Obama Facebook poll maker is juvenile, says Secret Service

There were those who believed that the creator of the "Should Obama Be Killed?" Facebook poll might be a sinister white supremacist out to cause world disruption.

Some were less convinced, as all the four potential answers to the poll--"Yes", "no", "Maybe" and "if he cuts my health care"--were spelled correctly.

Now, according to the Associated Press, the Secret Service, which quickly went into action to pay the poll's author a social call, has announced that no action will be taken against the creator. (A separate person, a poll software developer, came forward earlier this week and had what he described as a "friendly" talk with the Service.)

"Case closed," Secret Service spokesman Edwin Donovan told the AP. "I guess you could characterize it as a mistake."

It was mistake that appears to have been perpetrated by a juvenile who, presumably, thought it was, um, funny. The Service met with both the juvenile and his or her parents (no details about the person's identity are being revealed) and decided, perhaps, that a little grounding might be sufficient.

Still, it is worth considering just what developers and Facebook itself might do to get a slightly firmer grasp on alleged amusements posted on the social-networking site.

(Credit: The Huffington Post)

A very swift wander around Facebook revealed to me a 145-member group entitled "All Traffic Wardens Should be Killed."

Another 34-member group is dubbed "Perez Hilton Should be Killed."

Other personalities who seem to be the object of Facebook death threats include soccer player Didier Drogba, as well as British pop group Take That.

"Twilight" star Robert Pattinson is the subject of a Facebook group called "Who Thinks Robert Pattinson Should be Killed?"

There is a 32-person group that should concern many readers--it certainly concerns me greatly--called "All Ex-boyfriends should be Killed."

And two groups, called "Everyone Should be Killed," seem to walk a tender line between equanimity and insanity.

In fact, if you perform the Facebook search for "should be killed," you get no less that 500 cheery, little groups.

So is this the time to mention Facebook's own terms of service reject all content that is "hateful" or "threatening"?

[ikramerica--2008]

"BLANK must die" is one of the oldest goof sayings out there, protests against things people don't like. Asking if people think BLANK needs to die, the same. Nothing should be "done" about it. But the SS, sorry, Secret Service, needs to investigate all of these just to be sure.

Didn't we learn anything from that episode of "One Day at a Time" where the SS came and babysat the family while Nixon drove by? I guess not...

[magicman73]

The Secret Service only needs to check into claims of violence against the President of the United States as that is a crime punishable by up to 5 years in jail. TITLE 18, PART I, CHAPTER 41, § 871, Paragraph A states "Whoever knowingly and willfully deposits for conveyance in the mail or for a delivery from any post office or by any letter carrier any letter, paper, writing, print, missive, or document containing any threat to take the life of, to kidnap, or to inflict bodily harm upon the President of the United States, the President-elect, the Vice President or other officer next in the order of succession to the office of President of the United States, or the Vice President-elect, or knowingly and willfully otherwise makes any such threat against the President, President-elect, Vice President or other officer next in the order of succession to the office of President, or Vice President-elect, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both." And are you really basing your argument on a soap opera?

[paulej]

Based on that bit of law, I see no reason for the SS to even investigate. No threat was made. It wasn't even a statement. It was a question in the form of a poll. As stupid as it was, that's exactly what it was: just a stupid poll. Why would the SS even feel compelled to investigate? Meanwhile, the bad guys are...

[bearlyandme]

don't forget groups like "i would smile if carlos mencia was hit by a train"

[bearlyandme]

don't forget groups like "i would smile if carlos mencia was hit by a train"

[JustLooking9]

so, is the secret service looking into those who answered 'Yes' ?

[ClarkWells]

hahah... That is exactly what i was wondering.

They might as well look into the people who said yes about health care also.

[captain_numerica]

Most likely.

[renGek]

"Obama Facebook poll maker is juvenile"

So someone in congress did it?? Oh no wait, the article says everything was spelled correctly. Nevermind

[mmichaels]

If someone in congress did it, the poll would be 5000 pages long and you'd have to vote on in without reading it.

[Saltiva]

Then it must've been Bush. Or maybe Biden?

[baconstang]

So, remind me why anyone over 16 wastes time on Facebook.

[gordon58--2008]

For the same reason people ?waste time? on the Internet. It has beneficial uses despite a little craziness here and there.

[Kev_Orng]

I'm not American, but isn't Obama trying to do the opposite of cut health care? I thought he was making health care available to more people.

Which he shouldn't even have to do, the fact that you guys don't have universal healthcare is just... shocking. That's like not having the right to free speech! 19th century. Holy crap.

[stepyourgameup]

Why would we want our healthcare run by our government. There would be so much red tape that you would have to wait 6 weeks to go to the emergency room.

[kenny-J]

Lest we forget the Dixie Chicks hit (?) "Earl's gotta die". Guess this type of violent thinking is well ingrained by now. Yeah, I'm an ol' fart, but when I was the age of the kids doing this on Facebook we never even considered, much less professed, that somebody be killed (not even the guy who just beat the snot out of you).

[spatev]

the reason the secret service was involved is because it is a federal crime to insight the assassination of the president, VP, secretary of state, or speaker of the house. i'm sure in reality they dont give a s*** about facebook polls or who voted in it

[tech_crazy]

I am sure you meant "incite".

[knowles2]

I can see why people would want to kill didier drogba, he is very killable, an I would not exactly mind if someone did it before the next Chelsea vs Arsenal game.

[setjeff15081947]

Since everything was spelled correctly, that would eliminate all Members of the ?Suicidal-Liberal? group headed by House Speaker, Czar-In-Waiting, Nancy Pelosi, as well as all Southerners, who could not form a sentence if I spotted them the noun and verb. Actually, this would eliminate 99 and 44/100% pure of all who currently reside in the Land of the Stupid. [My apologies to the people at ?Ivory-Soap?.
The United States of America ? Where stupidity, illiteracy, and ?Tweeting? are celebrated. Mr. Safire, I?m not a linguist of your caliber, but I will surely miss your weekly tirades on the Decline and Fall Of American Literacy.