Southern Poverty Law Center: America's New Joseph McCarthy

When I was in High School, I was first taught about the era of McCarthyism.  In the early 1950's, a movement spearheaded by Senator Joseph McCarthy sought to purge America of communist influence.  Across the country, thousands of people were accused of being supporters of communism, members of the communist party, or were simply "soft on communism."  Most of those accused were innocent of any wrongdoing, and many had no affiliation whatsoever with communist organizations.  Nevertheless, these slanderous accusations cost thousands of people their jobs and many had their reputations tainted for years as a result.  Today, there is a new form of McCarthyism  in America.  This form of "McCarthyism" now seeks to purge of America of "hate," and it is spearheaded by the Southern Poverty Law Center.  

Initially formed to wage legal battles against the Ku Klux Klan in the 1970's, the Southern Poverty Law Center has now changed into a "Far Left Smear Organization."  Instead of focusing its efforts on fighting the hateful ideology that is embraced by the KKK and Neo Nazis, the Southern Poverty Law Center now engages in a hateful, and often falsified smear campaign against anyone who expresses views that they oppose.  For example, the Family Research Council, an organization that opposes abortion and promotes traditional families has been designated as a hate organization by the SPLC.  The Family Research Council's only real controversy is opposing same-sex marriage, though there is no record of the organization ever promoting violent actions against the homosexual community in America.  Nevertheless, their opposition to same sex marriage was enough to get them black listed as a hate group right alongside the KKK and Aryan Brotherhood.  For a time, the SPLC even put Dr. Ben Carson on the hate list for the exact same reason.  Only through a massive public outcry did the SPLC decide to remove him from the list.  

The SPLC's actions have proven to have dangerous consequences.  When a gunman attacked the Family Research Council in 2012, he cited that the reason he picked this target was because the SPLC designated them as a hate group.  The SPLC's labeling of hate groups and hate activists has also proven to be very biased.  The SPLC has smeared human rights activists such as Brigitte Gabriel, Dr. Robert Spencer, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, and Maajid Nawaz as being "Anti-Muslim Hate Activists" when in fact they speak out on behalf of all people, including Muslims, who are suffering around the world at the hands of Islamist terrorists.  It was particularly galling to smear Maajid Nawaz as an anti-Muslim Hate activist when he is in fact a practicing Muslim who was once imprisoned for supporting Jihadist terrorism, but later changed his views and now speaks against the very hate he once embraced.  However, the SPLC does not label anti-Semitic activist Linda Sarsour as a hate activist, it does not call the violent Far Left Anarchist group Antifa a hate group, nor do they issue condemnations against the Council of American Islamic Relations (CAIR), and extremist group funded by the Muslim Brotherhood that actively promotes Islamic terrorist groups across the world.  

Family Research Council & Antifa: Which Looks More Hateful?

Most alarming is how the SPLC falsifies their data.  It is of no surprise that they list Brigitte Gabriel's organization ACT for America as a hate group, but it is alarming that they actually count 47 chapters of the ACT for America Organization as 47 different hate groups when they are in fact all part of one group.  It is clear that the SPLC does this in an effort to frighten the populace and convince them that they are a legitimate force needed to ensure that America is kept "safe from hate."  In recent years, numerous activists and organizations have exposed the SPLC for what it is, a "Far-Left Smear Campaign."  Many now no longer trust this organization.  In fact, a number of the groups and individuals that are being smeared by the SPLC are now filing defamation lawsuits against the organization.  As it stands, the SPLC has already had to pay millions of dollars to settle these lawsuits.  

If America truly wants to fight hate, then they must identify it in all of their forms.  They need to stop supporting biased organizations like the SPLC and start standing up for the rights of people to speak and peacefully criticize ideas without being smeared as "Hate Groups."  The American populace united to stop the smear campaign of McCarthyism, and they can certainly stop the smear campaign of the SPLC.  

Sources:

Gabriel, Brigitte.  Rise: In Defense of Judeo-Christian Values and Freedom.  Lake Mary, FL" FrontLine, 2018

"The Anti-Hate Group that is a Hate Group."  PragerU.  October 12, 2018.  Accessed from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNFNH0lmYdM

Thiessen, Marc.  "The Southern Poverty Law Center has Lost all Credibility."  The Washington Post.  June 22, 2018.  Accessed from https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-southern-poverty-law-center-has-lost-all-credibility/2018/06/21/22ab7d60-756d-11e8-9780-b1dd6a09b549_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.3ba454b8618d.