According to Associated Press, a poll was posted on Facebook asking whether President Obama should be assassinated.
As far as Facebook content goes, I don’t know whether to consider this a new low, or simply business as usual.
Although weird and even downright offensive polls are hardly uncommon on Facebook – after all, anyone can create an online poll – the Secret Service is investigating the matter, just as they would do in any case where there were threats made against the President.
The poll asked, “Should Obama be killed?” Response options were “No,” “Maybe,” “Yes,” and “Yes if he cuts my health care.”
This isn’t just offensive and possibly criminal; it is a sad reminder of the state of political discourse in America these days. Although I am fairly certain – or at least hope – that most people who picked the “if he cuts my health care” option would not actually wish to see Obama killed, it does make me wonder about the moral character of these individuals who would even bother taking this poll.
I am not debating the merits of the health care proposal, I am simply saying that it deeply surprises me that there seem to be an increasing number of crackpot citizens out there who see the assassination of the President of the United States as a legitimate, viable, and even justified option.
I can’t think of anything as unpatriotic – and, if you will, un-American – as accepting an assassination of the President as a potential political maneuver.
Mika Salakka is a Finn living in the United States. He is a nursing assistant, a creative writer, a devoted husband, and an observer of the human condition. His interests range from music and literature to psychology, sociology, medicine, technology, and spirituality.
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Holy Shite. That’s beyond sick.