Chase, Apple support HATE GROUP Southern Poverty law center

Hate group hits jackpot Powerline Blog Posted: 26 Aug 2017 06:36 AM PDT (Scott Johnson) The ludicrously misnamed Southern Poverty Law Center has become a scam operating as a left-wing hate cult. The SPLC specializes in directing something far beyond the Orwellian Two Minutes Hate to the likes of Charles Murray and Ayaan Hirsi Ali and others it designates for opprobrium as “extremists” or a “hate group.” Where once was Emmanuel Goldstein and his followers is now Murray, Ali and a host of others guilty of thoughtcrime. Earlier this year Charles Murray responded to the SPLC’s libel of him in “Charles Murray’s SPLC page as edited by Charles Murray.” This week Ms. Ali took to the New York Times to ask why the SPLC is hating on her and her friends. If there is such a thing as a “hate group,” the SPLC is it. Indeed, I think it can safely be declared “Our leading hate group.” Among recent columns that have nailed this outfit are Mark Pulliam’s “A demagogic bully” and “Provocateur journalism.” Going back to 2014, a good Washington Times editorial adds to the picture. In the column linked above Ms. Ali notes that the SPLC has hit the jackpot in the aftermath of the violence in Charlottesville that left one woman dead and 19 injured. It “is set to receive millions of dollars in donations” from Apple, JPMorgan Chase and others. John noted Apple’s $1 million pledge to the SPLC last week; Apple will also match employee donations to the SPLC on a two-for-one basis. In her weekly Wall Street Journal column Kim Strassel takes note. Referring to the SPLC’s online “Hate Map” listing 917 American “hate groups,” she observes: “The SPLC alone decides who goes on the list, but its criteria are purposely vague. Since the SPLC is a far-left activist group, the map comes down to this: If the SPLC doesn’t agree with your views, it tags you as a hater.” She writes: Let’s not mince words: By funding this list, J.P. Morgan and Apple are saying they support labeling Christian organizations that oppose gay marriage as “hate groups.” That may come as a sour revelation to any bank customers who have donated to the Family Research Council (a mainstream Christian outfit on the SPLC’s list) or whose rights are protected by the Alliance Defending Freedom (which litigates for religious freedom and is also on the list). Similarly put out may be iPhone owners who support the antiterror policies espoused by Frank Gaffney’s Washington think tank, the Center for Security Policy (on the SPLC’s list). Or any who back the proposals of the Center for Immigration Studies (on the list). These corporations are presumably in favor of the SPLC’s practice of calling its political opponents “extremists,” which paints targets on their backs. The group’s “Field Guide to Anti-Muslim Extremists” lists Mr. Gaffney (who worked for the Reagan administration); Maajid Nawaz (a British activist whose crimes include tweeting a cartoon of Jesus and Muhammad ); and Ayaan Hirsi Ali (a Somali refugee who speaks out against Islamic extremism). The SPLC has tarred the respected social scientist Charles Murray, author of the well-regarded book “Losing Ground,” as a “white nationalist.” Mr. Murray has been physically assaulted on campus as a result. He happens to be married to an Asian woman and has Asian daughters, so the slur is ludicrous. But what’s a little smearing and career destruction if J.P. Morgan Chase gets some good headlines?: In the last sentence Kim attributes corporate support for the SPLC to a quest for good headlines, but that seems to me an unduly charitable interpretation. I think it derives from something more sinister and revealing. The totalitarian tendencies of the left are at work, herding us into line. Big business long ago fell in. Orwell’s account is suggestive: “The horrible thing about the Two Minutes Hate was not that one was obliged to act a part, but, on the contrary, that it was impossible to avoid joining in.” We are to join the mob or become its victim.