The idea of Iran and Wikipedia was recently brought up on WR, but it didn't get off to a great start and it deteriorated from there.

I would like to try again, but this time, I would ask that provocative statements made by either side of the left-right debate here be individually moderated to the Tar Pit rather than the whole thread. You can start a separate thread in the Lounge or Tar Pit on whether or not an attack/war is justified, because that is a separate matter not directly related to Wikipedia.

The topic of a possible attack on Iran is very much in the news these days. Just the other day the Drudge Report was running a red 40pt headline of Bush warning of a holocaust if Iran attains nuclear weapons. Such statements are typical during the run up to an attack/war.

My question for WR: Is the Iranian issue being dealt with appropriately on Wikipedia? If it isn't being dealt with properly, can you provide evidence of impropriety, exaggeration, minimization, distortion? I think that if Wikipedia is being targeted by psyops from either angle, now would be the time that they would be most obvious.

Three logically prior questions for SM — ¬2b≈ S/M —

1. Is it the place of an Encyclopedia to deal with current events?
2. Can Wikipedia ever become anything like a real Encyclopedia?
3. Can a media organ that can't even describe itself truthfully really deal with anything else truthfully?

Jonny

No matter what the appropriate answer to #1 is, it is a fact that Wikipedia has been unindated with articles on the topic (see below.) The answer to question #2 is NO, but Wikipedia is read by a lot of individuals seeking information.

I just did some searching and here are just a few of the articles related to a potential attack on/war with Iran:

1. Support_for_war_against_Iran
2. Opposition_to_war_against_Iran
3. Current_international_tensions_with_Iran
4. Nuclear_program_of_Iran
5. Timeline_of_nuclear_program_of_Iran
6. Iran_and_weapons_of_mass_destruction
7. Mahmoud_Ahmadinejad_and_Israel
8. Allegations_of_state_terrorism_by_Iran

So what is your point? — That people are always looking for information in all the wrong places?

I think we knew that already.

The question is — What are we to do about it?

That brings us back to #3 —


Jonny

Earlier today I was PM'd — that's right, I am the new Prime Minister now — with comments that make me feel like I need to try and clear up any residual misunderstanding about what I'm saying above.

My attitude is this. The specific mention of "Iran" in the title is — intentionally or unintentionally — almost bound to play the role of a Red Herring or a Hot Button topic, that is, a diversion from the declared purpose of this Review. That purpose is to critique a particular paradigm of wikibased media, of which Wikipedia, for good or ill, has clearly become paradigmatic.

As far as the purpose of this Review goes, we could ask the very same questions that SM asked about any subject of the form "X and Wikipedia".

In other words, the main thrust of the answer is not determined by the nature of X, but mainly by the character of Wikipedia.

Jonny

Part of the reason for my ban was my exasperated efforts to remove the anti-semitism category from Mahmoud Ahmedinejad which was continually readded by Amoruso and Mantmoreland aka Gary Weiss.

It is of course very important for Israeli lobbyists that Ahmedinejad be shown in as bad a light as possible on Wikipedia in order to make people think a war/attack on Iran is justified.

Firstly, he is not an anti-semite as Jewish people live in Iran perfectly peacefully with full rights. Ahmedinejad's objection to Israel is that it continues to occupy stolen property and land and it has not allowed those people dispossessed of that land and property to return to their homes.

If Iran did want a nuclear weapon, it would be for self defence. The idea that Iran would attack Israel with a nuclear weapon is utter nonsense as the regime would then be utterly destroyed and Iran's economy devastated.

Are you accusing him of not being a devout muslim?

Sorry, are you trying to display your ignorance? Jews have lived peacefully in Iran for generations, probably more successfully than anywhere else in the middle east.

{{↑ SPAM ↑}}

We've been through this time and time again.
This is The Wikipedia Review, not The United Nations.
Take your petty-ass squabbles to the lounge or tarpit.

Jonny

I couldn't really resist it.

Impulse control, what's that?