, a.k.a. The Paper So Full of Shit that an Attempt to Use It as Toilet Paper Would Create a Supersaturated Solution. Looks like their journalistic standards are more or less the same as they’ve always been. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2006, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iran-proposes-badges-for-non-muslims/357416/42 "2006-05-23T15:12:57Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > Well, this _is_ the National Post, a.k.a. The Paper So Full of Shit that an Attempt to Use It as Toilet Paper Would Create a Supersaturated Solution. Looks like their journalistic standards are more or less the same as they’ve always been. More specifically, it is a paper with a definitely neocon editorial policy, so it is not surprising they would be credulous about something like this, Canadians or not. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National\_Post](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Post) ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2006, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iran-proposes-badges-for-non-muslims/357416/43 "2006-05-23T18:14:43Z")
> [@Una Persson](#): > > That’s no surprise. The Kansas City “Scar” is one of the worst newspapers in all newspaperdom. Feature articles are filled with spelling and grammar errors, the paper has a clear and unashamed political bent, and the worst, most pushy, Ponzi-pyramid-like sales force I’ve seen. **The Washington Times** is a bit of a joke as well. It bears the stigma of its ownership by Rev. Sun Myung Moon, and its editorial slant is rabidly right-wing. (Its local news coverage is pretty good, though, and has given the **Post** a run for its money on many occasions.) **The Seattle Times** , the only other paper on the list I’m familiar with, is pretty solidly mainstream. ---
**Author:** ![Airblairxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Airblairxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airblairxxx)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iran-proposes-badges-for-non-muslims/357416/44 "2006-05-25T00:41:03Z")
And now the National Post is apologizing: [Oops!](http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/05/24/canada.iran.reut/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iran-proposes-badges-for-non-muslims/357416/45 "2006-05-25T16:54:38Z")
This is just plain information warfare–a psy-op designed to create support for expanding the war to Iran. It lasted just long enough to create headlines that people who only get their news by headlines will see. The retractions won’t. Next up: Christian babies being [dumped out of incubators](http://sf.indymedia.org/news/2002/03/117426.php) in Iran. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iran-proposes-badges-for-non-muslims/357416/46 "2006-05-25T17:26:57Z")
> [@vibrotronica](#): > > This is just plain information warfare–a psy-op designed to create support for expanding the war to Iran. It lasted just long enough to create headlines that people who only get their news by headlines will see. in Iran. Then why did the story break on a Friday? Lots of newspapers don’t print on the weekend, or at least aren’t read as much. The _New York Post_, for instance - this kind of news would be a natural front-page item, set in type 2 inches tall. And yet, by Monday morning the item had been debunked. It didn’t even make the Israeli papers! No professional disinformation campaign would have been run so amateurishly. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iran-proposes-badges-for-non-muslims/357416/47 "2006-05-25T17:43:44Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > It didn’t even make the Israeli papers! [http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1145961378016&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull](http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1145961378016&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull) [http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1145961382269&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull](http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1145961382269&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull) [http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1148482040236&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull](http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1148482040236&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull) ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iran-proposes-badges-for-non-muslims/357416/48 "2006-05-25T19:52:31Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > [http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1145961378016&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull](http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1145961378016&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull) > [http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1145961382269&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull](http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1145961382269&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull) > [http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1148482040236&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull](http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1148482040236&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull) I was referring to the print editions. If the Post ran on Saturday perhaps the story would have made it, but by Sunday the whole thing had been debunked and I think it appeared somewhere like page 10. Besides, all of your quote refer to the story as “unsubstantiated.” ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iran-proposes-badges-for-non-muslims/357416/49 "2006-05-25T19:54:26Z")
**Alessen** , what do you mean “lots of papers don’t print on weekends”? Sunday papers are traditionally the biggest sellers of the week in the U.S.! ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iran-proposes-badges-for-non-muslims/357416/50 "2006-05-25T20:00:34Z")
> [@](#): > > If the Post ran on Saturday perhaps the story would have made it, but by Sunday the whole thing had been debunked and I think it appeared somewhere like page 10 So it comes out on Friday, makes a big splash during the day (top of the Yahoo! headlines that afternoon), and the debunking happens on Saturday, when most people don’t read the paper (in the US, mind you, it ain’t the sabbath. And that’s the target audience for this disinfo). Meme successfully planted. When info-warriors want to bury a story, it comes out late on Friday after the Saturday deadlines. ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iran-proposes-badges-for-non-muslims/357416/51 "2006-05-25T21:27:12Z")
And several days after this story has been shown to be false, the thread title still reads “Iran proposes badges for non-Muslims.” Wouldn’t it be sensible to get a mod to change it to: “False: Iran proposes badges for non-Muslims,” or “Scurrilous rumor about Iran proven false”? ---
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iran-proposes-badges-for-non-muslims/357416/52 "2006-05-25T23:15:08Z")
> [@vibrotronica](#): > > When info-warriors want to bury a story, it comes out late on Friday after the Saturday deadlines. Info-warriors huh. Well aren’t we all. And I suppose CBS engaged in a dastardly info-war when they became embroiled in the whole Memogate affair and that both Dan Rather and Mary Mapes are info-warriors – if of a somewhat sullied reputation. Incidentally those two info-warriors and their belligerent info-base at CBS stuck to their lies a lot longer that the Full Of Shit etc. National Post. But I’m sure that’s something else entirely. And a couple of marginal newspapers here and there and not least in the frozen waste of Canada is a sure sign of creepy neo-con conspiracy, whereas one of the largest television and radio networks of the Unites States releasing an obvious fabricated and “scurrilous” story right before a presidential election and sticking to it way beyond its expiration date is merely, what? Fake But Accurate. Not that anybody would ever dream of applying the Fake But Accurate moniker when it comes to Ahmadinejad and his eccentric suggestions to do with Jews, Holocaust and Israel. No. That would just be too far fetched. But of course we all know Bush is a lot more shifty cause he’s got the whole frigging neo-con conspiracy going for him. > [@bluethree](#): > > And several days after this story has been shown to be false, the thread title still reads “Iran proposes badges for non-Muslims.” Wouldn’t it be sensible to get a mod to change it to: “False: Iran proposes badges for non-Muslims,” or “Scurrilous rumor about Iran proven false”? Yes, because going back and editing the title of a thread to say the exact opposite of what was the initial debating topic and the basis of the first dozen posts is just such an obviously great idea, that I can’t for life of me understand why it hasn’t been implemented before. Well who knows, perhaps is has? Like in _“Scurrilous rumor about Bush proven false”_? Can’t say I recall such a thread title, but that’s probably because I’m dense as a toad on coke. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iran-proposes-badges-for-non-muslims/357416/53 "2006-05-26T18:37:23Z")
> [@Rune](#): > > . . . but that’s probably because I’m dense as a toad on coke. [_choke_]. . ._must_ . . . _remember_ . . . _forum_ . . . _rules_ . . . ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2006, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iran-proposes-badges-for-non-muslims/357416/54 "2006-05-28T17:44:55Z")
> [@Rune](#): > > Info-warriors huh. Well aren’t we all. And I suppose CBS engaged in a dastardly info-war when they became embroiled in the whole Memogate… Yes, **Rune** , information warfare. Psy-ops. Like planting disinformation in the form of forged documents–whether they “prove” that [Niger was supplying yellow cake uranium to Iraq](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellowcake_Forgery) or if they’re too-good-to-be-true confirrmation of a story that has only been rumored designed to discredit the news outlet in order to cover a candidate’s vulnerable flank–or [fake eyewitnesses that slander your opponent’s war record](http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/28/washington/28kerry.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5094&en=cab182f55f0535cd&hp&ex=1148875200&partner=homepage). Disinformation has been part and parcel of the neo-con modus operandi from day one. And as we approach the run-up to the Iran war (which is to say, the midterm elections), we will see more of this sort of thing from places like [Benador Associates](http://www.benadorassociates.com/), the PR firm that planted the [Iran-planning-a-genocide](http://thejewishweek.com/news/newscontent.php3?artid=12511)story. (links via [TPM](http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/008585.php)) ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2006, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iran-proposes-badges-for-non-muslims/357416/55 "2006-06-01T10:32:09Z")
This reminds me of back in 1990, when the Kuwaiti government hired an American PR firm to help sell Congress on getting the U.S. military involved. Remember the made-up stories of Iraqi soldiers dumping little Kuwaiti babies out on the floor and shipping their incubators back to Baghdad? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2006, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iran-proposes-badges-for-non-muslims/357416/56 "2006-06-19T17:54:57Z")
According to [this article,](http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060703/cohleresses) the whole story was cooked up by the PR firm Benador Associates; and the author of the piece, Amir Taheri, has a proven track record as a liar. ---
**Author:** ![Sevastopol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cdc98d/32.png) [@Sevastopol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sevastopol)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2006, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iran-proposes-badges-for-non-muslims/357416/57 "2006-06-19T23:19:05Z")
Well the neo-cons are overdue another broad assault on human decency. This effort is a bit of a disappointment and doesn’t engender faith in their attempt to achieve the title, ‘least integrity in history.’ However it is interesting, giving us an insight into the neo-con agenda and the way they go about these things: Tame newspapers; the right PR firm; and a slurry of obedient journalists and bloggers mentioned by name Krauthammer, Richard Perle etc. Of course these things were discoverable by deduction, but it is so much easier to have them as matters of fact. So, Iran is on the menu and the key to escalating aggression is to play on the danger to Jews. Forewarned and all that. ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2006, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iran-proposes-badges-for-non-muslims/357416/58 "2006-06-20T00:41:36Z")
> [@Baldwin](#): > > Remember the made-up stories of Iraqi soldiers dumping little Kuwaiti babies out on the floor and shipping their incubators back to Baghdad? Those stories were **made-up**?? I had no idea. I was 10 when that war started, and vividly remember hearing about the Iraqi soldiers killing those babies. I never heard it wasn’t true till just now. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2006, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iran-proposes-badges-for-non-muslims/357416/59 "2006-06-20T04:22:04Z")
> [@Rodgers01](#): > > Those stories were **made-up**?? I had no idea. I was 10 when that war started, and vividly remember hearing about the Iraqi soldiers killing those babies. I never heard it wasn’t true till just now. [They were lies told to Congress by a witness known publicly as “Nariyah,” a member of the Kuwaiti royal family. (Scroll to mid-page.)](http://www.prwatch.org/books/tsigfy10.html) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2006, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iran-proposes-badges-for-non-muslims/357416/60 "2006-06-20T04:23:24Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > [They were lies told to Congress by a witness known publicly as “Nariyah,” a member of the Kuwaiti royal family. (Scroll to mid-page.)](http://www.prwatch.org/books/tsigfy10.html) Sorry, “Nayirah.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iran-proposes-badges-for-non-muslims/357416.md?page=2)