Monday, January 12, 2009

In which I call bullshit on the SPLC

BUMPED (UPDATE BELOW): The Washington Post today quotes as an "expert" Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center -- a tautology the debunking of which would require more effort than it's worth, which is not very much at all. As to the substance of the Post story, the world-renowned expert Don Surber comments:
The Washington Post reported that a bad economy may spark hate groups. But the KKK thrived in the 1920s, and it almost died out in the Depression. Of course, Hitler rose in the Depression. But al-Qaida rose in the affluence of the 1990s, just like the Weather Underground rose in the 1960s.
To report on what "may" happen in the future is a job for psychics, not journalists, but if I feel like the urge after I make a run to the store, I may update this post. I'm open for suggestions in the comments as to whether I should update, but I defy any expert to predict whether I actually will do so. You've got about an hour before I get back from the store, so I'll let you experts gaze into your crystal balls and read your tarot cards until then.

UPDATE: Well, I had other business to attend to when I got back from the store, but if you predicted I'd update, congratulations -- you're an expert!

Many hands make light work, as my mother-in-law says, and here is LoneWacko to lighten the load:
What Carrie Jonson forgot to mention is that the SPLC's definition of a "hate" group is rather fluid, and it basically means any group that opposes the SPLC; the rise in their numbers is more a reflection of them lashing out at those who oppose them. Johnson also forgot to mention that Mark Potok has been caught misleading about statistics in the past. And, when discussing immigration matters, it would be helpful to point out that the SPLC has an indirect link to the Mexican government.
While watching Memeorandum for additional laborers, I'll just add my two cents by explaining why Potok's expertise is tautological. When did he become an expert on "hate"? When he went to work for the SPLC, and "hate" is whatever an SPLC "expert" says it is. Maybe I should put in an application with Dees & Co., so I can become an expert, too.

Also, do you think maybe one reason the SPLC is seeking publicity by hyping hate (its modus operandi) is because the recession has diminished contributions to the Church of Morris Dees? We know that the Madoff swindle has hurt major liberal donors and their pet beneficiaries. Could it be that even the SPLC's $100-million-plus endowment has taken a hit? Is this why they're pushing the absurd notion that -- unless you give generously now to the SPLC! -- America is on the verge of a Ku Klux coup d'etat?

Well, I'm no expert. But I do wonder. Don't you?

UPDATE II: Sweetness & Light notes that the SPLC/MSM axis have been pushing the "explosion of hate" meme for a few months, including a USA Today article from October. Understand that, if Obama had lost the election, the result would have been trumpeted as proof of America's endemic racism. Now that Obama has won in a landslide, of course, brace yourself for the backlash from America's endemic racism.

Everything that happens is explained by America's endemic racism. Why, just recently those evil racists killed a 14-year-old Asian honor student and a 63-year-old widow named Havenstein in the redneck stronghold of Montgomery County! Paul Mirengoff is shocked!

8 comments:

  1. Bad Economy May Fuel Hate Groups, Experts Warn
    Experts Warn That Downturn Could Drive Discontent, Help Extremists Recruit


    Hopetastic!

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  2. What did Obama arise out of? Primordial socialist ooze?

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  3. If Morry Dees at SPLC says the sun is shining, I go out and look.

    SPLC is a house full of wackos, which makes it easier for them to ID other wackos.

    Projection, and all that...

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  4. DON'T BOTHER! This is so moronic, it is not even funny! But, to the point, what gave Hitler rise to power was the humiliation that the defeated German people felt. It was not just an economic issue. Good point about the KKK "high" point in American history being during the Roaring 20s. My worry is that this is what we will hear and read about in the next four years. If there are any newspapers to read about it!

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  5. My prediction is that food shortages and economic downturn will give rise to black markets and smuggling and anger at the appearance that government and police primarily protect the assets and rule of the well-to-do.

    I guess we will know it is time to worry when the Washington Post declares, "Pres. Obama assures the nation there is nothing to worry about."

    I sure hope Congress thinks through their Assault Weapons Ban bill (with lots of pork and non-assault-weapon infringements on civil rights). If it passes - troubled times won't be the most peaceful time to try to implement a general restriction in civil liberties. Stressing a population already disillusioned about the government could backfire badly. Imagine the Black Panthers, KKK, and NRA uniting for a good cause. And it won't start with "support Congress".

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  6. I'm sure the SPLC is quaking in their boots about this site discussing their latest. Here's a hint: you have to go after his credibility as a quote source, and push that in a way that would have an impact. I'll be doing that later. In the meantime, try and figure out how you could do that with this.

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  7. First, SPLC claimed hate crimes had gone up around the time a person supposedly yelled "kill him" at a Sarah Palin rally (without presenting any data to substantiate the claim), now it's claiming prescience. Perhaps its officers think some of Obama's magic powers are rubbing off.

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  8. The SPLC is hilarious. Get three old-guys talking trash in a bar and they'll declare it a hate group. I've seen their hate groups, and while they are not attractive people they are small, unfunded and pathetic.

    There was one Christian Identity organization here in Tampa a few years back that the SPLC attacked as a major force in the state. Was a half dozen guys who ended up sub-letting to a Nation of Islam affiliated black seperatist group to make the rent on their clubhouse. They eventually co-hosted a public access cable show where they griped about Jews.

    It is as if the SPLC wants to inflate the Klan and other groups to the point that they can see themselves as grand and heroic. Won't work. The last Klan rally in this part of the country drew five (5) klansmen, five.

    It's time for Dees and the rest of them to go find honest work. Or better go find someone really perpetrating racist or religious motivated crimes.

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