*Sarcasm* for the day Iran was supposed to have a nuclear weapon:

[originalpckelly]

Tehran, Iran -- The worst fears of the world were confirmed Thursday when Iran announced that it had produced a nuclear weapon. The prediction Iran would soon have a nuclear weapon was made sixteen days ago by Stephen Rademaker of the US State Department. It appears the State Department was far more accurate in its predictions than the Director of National Intelligence, John Negroponte, who said that it would be 5-10 years before Iran had a nuclear weapon.

In recent weeks the United States has reportedly been considering the use of tactical nuclear weapons against Iran's nuclear research facilities. It remains unclear how this news will impact that plan.

###

:sarcasm:

PSBS

[havocmom]

1. Backdrop is a Photo Shopped FAKE

terra terra terra my ass

[hobbit709]

4. That photo

looks like Jefferson Airplane's "Crown Of Creation" album cover.

[FlashHarry]

5. I was going to say

"The Atomic Mr. Basie."

[havocmom]

15. Reminds me of some of my uncle's old 'home movies'

from back in his days in the desert in the 40s. He died of leukemia twenty years later, as did many colleagues.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

37. close

[asthmaticeog]

36. You don't say?

:dunce:

[acmavm]

2. You're not serious, are you???

[originalpckelly]

3. Satire! Well duh!

:rofl: :sarcasm:

It has been sixteen days since those idiots predicted Iran would have a nuclear weapon.

I can't believe anyone actually thought this was true. This shows how much BushCo has the world freaking out over this.

[havocmom]

9. Why post a debunked photo shop satire from LAST WEEK in GD?

The way it is presented amounts to propaganda. Hurts our credibility. Better in the lounge

[originalpckelly]

13. 16 days ago the State Department said Iran would have a nuke by today...

I did this to show what kind of B.S. that really was. Last time I posted this, it was after I first made it. I had to do it today when Iran was supposed to have a nuke.

[havocmom]

19. Be nice to put your disclaimer in the OP

It is propaganda to let it stand (along with an AP brand story) as is

[Ecumenist]

12. You need to make sure that you place the Sarcasm

"smilie' in the OP..

[endarkenment]

6. This is bullshit.

I'm sorry you feel this way.

[TAPat]

7. I'm not usually one to chastize folks but

when posting satire it's a good idea to clearly state that it is.
If not an original satire then a link to the original is helpful. :)

On edit: not too funny to me

[Ecumenist]

16. Not funny at all....

[Ecumenist]

8. What are you talking about?

And where did you get this information? Oh, please, remember that this bunch is trying to push the image of Iran having a bomb in the same way that they pushed the WMD LIE about Iraq and should we have bee surprised when it turned out that there WERE NO WMD's?

You need to make sure that when you post something, it has been thoroughly researched and in the case of someting like this, MULTIPLE, WELL RESPECTED NON-PARTISAN SOURCES! This is B*LLSH%T. to say the least.

[havocmom]

11. Lots of showing of that photo around the web last week

When called on it, people laughed "it's just satire. Wonder if they made that disclaimer if they weren't called on it.

[originalpckelly]

10. They really do have everyone running scared.

This was a test of the emergency B.S. system. You may now return to your previous activity.

[leveymg]

14. We are witnessing the biggest troll attack in DU's history.

This site has become a bulletin board for the Bomb Iran campaign being orchestrated by the neocons.

We need to seriously consider banning this sort of incendiary post.

Very not funny. :eyes:

[havocmom]

17. Maybe if enough of us alert on this...

and maybe drop a line to the admin about this blatant propaganda.

[originalpckelly]

18. You all should know better than to believe what those neo-cons are telling

the world. They even have Democrats thinking that Iran wants a nuke. It simply isn't true from what we can tell. You and I and everyone else needs to get this message out. A small majority of Americans are actually willing to let the First Idiot take actions in Iran. They don't learn to well do they?

[leveymg]

20. Look. I know it's meant to be sarcastic, but in conjunction with the

deluge of propagandistic MSM headlines that have been posted lately, DU is becoming a bulletin board for anti-Iran hate speech.

I would urge you to modify the headline to reflect it's snarky intent.

[originalpckelly]

21. Done...

And sorry for any underwear that may have been soiled.

[leveymg]

24. Thanks.

My underwear thanks you, too. :dilemma:

[havocmom]

25. Thank you

and that is some apology :eyes:

Soiled underware was not the issue.

[havocmom]

23. To get the message out, it would help to CLEARLY label the photo

as a photo shopped piece of satire To do otherwise is either ignoring the fact that we need to be clear and accurate on the issue as many in the population is easily influenced by images and confusing representations, something the junta knows and uses regularly. Or it is to promote the very misunderstandings the junta is famous for. Create a connection in people's minds without actually lying to them. Which is it?

Not funny. Not wise. Not helpful.

[Che_Nuevara]

22. I thought it was hilarious.

The OBVIOUS Photoshopping of the image. I freakin love it -- SITTING in front of a mushroom cloud giving a press conference.

Please. This is obvious satire even upon first glance.

And CNN's story ran that Iran has enriched uranium to 3.5% purity. You need 80% purity to make a bomb. Come on, guys. Satirists shouldn't have to take us by the hand.

[originalpckelly]

26. Thanks, I knew that I wasn't only one who thought people should know this

is a bunch of BS. Come on, this shows how freaked everyone is. The Bushes are purposely getting everyone freaked over Iran, even their opposition. This is how Iraq happened in the first place, and we should all be aware of the impact they have upon even Democrats. I'm telling you, Bush is the driver in this car. We react to him. The debate isn't about what we want, just what he wants. This is what happens in dictatorships. We need to be on alert.

[leveymg]

30. How is this helping us to not get freaked out?

Propaganda immunization doesn't work that way. If you want to try parody of the other side's propaganda message, it has to be approached a little differently.

The title was just way to close to the real thing. And, yes, you're right. There is an appointed role for the opposition in this, and hysteria plays right into their hands. Thanks for pointing that out.

[TAPat]

33. Not everyone is "freaked out"

most of us know it's a bunch of crap and we are on alert - many of us take this issue very seriously.
Satire is great fun when it is very clearly identified - of course the pic is obviously shopped - but that doesn't necessarily denote clear identification. Adding the "sarcasm" smilie and change of title on edit and not identifying it as such, IMHO, is also not clear identification.
That said, in agreement with havocmom - Soiled underwear is not the issue.

On Edit: clarifying thought "on edit"

[leveymg]

27. It's like running a Mother Teresa parody the day she died.

Comedy is all in the timing.

[havocmom]

28. Many people would not have understood it was a photo shop

And the junta relies on such tricks to create connections where there are none. That is the way they marched into the Congress and got the OK to invade Iraq. Create images and connections in people's minds then let their emotions blind them to truth.

Being a big fan of satire myself, I still recognize that there are limits to its practical application.

[leveymg]

31. It's the original headline that gave me the creeps.

Glad he ran that photo. It was the only thing that pointed to parody.

[niyad]

29. geez, folks, get a CLUE--how is it that the intelligent people of DU are

not capable of seeing sarcasm? this pic has been around for a number of days here on DU, and the OP has been doing the absurd countdown.
are some of you falling victim to the fear-mongering of the reichwing spinmachine?

[havocmom]

32. And it is good to remember a lot of lurkers come here for news

and not all of them are as hip to the use of photo shop jobs

Good to remember that DU is a news source for lots of people. This posted in the lounge would be different that how it was originally done here in GD.

[originalpckelly]

35. The lounge is for entertainment...

I was trying to make a point.

1. Whether you recognize it or not, your being lied to.
2. Even if you think something is a lie, you may believe it if there is enough "evidence" to suggest it is true.
3. What if a major news network says this one night? Will you believe it then?
4. Remember Mary McCarthy, and "how she was the leaker", but denied leaking. That she denied it was reported with a whisper while the original story was reported with a bang. This leads to people thinking Mary really was the leaker.

This is the way BushCo works. Even if they know something to be patently wrong, they still put it out. Some people in this nation don't care about anything but the headlines they hear on the news. If the McCarthy story hadn't made it into the headlines they would not have known. Her rebuttal was a whisper and didn't make it to the headlines. Just like the Niger story.

We need to be very alert to this kind of manipulation.

We need to work together to provide Americans with the truth. I don't how, but if you have suggestions please tell us all.

[leveymg]

34. Yes, I'm scared. Aren't you?

Just a little? Be honest.

I still think that an actual war is unlikely. But, the drum beat is getting me very concerned where this is heading.