Are Jokes About Terrorism a Cause for Concern?

Majority agrees that ‘joke’ terror comments should be treated most seriously. This was made clear by the results of the poll, conducted by Meetville.com (dating app to find the right person) between 7/4/14 and 9/19/14.

51,024 participants responded to the following question: “Should ‘joke’ terror comments be treated as jokes?” A whopping majority of 73% gave a definite “No” driven by their concerns of safety.

Justin Carter, 19, had spent five months in prison for posting a sarcastic comment about how he was going to "shoot up a kindergarten. Carter said: "I certainly would have thought a lot more about what I said and how permanent my writing - and everyone's writing - is (on the Internet). And you can get in trouble for something that's not something you should get in trouble for. I just want people to be warned."

For different country safety of its people is the number-one priority. Among those who agree that security matters should be taken very seriously 46% of respondents were from the USA, 5% - from Canada, 15% - from Britain, 8% - from Australia and 26% - from other countries.

Alex Cusper, Meetville service analyst, explains that “with terrorism that continues to inflict pain and suffering all over the world, people should realize that "Freedom of Speech" doesn't mean you can say anything you want, you should be fully aware of the serious consequences.”

Meetville, a leading mobile dating service, regularly conducts research among its users. Millions of people from the U.S., Canada, Britain and Australia answer hundreds of questions every month. You can find the results of the poll here. If you are interested in research on a particular topic, please contact us. Any reprint of the material should be followed by clickable links to the survey.