Secret Service Investigating Facebook Poll Asking Whether Obama Should Be Killed

Secret Service Investigating Facebook Poll Asking Whether Obama Should Be Killed

theplumline.w horunsgov.com

The Secret Service is investigating the circumstances surrounding an eye-opening Facebook poll that asked whether Obama should be assassinated, a Secret Service spokesman confirms to us.

“We are taking the appropriate investigative steps,” the spokesman, Ed Donovan, told our reporter, Amanda Erickson. “We are aware of it.”

The poll asked: “Should Obama be killed?” It offered four choices: No, Maybe, Yes, and Yes if he cuts my health care.

The poll, of course, is only the latest example of the sort of viral incitement to violence that flares up when the sparks of anti-Obama hatred are fed oxygen by the bellows of the Internets. While anyone can put up such a poll, this kind of stuff is a sign of the moment — as David Kurtz put it, it’s akin to graffiti on the virtual wall of our times.

According to a source, the Secret Service has contacted Facebook and asked them to take the poll down. And, indeed, it’s already down.

(visit the link for the full news article)



[edit on 28-9-2009 by grover]

There are those...and I am sure they will flood this thread with their objections...who will claim that it is a matter of free speech or that it is just a silly poll on a social networking website replete with them...and superficially they are correct.

However it only takes one loose screw to take it to the next level and to deny such things do not have an impact is being disingenuous.

The Secret Service is right to take this seriously...they would not be doing their job if they didn't...

But every American...Republican, Democrat, right wing or liberal, black or white should be outraged...

like Obama or not he, is OUR president, not mine because I am a liberal just as G. W. Bush was not just your president because he was conservative...but like him or not, mine as well...

And to poll if he should be killed is wrong. it goes against all we are supposed to stand for.

theplumline.w horunsgov.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

facebook is all bad.
i'm on facebook...but hey, i'm probably on a number of lists already...whats a little more surveillance??

in addition, i just took a test/quiz thing...similarminds

its the big 3 personality test, taken it before...anyway...
before i never noticed some of the questions are really strange like:

20) All forms of government are oppressive and undesirable and should be abolished. Very Inaccurate Very Accurate

36) I dislike my country. Very Inaccurate Very Accurate

sorry to be a bit off topic...but i thought that was strange.

and i saw the test on facebook...so thats kinda topic-y. right?

I like facebook...I have gotten in touch with a lot of long lost friends but generally I pay no attention to their quizzes and polls. After one or two they are all the same...time wasters but this one is really odious regardless of what you think of the President.

Gorver, I never thought the day would come that you and I would agree on something, but that day is here. I hope the SS finds the @$$ that started this poll and prosecutes him to the furthest extent of the law.

There is an easier way to defeat your political foe... Vote

-E-

Originally posted by grover
I like facebook...I have gotten in touch with a lot of long lost friends but generally I pay no attention to their quizzes and polls. After one or two they are all the same...time wasters but this one is really odious regardless of what you think of the President.

Have to agree with your opinions on this. I use it to find and keep up with family and (old) friends. I don't like the political grandstanding done by some on FB and have even dropped a few friends for only pushing political agendas and saying nothing else.

I've also taken a few quizzes, and find the most interesting thing to be how the questions and answers somehow equate to the quiz results.

Last, participating in any online activity that could obviously be illegal, or get you the attention of organizations such as the secret service is the height of folly IMO.

[edit on 9/28/2009 by centurion1211]

reply to post by centurion1211


I keep saying that when you demonize your opponent be it a political party or a politician or another people or country...whatever it becomes easier to write them off because you are discounting them as human beings.

All it takes is one loose nut job to think well I can kill them after all they are...fill in the blank...

The Turks did it to the Armenians in WW1....the Nazi's did it to the Jews....racists in the south did it to both blacks and white civil rights workers...Opponents to abortion rights have done it to abortion providers and so on...and to call the president a socialist or Nazi or the anti Christ or to ask if he should be killed is doing the same.

And it is wrong.

I give both you and mysterE stars for your sane responses.

[edit on 28-9-2009 by grover]

This is nothing more than a stupid show, another mindless charade. If you think the Secret Service spends it's days being "concerned" about Facebook/Myspace activity, then you are sorely misguided.

This is yet another textbook action in the psychological shock doctrine they've been hitting us with since they told us weren't good enough to fly home and see our families until we submit to them, take our clothes off and be "searched" for our "safety".

Whether or not the implications of this poll were real, is irrelevant. There is a reason why this is "news", it's there to display their "power". They are becoming too arrogant and reckless, and sadly it doesn't even matter at this point.

As much as I hate Obama and hate my government violence is a last resort and assassinating a democratically elected President is a very desperate act saved for a last resort. Americans should be ASHAMED of themselves for even thinking about such an act. Obama doesn't deserve to be killed or assassinated. He's got a wife and kids and although seems evil to some is still a human being.

I guess I'm a hypocrite and sometimes get so angry that I would love to see politicians in the street with Columbian neckties. But we as a nation are not there yet and let's hope we never have to go that route.

Whoever made that poll needs to visit the psychiatric ward ASAP. I mean what kind of nub would suggest something like that. Complete failure and looser imo.

I despise Obama but this is beyond the pale. The Facebook pollster AND those that participated in this poll are disgusting! It's one thing to strongly disagree with Obama, but to wish for him to be assassinated is sickening.

While I understand why some people would see this as harmful, or even the work of a psychopath... I respectfully disagree.

My reason was already mentioned in the OP- which is that I believe in 100% free speech. If someone made a poll on FaceBook where people could vote on whether or not I should be killed, I wouldn't even consider calling the police or anything like that... instead, I would ask them why they think I should be dead. Why? Because in this world, the majority rules. And if over 50% of the participants think you should be killed, that should speak volumes for your character; what kind of person must you be, where more people want you dead, than alive?

In a truly free world, individuals are 100% (and I mean the full one hundred percent) to speak their minds. If someone wants to kill our president, why shouldnt he be able to say so? Obviously, he shouldn't expect to get far, realistically. If someone wants to know if other people think he should die- it's their right to ask. If someone wants to tell the whole world they hate our president, good for them. At the end of the day, Secret Service is still being paid to protect the guy, so as long as they do their job everything should be OK. (I do NOT agree with violent actions, but I do agree with every persons right to converse amongst their peers)

I just don't agree with anyone being prosecuted for words. If you disagree with their words, you have two options: return some words of your own, or take action. And since the creator of the poll did NOT take any type of action (other than making an online poll) I don't see why any retaliatory action is even being considered.

My point: it could have been a 12 year old girl, or an 84 year old war veteran who made that poll. Whomever made it obviously wanted to know how other people felt, and it was their god-given right to converse amongst their peers. Anyone who tries to argue otherwise, I ask, do you think we should cut off their finger tips as to avoid any further polls?

The whole story seems illogical, to me.

You should not make such statements anywhere
not on the web, not in public and not even to yourself.

people like this are crazy and just give a bad name to people who actually oppose the current or past administrations and debate on actual policies with intelligent discussion rather than stupid threats like this.

these people are dangerous to everyone

Originally posted by inthesticks
I despise Obama but this is beyond the pale. The Facebook pollster AND those that participated in this poll are disgusting! It's one thing to strongly disagree with Obama, but to wish for him to be assassinated is sickening.

It is sickening in your opinion.

What if I were to say that I think you are sickening for judging people whom you do not know?

Would you feel any less valuable?

Probably not. Just like the people you are bashing probably wouldn't give a squat about your JUDGMENT, either.

Judge less. Observe more.

Originally posted by ModernAcademia
You should not make such statements anywhere
not on the web, not in public and not even to yourself.

people like this are crazy and just give a bad name to people who actually oppose the current or past administrations and debate on actual policies with intelligent discussion rather than stupid threats like this.

these people are dangerous to everyone

I do agree with you, that they should have been able to use better judgment in choosing a better topic for a poll. If the poll was "Do you wish Obama would be struck by lightning", do you think that'd be better, because it cites a natural death, as opposed to execution?

Where is that line drawn?

Should we censor the poll creator?

I thought this website was all about preserving our rights?

Isn't it our right to share with each other, our opinions of the president?

Is there some law that made it illegal to discuss him?

There has NOT been any threats tied to this poll. It was just a place where people could exchange their own opinions.. just like ATS.

I find this thread extremely hypocritical.

I understand what you are saying...there are still limits though.

Obviously the only ones who would answer that kind of poll were those with some sort of axe to grind since I believe that most decent people would ignore it.

So let us say 70% of the people who took the poll say that he should be killed then some loose wingnut sees it and says I can do that and I will be a hero then makes the effort and possibly succeeds...what then?

That is why I say demonizing your opponent opens the way to seeing them less than human and therefore easier to discount and dismiss and possibly kill and asking if your opponent should be killed is one way of discounting them.

[edit on 28-9-2009 by grover]

Originally posted by grover
I understand what you are saying...there are still limits though.

Obviously the only ones who would answer that kind of poll were those with some sort of axe to grind since I believe that most decent people would ignore it.

So let us say 70% of the people who took the poll say that he should be killed then some loose wingnut sees it and says I can do that and I will be a hero then makes the effort and possibly succeeds...what then?

That is why I say demonizing your opponent opens the way to seeing them less than human and therefore easier to discount and dismiss and possibly kill.

If there was a poll where 70% of the participants said I should be killed, I would believe it. I would take it upon myself to find out why they hate me, and what I can do to change it.

Everyone has opinions. Whether you like kittens and rainbows, or blood and guts- everyone's got their jig.

If someone wants to make a poll about the president's favorite fast food, or they way he should die... who cares? It is our right to discuss these things, and there should be no limit, excluding conspiring to harm anything/one.

My question is this, I guess:

Everone here is commenting on how sick and twisted the person who made the poll must be. Have you ever considered the fact that maybe someone out there considers YOU to be sick and twisted? While you might condemn the poll creator, do you honestly think censoring him/her will help anything?

I just think most of the replies on this thread were made in a matter of seconds, and no one really considers the fact that the poll was LEGAL and covered by our freedom of speech. Thus, no harm, no foul.

This poll was NOT an attempt to kill anyone. It was a question posed by a person, for other people to partake in or ignore.

Ignore it if you dont like it.

reply to post by grover


S&F Grover...thanks for finding this.

I am around a diverse group of people on a daily basis and the hatred I hear is frightening. What is even more frightening are those politicians and notable conservatives that are fueling the hatred.

The truly ugly and dangerous aspects of our free country are bubbling to the surface. We need to pay close attention to these things as they suggest some painful lessons if we do not.

Awesome. I hope the morons who put the poll up and those who voted on it get some sort of a smack down (not for voicing their opinions) but for doing it in an incredibly stupid way. I'm all for free speech, this is true, but there are consequences associated with it (positive or negative) and one should expect that, as well.

Originally posted by Witness2008
reply to post by grover

 

S&F Grover...thanks for finding this.

I am around a diverse group of people on a daily basis and the hatred I hear is frightening. What is even more frightening are those politicians and notable conservatives that are fueling the hatred.

The truly ugly and dangerous aspects of our free country are bubbling to the surface. We need to pay close attention to these things as they suggest some painful lessons if we do not.

The problem is not that people are getting angry.

It is that they are getting angry and everyone else is writing them off as crazy people. And to one step further, everyone thinks they should be censored?

Pure poppy cock!

Their opinions are just as valid as yours and mine.