Mainstream Media: The Southern Poverty Law Center’s Partner in Slime
Stooping to a new low, even by Southern Poverty Law Center’s standards, the SPLC recently smeared well-regarded family-values organizations as ‘hate groups’ for championing faith-based moral views, including opposition to gay marriage and support for the military’s DADT policy.
The Family Research Council (FRC) was among the insulted parties and decided to fight back, using the modern tools of intellectual warfare.
On December 15th the organization launched StartDebatingStopHating.com, a website and newspaper ad (the latter appearing in Politico and the Washington Examiner) that denounced the speech-chilling “character assassination” tactics of the SPLC, while supporting the “vigorous” and “responsible” exercise of free speech. Those who sign an online petition show their solidarity with the FRC, American Family Association, Concerned Women for America, and others who are protecting the traditional family. Many heavy hitters signed the full-page ad including Michele Bachmann, Jim DeMint, Tim Pawlenty, Phyllis Schlafly, Frank Gaffney, Alveda King, and David Limbaugh.
The Alabama-based non-profit, started by attorneys Morris Dees and Joseph Levin, Jr. in 1971, tracks the speech and conduct of those they dub as ‘haters’ (e.g. the National Knights of the Ku Klux Klan), and champions the civil rights of destitute minorities. But in recent years the SPLC has become known for its aggressive campaign of slamming mainstream conservatives and independent thinkers by likening their views to, say, those of the National Knights of the KKK. In addition to the FRC, the SPLC has slimed Iowa Congressman Steve King, Indian-born writer Dinesh D’Souza, African-American law professor Carol Swain, and prominent immigration enforcement leaders and writers, to name a few. Even the films “Gods and Generals” and “The Lord of the Rings” are suspect. The former is scorned because the Civil War flick “is told from the Confederate perspective,” and the latter is suspect because it is “Eurocentric.”
If that isn’t ridiculous enough, consider that Richard Cohen, SPLC president even wrote a letter to CNN’s president, last year, asking that newscaster Lou Dobbs be ‘removed’ from the airwaves, because Dobbs was promoting “racist conspiracy theories” (i.e. daring to have an open discussion about President Obama’s citizenship bonafides).
And now… the rest of the story. …..
Harold
