But this poll doesn’t fit that description:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=13515396#post13515396
I posted the poll because I was interested in finding out if Commissar’s posts had convinced people that his brand of dictatorship would be preferable to that we’ve seen from other people who have been dictators during recent times. I was also interested to see how these options would compare to a recent somewhat-reviled western figure (the other 3 tend to be ‘anti-west’). I didn’t consider the inclusion of Commissar to be an insult to him, since he does favor dictatorial forms of government (based on my reading of his posts) and has indicated a degree fondness for one of the other options.
I didn’t make any derogatory statements about him or any of the other figures, I just wanted to know how others would react. And, indeed, some posters voted for Commissar (over 20%).
I don’t see how this isn’t a frank disucssion of non-cosmic issue (with a poll). It isn’t intended to insult Commissar, it’s intended to satisfy a curiosity. (For analogy, my inclusion of Dick Cheney isn’t meant to compare him to Gadaffi, it’s meant to represent another option and see how people react to it).