Who’s To Blame For The “Kill Obama” Poll On Facebook?

by Palika Makam | 4:09 pm, September 29th, 2009

» 2 comments

What’s scarier: A Facebook poll asking people if President Barack Obama should be killed (with the response options: “yes”, “maybe”, “if he cuts my health care”, and “no”), or the fact that over 730 people voted?

The offensive poll, which was hosted by a third party “Facebook Poll Application”, was removed the day after it appeared on mini-feeds across the land, followed up by the creator of the application posting these facts about himself along with an open-ended Q&A in an effort to tame the beast, so to speak.

The facts, which include that he has been an “Obama supporter for a long time,” also reiterate the idea that Facebook should not have any blame in the ordeal, but rather that it was simply the medium through which he created the polling application.

This idea, echoed throughout the political blogosphere in a time when even the death of an iconic American like Senator Ted Kennedy can trigger vicious commenter backlash like “Hells awaiting”, calls the concept of respect on the Internet into question.

And while some in the media like to believe that it’s the actual websites who are spewing the hate, is it really the backwards hateful (KKK-esque) agendas of these website/blogs? Or is it something far scarier than that: the actual users?

Like Jose Antonio Vargas posted on the Huffington Post yesterday, “All the Internet does is reflect–and amplify –human behavior.”

It’s a frightening thought but as Media Matters pointed out after the O’Reilly/ Daily Kos debacle over the death of White House press secretary, Tony Snow, it was the comments which were hate filled, not the content.

So as the “user problem” grows, will it just further the generational divide between those familiar with unfettered interactive communications and those who aren’t? Or is it possible to find a happy medium for these mediums?

barack obama, Bill O'Reilly, Daily Kos, Facebook, Huffington Post, Jose Antonio Vargas, Kill Obama Poll, Media Matters, Sen. Ted Kennedy, Tony Snow

sarainitaly

so not cool. my guess is the majority were teenagers/20 something males that responded…

i don’t believe anyone should be able to comment on the internet anonymously. I know that people can be traced – but I don’t think sites should allow anonymous posters, at all. It just brings out the dregs of society. If you can ‘t say something with everyone knowing who you are, you shouldn’t say it. That goes for bloggers and commenters.
Pam1151

I guess you would say that I am a senior citizen and I have a facebook page as do most of my friends. I hope you are right sarainitaly as that would make this threat a little less threatning.