World Net Daily wonders: "Will Obama build a Death Star?"

The right-wing conspiracy theory website falls victim to Internet trolls

Published December 4, 2012 5:37PM (EST)

A columnist on the conservative website World Net Daily took a trolling petition on the White House website as a sign that President Obama is perhaps considering building a Death Star. Yes, that Death Star.

In a post called "WILL OBAMA BUILD A DEATH STAR NEXT? White House urged to construct 'Star Wars' space battle station," Joe Kovacs wonders if the White House will respond to a petition on its "We The People" website calling for construction on a Death Star to begin by 2016.

"It sounds like a case of 'May the farce be with you,'" Kovacs writes, "but at this moment, in a galaxy not far away, there is a real-life petition on a White House website pushing for the funding and construction of a Death Star like the one featured in the 'Star Wars' film saga."

The petition asks the Obama Administration to secure resources and funding for the construction: "By focusing our defense resources into a space-superiority platform and weapon system such as a Death Star, the government can spur job creation in the fields of construction, engineering, space exploration, and more, and strengthen our national defense."

Kovacs writes:

So far, there’s no official response from the White House, but there could be one should the petition collect 25,000 signatures by mid-December. As of Monday afternoon, more than 800 people signed the online measure.

Interestingly, one of the names on the petition is “Darth V.” from Burlington, N.C., who signed the measure Dec. 1.

Darth Vader is the legendary character from “Star Wars” who was the father of Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia, and was seduced to the “dark side of the force.”

What Kovacs is missing, it seems, is that the petition is part of a slew of mostly joke postings on the "We The People" website, that include things like, "Establish new legal system of motorcycle riding 'Judges' who serve as police, judge, jury, and executioner all in one," and another Star Wars-themed petition to "Peacefully grant the planet of Alderaan to withdraw from the Galactic Empire and create its own new government."

A lot of these postings were the Internet's response to petitions from states asking for permission to secede from the Union in the wake of President Obama's election. One fake petition addressed this as well, asking to "Deport everyone that signed a petition to withdraw their state from the United States of America."


By Jillian Rayfield

Jillian Rayfield is an Assistant News Editor for Salon, focusing on politics. Follow her on Twitter at @jillrayfield or email her at jrayfield@salon.com.

MORE FROM Jillian Rayfield


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Barack Obama Secession Star Wars White House World Net Daily