Well, apparently I belong to a hate group. Who knew that the Southern Poverty Law Center, the organization formerly known as Klanwatch, that organization that successfully sued the Aryan Nations out of existence in my neighboring state of Idaho, was itself a thug crew out to kneecap all the opposition?
According to "Americans for Truth," it is.
This from my inbox this morning (as a newspaper editor, I get a lot of weird and freaky shit in my inbox):
So, sadly – shamefully, really – today’s SPLC has become nothing more than a "non-profit" extension of the black helicopter, Huffpo-wing of the Democratic Party – a gaggle of partisan hacks bent on lining their pockets, defaming good people (along with the bad) and filling DNC coffers. (SPLC Director Mark Potok even doubles as a Huffington Post columnist. Seriously. They make it that easy.)
Among the heinous crimes committed by this nefarious, Huffpo-type organization? (And since when is being a Huffpo writer a get-rich scheme? Man, what am I doing in newspapers?)
Case in point: Recently, the SPLC came under fire for comparing the "Tea Party" movement and other grassroots conservatives to "terrorists." Potok slandered "Tea Party" goers, suggesting that "they are shot through with rich veins of radical ideas, conspiracy theories and racism," and are widely linked to "hate" and "vigilante groups." Of course there are always a few nuts in any movement, but clearly Potok’s intent was to defame tens of millions of patriotic "Tea Partiers," simply because he disagrees with them.
You don't say. I cover Tea Parties on my job and among the members are the same people that I recently covered for running an illegal gun range and calling for militias to defend against the coming Obamacopalypse. Not all of the Tea Partiers are militia-types, certainly, but they are present.
Among the piteous victims of the SPLC:
Even more recently, the SPLC launched another in a series of politically motivated attacks against a well-respected Christian organization. The group arbitrarily tagged as an official "hate group" Americans for Truth about Homosexuality (AFTAH).
AFTAH promotes biblical morality, opposes the radical homosexual activist lobby and publicly decries both violence and hatred against homosexuals or anyone else.
Denying people basic humanity and equality, apparently, doesn't count as hate. (And a search of the SPLC site doesn't show that organization even listed among hate groups, so I'm not sure why this squall of victim-hood, anyway).
Not content to mourn AFTAH's martyrdom, Americans for Truth have stuffed as many other anti-gay organizations as possible into that hair shirt:
If AFTAH is a "hate group," then so is Liberty Counsel, Focus on the Family, Family Research Council, American Family Association, the Southern Baptist Convention and the Roman Catholic Church. Any group that observes and defends traditional sexual morality would have to be labeled such.
Hey, I didn't say it...
Did you know the military, the CDC and the FDA are hate groups, too?
Heck, for that matter, so would the U.S. Armed Forces, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the FDA. These groups publically expose the undeniable medical and societal pitfalls associated with the homosexual lifestyle and, therefore, must be "hate groups," right?
To wrap it up, Americans for Truth (perhaps the greatest misnomer ever) suggest that the SPLC is only targeting those that are aligned with political points of view other than its own:
Of course, like any bully, the SPLC only goes after those it believes it can push around. But really, it confers a badge of honor upon every legitimate Christian and conservative organization it so disingenuously mislabels "hate group." It’s a tacit admission by the SPLC that these groups represent a political threat; that their activities undermine the SPLC’s not-so-thinly-veiled, left-wing agenda. (Kind of like winning a conservative Grammy.)
Here is a list of conservative Grammy winners on the SPLC site. Take a look.
You can't make this up.