How SPLC Hypes the Hate

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Dangerous extremist militias taking over America? The Southern Poverty Law Center reports “an astonishing 363 new Patriot groups appeared in 2009, with the totals going from 149 groups (including 42 militias) to 512 (127 of them militias) – a 244% jump” from 2008.

OK, so let’s ask a question: How does the SPLC get these numbers? Do a “find” search on the their list of “Patriot” groups and you discover:

  • 37 listings of the John Birch Society;
  • 48 listings of We the People;
  • 49 listings of Oath Keepers; and
  • 50 listings of the Constitution Party.

According to the SPLC’s math, then, state-by-state representation of these four organizations count as 184 “Patriot groups” —  36 percent of the SPLC’s total. Let’s ask a few more questions:

  • Are these groups dangerous?
  • Are they criminal?
  • Do they pose a threat to public safety?

After some quick Googling, I picked up the phone:

“We the People” appears to be generally libertarian in orientation: 2004 Libertarian Party candidate Michael Badnarik addressed the group’s 2009 “Constitutional Convention,” and [founder Robert] Schultz himself was a guest (along with libertarian figures like Reason magazine editor Nick Gillespie and Rep. Ron Paul) on an August 2009 broadcast of Judge Andrew Napolitano’s Fox News TV program.
After finding the Web site of the Alabama chapter of “We the People,” I phoned Huntsville resident Lesha Martin, one of the members listed on the site. Is “We the People” some kind of violent militia-type outfit?
“Good heavens, no,” said Ms. Martin, an admirer of Ron Paul who described herself as devoted to individual freedom and “resurrecting the Constitution.”
How many peaceful citizens like Lesha Martin are lumped together to create the “grim and alarming portrait . . . of extremist organizations” presented by the SPLC?

Of course, we cannot rule out the possibility that some of these groups are unwittingly harboring wannabe terrorists — short-wave wackos building pipe-bombs or stockpiling AK-47 ammo in their garages — but the claim of an “astonishing” increase in dangerous extremism looks very much like the kind of irresponsible exaggeration we’ve come to expect from The Church of Morris Dees. And of course, MSNBC books the SPLC’s Mark Potok, who gleefully uses this report to smear the Tea Party movement:

I don’t deny that there are kooks in America or that some of those kooks are dangerous, but the SPLC purposely hypes this kind of hysteria — using dubious statistics to inflate the numbers — for their own lucrative aggrandizement.

UPDATE: Is Rhode Island a Klan stronghold? Professor William Jacobson is skeptical of the SPLC’s claim.

UPDATE II: Jesse Walker of Reason magazine:

The Southern Poverty Law Center . . .would paint a box of Wheaties as an extremist threat if it thought that would help it raise money . . . To illustrate how dangerous these groups are, the Center cites some recent arrests of right-wing figures for planning or carrying out violent attacks. But it doesn’t demonstrate that any of the arrestees were a part of the Patriot milieu, and indeed it includes some cases involving racist skinheads, who are another movement entirely.
As far as the SPLC is concerned . . . skinheads and Birchers and Glenn Beck fans are all tied together in one big ball of scary. The group delights in finding tenuous ties between the tendencies it tracks, then describing its discoveries in as ominous a tone as possible.

A fool and his money are soon parted. Morris Dees was finance director of the George McGovern 1972 presidential campaign and figured out that hyping the “right-wing extremist” threat was a surefire strategy for separating those particular fools from their money.

For nearly 30 years, Dees and his crew have been working the same formula: Send scary letters to rich liberals, suggesting that if they don’t send the SPLC a check today, the brownshirts will be goose-stepping down Main Street tomorrow.

52 comments

  1. I’d bet there’s more kooks on the left. But what do I know, I’m not part of the MSM?

    I think I’m going to start a militia … Very Scary.

  2. I’d bet there’s more kooks on the left. But what do I know, I’m not part of the MSM?

    I think I’m going to start a militia … Very Scary.

  3. I picked up that they were doing that with all the groups they list. They may have a couple of chapters in one city and they count them as separate groups to pad their figures.

  4. I picked up that they were doing that with all the groups they list. They may have a couple of chapters in one city and they count them as separate groups to pad their figures.

  6. “an astonishing 363 new Patriot groups appeared”

    Yes? And that’s supposed to be a BAD thing? Aren’t “Patriots” the good guys?

    It’s a good thing nobody told the $PLC about the New England Patriots.

  7. “an astonishing 363 new Patriot groups appeared”

    Yes? And that’s supposed to be a BAD thing? Aren’t “Patriots” the good guys?

    It’s a good thing nobody told the $PLC about the New England Patriots.

  11. Same ol same ol. Every time there’s a conservative upsurge the SPLC find assault weapon toting rednecks hiding under it’s bed. Expect the media echo chamber to crank up the message machine.

  12. Same ol same ol. Every time there’s a conservative upsurge the SPLC find assault weapon toting rednecks hiding under it’s bed. Expect the media echo chamber to crank up the message machine.

  13. There was a story, in The New Yorker if memory serves, about the lavish headquarters of the SPLC in Alabama and the good life of Morris Dees. The story ran about 10 or 11 years ago. They have to keep the Hate high to keep the donations pouring in.

  14. There was a story, in The New Yorker if memory serves, about the lavish headquarters of the SPLC in Alabama and the good life of Morris Dees. The story ran about 10 or 11 years ago. They have to keep the Hate high to keep the donations pouring in.

  21. Overall, well put. But cripes, Smitty! Did you have to take a couple of slugs from Dees’ KoolAid jug before you swore off?

    “…wannabe terrorists — short-wave wackos building pipe-bombs or stockpiling AK-47 ammo in their garages —….”

    How much ammo is one allowed to have in hand for an AK before it makes one a short-wave wacko or a wannabe terrorist?

    Does owning the AK in the first place qualify one? And how much ammo does it take to be considered a “stockpile”? 50 rounds? 500 rounds?

    Morris would be proud to know that owning a semi-automatic rifle now ranks up there with building pipe bombs!

  22. Overall, well put. But cripes, Smitty! Did you have to take a couple of slugs from Dees’ KoolAid jug before you swore off?

    “…wannabe terrorists — short-wave wackos building pipe-bombs or stockpiling AK-47 ammo in their garages —….”

    How much ammo is one allowed to have in hand for an AK before it makes one a short-wave wacko or a wannabe terrorist?

    Does owning the AK in the first place qualify one? And how much ammo does it take to be considered a “stockpile”? 50 rounds? 500 rounds?

    Morris would be proud to know that owning a semi-automatic rifle now ranks up there with building pipe bombs!

  23. But cripes, Smitty! Did you have to take a couple of slugs from Dees’ KoolAid jug before you swore off?

    1. Not Smitty — it’s me.

    2. In referring to the “short-wave wackos,” I meant to describe a particular type of person who uses fear to fill the vacuum created by their own ignorance. You know, the “black helicopter” crowd. Every year one or two of these people “go off” in the kind of headline-making incident that gives the Mark Potoks of the world the chance to say, “See? We told you! All those right-wingers are dangerous kooks!”

    Kooks have rights, too. Just as I defend the First Amendment rights of kooks, so also do I defend their Second Amendment rights. But at the same time, I feel the need to speak truth to kookery. When kooks get paranoid and start frantically stockpiling weaponry in anticipation of the Apocalypse . . . well, they need to be told to calm down, at the very least.

    People descend into tinfoil-hat kookery like that because they don’t understand politics and don’t know how to be effective in terms of activism. One of the great things about the Tea Party movement is that it shows people that they can make a difference, if only they’ll be patient and do the basic work of organizing.

  24. But cripes, Smitty! Did you have to take a couple of slugs from Dees’ KoolAid jug before you swore off?

    1. Not Smitty — it’s me.

    2. In referring to the “short-wave wackos,” I meant to describe a particular type of person who uses fear to fill the vacuum created by their own ignorance. You know, the “black helicopter” crowd. Every year one or two of these people “go off” in the kind of headline-making incident that gives the Mark Potoks of the world the chance to say, “See? We told you! All those right-wingers are dangerous kooks!”

    Kooks have rights, too. Just as I defend the First Amendment rights of kooks, so also do I defend their Second Amendment rights. But at the same time, I feel the need to speak truth to kookery. When kooks get paranoid and start frantically stockpiling weaponry in anticipation of the Apocalypse . . . well, they need to be told to calm down, at the very least.

    People descend into tinfoil-hat kookery like that because they don’t understand politics and don’t know how to be effective in terms of activism. One of the great things about the Tea Party movement is that it shows people that they can make a difference, if only they’ll be patient and do the basic work of organizing.

  25. There was a story, in The New Yorker if memory serves, about the lavish headquarters of the SPLC in Alabama and the good life of Morris Dees.

    It was in Harper’s, and that article (“The Church of Morris Dees”) is linked in the post above. Also, the Montgomery Advertiser won major awards for its investigative coverage of the SPLC. Many liberals have denounced the SPLC because every year it sucks up millions of dollars in contributions (mostly from clueless old rich people) that might otherwise go to something useful.

    The SPLC is a dishonest scam, as anyone who has examined its operations must eventually conclude. They get abysmally low ratings from groups that monitor non-profits.

    The problem is that mainstream media organizations continue to cite SPLC as “expert” sources (which makes about as much sense as quoting the Grand Kleagle of the Klan as an “expert” on race relations). These MSM citations serve to publicize the SPLC and lend them a semblance of credibility they would not otherwise have.

  26. There was a story, in The New Yorker if memory serves, about the lavish headquarters of the SPLC in Alabama and the good life of Morris Dees.

    It was in Harper’s, and that article (“The Church of Morris Dees”) is linked in the post above. Also, the Montgomery Advertiser won major awards for its investigative coverage of the SPLC. Many liberals have denounced the SPLC because every year it sucks up millions of dollars in contributions (mostly from clueless old rich people) that might otherwise go to something useful.

    The SPLC is a dishonest scam, as anyone who has examined its operations must eventually conclude. They get abysmally low ratings from groups that monitor non-profits.

    The problem is that mainstream media organizations continue to cite SPLC as “expert” sources (which makes about as much sense as quoting the Grand Kleagle of the Klan as an “expert” on race relations). These MSM citations serve to publicize the SPLC and lend them a semblance of credibility they would not otherwise have.

  27. Where is the SLPC’s concern about Muslim violence?

    What about the Ft. Hood shooting, the plot to blow up the NY subways, the LAX El Al Arab slaying of Jews, etc.?

    Morris Dees has always been a self-annointed windbag.

  28. Where is the SLPC’s concern about Muslim violence?

    What about the Ft. Hood shooting, the plot to blow up the NY subways, the LAX El Al Arab slaying of Jews, etc.?

    Morris Dees has always been a self-annointed windbag.

  31. jefferson101:
    How much ammo is one allowed to have in hand for an AK before it makes one a short-wave wacko or a wannabe terrorist?

    Does owning the AK in the first place qualify one? And how much ammo does it take to be considered a “stockpile”? 50 rounds? 500 rounds?

    Let me field this question for you Stacy.
    jefferson, the answer to the amount of rounds is 1,000,000.

    Of course, the only groups that haave that many rounds stocked are governments. Hmmmmmm….

  32. jefferson101:
    How much ammo is one allowed to have in hand for an AK before it makes one a short-wave wacko or a wannabe terrorist?

    Does owning the AK in the first place qualify one? And how much ammo does it take to be considered a “stockpile”? 50 rounds? 500 rounds?

    Let me field this question for you Stacy.
    jefferson, the answer to the amount of rounds is 1,000,000.

    Of course, the only groups that haave that many rounds stocked are governments. Hmmmmmm….

  33. SPLC fund raising letter to Guilt-ridden White Liberals: All your monies belongz to us,or else you’re Raaaaacist!

  34. SPLC fund raising letter to Guilt-ridden White Liberals: All your monies belongz to us,or else you’re Raaaaacist!

  35. From the $PLC website-

    “Patriot groups define themselves as opposed to the “New World Order,” engage in groundless conspiracy theorizing, or advocate or adhere to extreme antigovernment doctrines. Listing here does not imply that the groups themselves advocate or engage in violence or other criminal activities, or are racist.”

    Well, it’s a good thing that somebody is keeping an eye on those “extreme antigovernment” people who oppose the New World Order! That seems to cover at least a third of the people in America.

  36. From the $PLC website-

    “Patriot groups define themselves as opposed to the “New World Order,” engage in groundless conspiracy theorizing, or advocate or adhere to extreme antigovernment doctrines. Listing here does not imply that the groups themselves advocate or engage in violence or other criminal activities, or are racist.”

    Well, it’s a good thing that somebody is keeping an eye on those “extreme antigovernment” people who oppose the New World Order! That seems to cover at least a third of the people in America.

  38. If any of the so called “right wing hate groups” were as violent and full of hatred as some of those leftest groups are, I believe the SPLC would have been closed down by now.

  39. If any of the so called “right wing hate groups” were as violent and full of hatred as some of those leftest groups are, I believe the SPLC would have been closed down by now.

  41. SPLC has had quite a history doing this.

    There have been notable groups, like Weather Underground or other such violent and terrorist homegrown organizations, but the SPLC never seems to put much light on them. Interesting, no.

  42. SPLC has had quite a history doing this.

    There have been notable groups, like Weather Underground or other such violent and terrorist homegrown organizations, but the SPLC never seems to put much light on them. Interesting, no.

  43. […] Stacy McCain, may be a red neck blogger, but McCain is not more of a reporter than Schector, from Other McCain. Dangerous extremist militias taking over America? The Southern Poverty Law Center reports “an […]

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