Secret Service Investigates Facebook App
By David Worthington | Monday, September 28, 2009 at 7:02 pm
Facebook polls typically ask questions as mundane as “what’s your favorite breakfast cereal?” But over the weekend, a poll asking whether U.S. President Barack Obama should “be killed” was anything but mundane, and drew the attention of the Secret Service.
The poll gave respondents four options: Yes, Yes if he cuts my health care, Maybe, and No. It was created by an unknown user of a third party polling application that runs on Facebook. The Secret Service became aware of the application, and is investigating.
For its part, Facebook suspended the offending application after the incident was brought to its attention this morning, said director of policy communications Barry Schnitt. He added that it has asked the developer to institute better control procedures to monitor user-generated content.
This poll would be less worrisome if it did not happen amid a climate of threats against the President. Last month, the Secret Service acknowledged that threats had increased by 400 percent since Mr. Obama’s inauguration. There have also been incidents of conservative religious figures in the United States openly wishing for his death.
The United States has a history of political violence, and even a casual suggestion might be enough to set off an unstable individual. The poll was wildly irresponsible. I would only hope that those responsible will be held accountable.
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September 28th, 2009 at 7:35 pm
Although I am a strong conservative, a Christian, and strongly disagree with Obama’s policies, anyone wishing for Obama’s death needs to have their head examined.
I hope everyone here realizes though that 99% of conservatives do not hope for Obama’s death.
September 29th, 2009 at 1:00 am
Don’t you think it might be overstating things to include the sentence “The US has a history of political violence.”
In relation to what? What country, somewhere in it’s history, doesn’t have some sort of political violence? On the spectrum of countries with political violence, wouldn’t you say that the US ranks somewhere above Tahiti and somewhere below Rwanda?
This is being over politicized in general. In the words of the app’s author – this is very likely a 14-15 year old idiot making the biggest mistake of his or her life.
September 29th, 2009 at 4:20 am
NanoGeek is right – this poll is reprehensible to the overwhelming majority of conservatives.
What do you mean when you say, “The United States has a history of political violence”? Compared to whom? Our peaceful transfers of power stand in stark contrast to the coups and other power grabs by force so prevalent in other parts of the world. The Russian government is offing its political opponents bi-weekly, and we’re the one with “a history of political violence?”
September 29th, 2009 at 10:06 am
Although I agree the poll should never be allowed. This article is definitely written by a blind leftist reporter indicating that it’s bad to be “conservative & religious” unfortunately there is no unbiased reporting to be had these days.