July 4, 2023

"A month ago, the Southern Poverty Law Center declared Moms for Liberty an 'extremist group' devoted to spreading “messages of anti-inclusion and hate...."

"The 'extremist' label is justified, said Esther Prins, a professor at Penn State University who has studied the intersection of education advocacy and Christian nationalism in America. Prins said the activities of Moms for Liberty chapters — especially efforts to remove books nationwide, many of which are led by group members and which overwhelmingly target people of color and LGBTQ+ authors, a Post analysis found — are consistent with groups that promote a hierarchical social order in which 'men are over women, straight people over LGBTQ people.' Prins said, 'That’s why they don’t want children learning about racism or about the existence of people who are not straight or the existence of families that aren’t the heterosexual nuclear family.'..."


The post title is the first sentence of the article, and the next part I quoted is very far down in the article. The SPLC's designation takes prominence over any explanation of what this group is and why it deserves denouncement, and the explanation isn't convincing at all. These are the parents who object to sex-and-gender-themed books in schools? The article says "efforts to remove books nationwide"... remove books from where? Schools? Or more? 

Near the end of the article there's a heading "What does Moms for Liberty want in the next president?" One of the founders of the group is quoted answering "much more respect for parental rights." The other founder said: "maybe not reach out to the DOJ and the FBI and collude with them." That, we're told, refers to...
... a much-decried 2022 National School Boards Association letter to Biden that stated parents and others speaking out against school board members might be committing a form of 'domestic terrorism.' Email correspondence from the time suggested the NSBA was acting at the request of the White House, although the White House said that wasn’t true. The letter led Attorney General Merrick Garland to direct the FBI to workshop strategies for meeting threats to school employees.

You know, RFK Jr. had been scheduled to speak at that Moms for Liberty summit. I think I've heard him say he'll talk to everybody. But he got slammed and he withdrew. 

Here's Vivek Ramaswamy speaking at the summit. He refers to the group as "my favorite hate group in history." That's jocose, of course, but the fact that he's being jocose about hate shows the problem with aggressively slapping on labels like "hate" — and "extremism" and "terrorism" — instead of actually debating people who challenge your ideas. You've diluted your strongest words. You've cried wolf.

Mothers and fathers are powerfully called to protect their children. Politicians — and professors and journalists — need to engage over what is genuinely best for children, not take the weak, easy route of sneering at these parents, shunning them, and, hating them, saying they hate.

70 comments:

rhhardin said...

SPLC says everybody is a hate group, so I doubt anybody's interested when they do.

They get donations from corporations who are not very careful about where their donations go. But maybe only the name matters, if it's for the annual giving report.

Dave Begley said...

SPLC is a hedge fund for the founder: A white guy lawyer. He’s got millions stashed offshore.

The lazy libs at WaPo should investigate SPLC.

rhhardin said...

Mothers against Drunk Driving was the first trading on moms that I recall.

My friend F.T.Grampp said if it weren't for the drunks, most of them wouldn't be mothers.

Jersey Fled said...

We start out with a professor who studies something that doesnt exist. Christian nationalism.

And we go downhill from there.

Dave Begley said...

“ The SPLC's most recent audited financial statement reveals the group had $162 million in a variety of offshore funds as of October 21, 2020. The group's tax forms show it took in $108 million in donations between November 2019 and late October 2020, an $11 million increase from the previous year. Contributions to the group dipped in 2019 after reports surfaced that allege SPLC founder Morris Dees and other leaders allowed sexual harassment and racial discrimination against minority staffers.
The SPLC is now sitting on $588 million in net assets, $45 million more than the year before. The group did not respond to a request for comment on its investments.” Washington Free Beacon.

SPLC and Morris Dees are rich!

When a local Omaha newspaper (then owned by Warren Buffett) exposed the millions Boystown was sitting on, it reformed and spent the money doing good.

Humperdink said...

When the commie-pinkos introduced "hate" in it's present form to our vernacular, it unleashed another avenue to go after conservatives. I guess the label "racist" peaked.

I got into a animated discussion what a hard-core lefty, a retired teacher. She said we wanted to ban books. I asked her which books she was not permitted to buy. Blank stare.

Dave Begley said...

SPLC is a perfect example of how white Dems grift Blacks.

gilbar said...

All whites are extremists..... And MUST BE DESTROYED!!
All cis are extremists........ And MUST BE DESTROYED!!
All Straights are extremists.. And MUST BE DESTROYED!!
ONLY trans queer POCs can be allowed to exist!!!

Leland said...

It is interesting when you talk to foreign nationals about this issue, and they, because of the bias media, think it is anti-homosexual stuff. When you provide them the details of what is in the books; they are shocked. Then you tell them it is in primary school level libraries, and immediately you see "extremist" thinking even from them.

Still, I give credit to SPLC in that the group is anti-inclusion and has hate. They do not want to include children in sex. They hate people that do. If you think abortion was a motivator for the 2022 elections. Keep up the notion that it is a small minority that hates people who want sex with children. Be loud and proud of it and see where it gets you.

Larry J said...

The Southern Poverty Law Center is itself an extremist leftist organization. To them, anyone to the right of Stalin is denounced.

boatbuilder said...

The SPLC is an extremist hate group.

iowan2 said...

Can somebody explain the difference between patriotism and nationalism?

The left is good at turning benign words into pejoratives.

SPLC is nothing but an extremist generator of leftist propaganda. Very little of their output is accurate or truthful. "slapping labels" sums up the majority of their actions.

hawkeyedjb said...

RFK Jr. can go to hell. What a chickenshit. From "I'll talk to anybody" to folding like a deck of cards as soon as a breath of criticism wafts through the air. That was a fun slogan, but obviously not a principle. Like most politicians, he buys his Strongly Held Beliefs at the disposables section of the Dollar Store.

donald said...

Morris Dees is long since dead, but every bit of their evil still stands.

Kevin said...

SPLC identifies a hate group as Seems Pretty Likely to be Conservative.

Michael said...

Dees ran a direct marketing firm before his current racket which fund raises in identical ways. A very evil organization.

Temujin said...

The most corrosive spreader of hate in this country is the SPLC and their grift operation led by Mark Potok. How they got to the point where their word is taken as gospel by every publication- and our Government- is beyond me. But the trick they use is the same all hucksters use: Mix a bit of truth with a lot of made up bullshit to make your attack seem grounded in truth. Jesse Jackson was great at this.

Moms for Liberty are what happens when the Government and school boards conspire to work against the interest of both parents and kids, when they decide the parents are the enemy of kids, and only the 'experts' or elected boards, know best.

In Florida, no books have been banned statewide and I doubt they've been in any states. Books have been removed from grade school and middle school curricula, not banned in the state. I've not seen all of the books banned, of course, but I've seen the ones that started this whole thing. And honestly, if anyone on a school board thinks these are appropriate for kids, I'd say they need to be removed from those boards- yesterday. Standards matter in education, as in life. There's no question why our kids cannot read, write, or add. Those leading the overall education have no idea what they're doing. Instead of focusing on education, they're clearly focused on indoctrination at many levels. Or...grooming, for some approved alternate lifestyles that don't include math or writing.

I don't know everything representatives of Moms for Liberty might say, or have said. Frankly, I don't care. They're simply representing a lot of parents trying to regain control of education from those who have so clearly, unquestionably, and thoroughly fucked it up nationally for years now.

The Left doesn't hate to be wrong. They just hate it when they get caught at being wrong.

BUMBLE BEE said...

Wifey is degreed MSW w/ACSW. We get inflammatory mailings from SPLC frequently. Send Money.

cassandra lite said...

With coverage like that, straight out of Dem talking points, it's no wonder Gavin Newsom can post pictures of book stores that have tables of "banned books" for sale and claim the banning is getting worse.

Dogma and Pony Show said...

"efforts to remove books nationwide, many of which . . . overwhelmingly target people of color and LGBTQ+ authors."

So utterly tendentious. Obviously books teaching about gay sex are going to be disproportionately authored by alphabet people. It doesn't follow that the efforts to remove them from school libraries are "targeting" -- taking deliberate aim at -- those authors on account of who they are. And to throw "POC" into the mix is preposterous. How can anyone read this sort of propaganda and still have any use for the WaPo?

Wince said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sebastian said...

"the problem with aggressively slapping on labels like "hate" — and "extremism" and "terrorism" — instead of actually debating people who challenge your ideas. You've diluted your strongest words. You've cried wolf."

That is "the problem" only from the point of nice people who think issues should be sorted reasonably. Progs, on the other hand, don't do debate. They'll delegitimate their enemies by any means necessary. Their strongest words serve perfectly well to tar righties as haters and shape prog propaganda in the MSM.

"Politicians — and professors and journalists — need to engage over what is genuinely best for children, not take the weak, easy route of sneering at these parents, shunning them, and, hating them, saying they hate"

They do need to do that, don't they. But the post deals with progs, so a good-faith response to a fundamentally bad-faith situation is a little beside the point. Progs don't need to engage They just need to win and rule.

Wince said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Chuck said...

"Moms for Liberty" want a fight.

I'm quite happy to give them their fight.

Wince said...

"The 'extremist' label is justified, said Esther Prins, a professor at Penn State University who has studied the intersection of education advocacy and Christian nationalism in America.

Breathtakingly ironic that a professor named Esther Prins feels justifying applying the "extremist label" on Moms for Liberty, in much the way Hester Prynne was forced to wear a prominent Scarlett Letter for mothering her daughter Pearl.

hombre said...

"... — instead of actually debating people who challenge your ideas."

I've been watching YouTube "shorts" an overwhelming number of which show "conservative" speakers devastating progressives on various woke subjects. Given YouTube's predilections I was surprised until I remembered that progressives don't like to debate, they prefer to spew.

And "Christian nationalism"? What bullshit! It's sort of like "white supremacy", isn't it. Both are represented by small groups without significant influence whose role is to give Democrats and their victim cohorts someone to hate.

walter said...

We have a president whose son refers to as Pedo Pete and whose daughter diaried about taking showers with.

Owen said...

I hereby award 100 upvotes to all commenters, especially Dave Begley, Temujin and Wince. Nice catch on the Esther Prins/Hester Prynne bit!

…maybe people who have been wrongly smeared by SPLC could start suing for defamation? That $500MM offshore kitty should attract the attention of litigants and courts.

AMDG said...

It is about time that that falsely labeling someone or an organization as “racist” or as a “hate group” considered a tort.

traditionalguy said...

These old white guys are still running a Condemnation racquet based on MLK preached white southerners as guilty scum. That is an effective political strategy the parts of the nation that cling to hating white southerners as their virtue signal nuclear weapon.

Tom T. said...

It was amusing to see the article acting shocked about the politicization of education, as if the teachers unions haven't been a gigantic Democratic player since time immemorial.

Mason G said...

"many of which are led by group members and which overwhelmingly target people of color and LGBTQ+ authors"

Are the authors of books that attempt to sexualize children overwhelmingly people of color and LGBTQ+?

Bob Boyd said...

I'm disappointed in RFK Jr. He's got to be able to stand up to this kind of thing.
This was a test. Is he a man of principles or just another ambitious politician with his finger in the wind?

Drago said...

LLR-democratical and Violent Homosexual Rage Rape Fantasist Chuck: ""Moms for Liberty" want a fight.

I'm quite happy to give them their fight."

Once LLR-democratical Chuck came out strongly in favor of the entire trans radical grooming agenda for school children, including for the youngest of school children, perhaps in particular because these leftist lunatics are targeting the youngest of children, IYKWIM, there was really no further point in Chuck working that hard continuing his Fake Conservative schtick at Althouse blog.

And so we are treated to posts such as this latest offering above.

Transparency is a good thing and one can only pray that there are effective court orders in place in whatever neighborhoods surround the dwelling of one LLR-democratical Chuck.

Not Sure said...

I award Esther Prins one Scarlet Letter--an F for fool.

Aggie said...

I think the SPLC is part of the Progressive 'Old Boys' network. Their donated millions are very likely mostly provided by a small deck of billionaires, the same ones that finance the NGOs that provide 'voter services' in the bluer districts, and 'anti-disinformation' censorship suggestions to the social media sites - Twitter, facebook, etc. The NGOs are the new informal, non-elected government that our society functions under, increasingly. Out of reach of FOIA demands and very difficult to identify and track, easy to put into stealth modes. SPLC is just the appointed authority that helpfully communicates the latest targets to be destroyed.

When everything on the other side of the aisle looks like a Hate Group, maybe you're the Hate Group. People see that, but feel powerless to fight it. That's the plan, comrade. That's the plan.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

The books removed from grade and middle school library's ALL contain explicit sex.

PERIOD. Nothing else.

The left are lying liars who lie.
SLPC is a radical propaganda outfit for the corrupt left.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

PUSHING back against the corrupt NEO-Marxist lying liars who lie on the radical extremist democraxitic Merrick SLPC left = why you're A terrorist! Obey the corrupt left... and sit back in obedient silence while they groom your children.

mikee said...

The SPLC, much like the old print media, keeps trying to keep profitable operations by abandoning what few positive attributes it once had, instead following an agenda that leads to absurdity.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Of course the hacks at the Corruption excusing WaPOO(D) asshole -are carrying water for the terrorist and pedophile organization called SLPC.

Aggie said...

So, this Examiner article:

Activist Lady says: "...the Left is "coming for everyone," which resulted in Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who had initially agreed to speak at the summit, being "bullied out of speaking."

RFKJr Campaign says: "Mr. Kennedy believes in speaking to a variety of groups, even when he doesn't share their views on all subjects. In this case however, scheduling and family matters prevented him from attending the event..."

Well... Which is it? It reads like the Examiner embraces the agenda of the Activist Lady, because she's the one that is given the space to advance her Point of View, and interpret RFKJr's declined invitation as a coward's avoidance or a victim's plight, take your pick, much to the supportive jeering of the haters. Meanwhile the Examiner's interpretation of the events stand mute (Thanks for playing!). They did helpfully print a statement from the DNC who is eager to rat out all the other Republican candidates for appearing there, though.

Drago said...

Hunter Biden's tax payer funded Hooker: "The books removed from grade and middle school library's ALL contain explicit sex."

Removal or repositioning those explicitly pornographic books is one of the corrective actions taken that apparently have driven the pro-groomer policy crew to new paroxysms of spittle-flecked eye-bulging anger.

Access to these small children and sharing explicitly pornograhic content with those small children is undeniably their primary goal.

Perhaps the banned commenter LLR-democratical and Violent Homosexual Rage Rape Fantasist Chuck can explain precisely why he so desperately supports destroying parental rights and handing control of these children over to psycho-sexual lefty sickos.

You know, to give us some insight into this bizarro world view.

~ Gordon Pasha said...

Christian Nationalists? Only in response to Satanic Communists.

Amadeus 48 said...

As far as the SPLC is concerned, there is a problem with both the message and the messenger. The message is false and the messenger is a phony, conning well-intentioned and guilt-ridden libs.

Michael K said...

It is interesting (not very) to see "Chuck" transitioning to groomer status. Here I thought he was just a Trump hater. Maybe he's been reading "The Dispatch" for too long.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Leftist in power are on a mission to destroy innocence, confuse childhood... and groom your children. In plain sight. If you want to save your children from the corrupt left- the SPLC will label you a terrorist. Perhaps everyone should wear it with a badge of honor.
Considering SLPC's joke status and their history of lying and false accusations.

the Southern Poverty Law Center apologized and agreed to a settlement of $3.375 million to Maajid Nawaz's Quilliam Foundation after admitting to falsely labeling his advocacy organization as "extremist."

Some examples of leftist porn in grade-school and middle school libraries

Number one

Two - gay sex for 7th graders

Lefty Media Ignore Conservative Group’s Massive Victory Against SPLC, Despite NYT Reporter Calling It ‘Front-Page News’

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Dear Moms for Liberty.

Sue the SLPC out of existent.

sincerely,
Good people everywhere (Leftist a-holes excluded)

Big Mike said...

I'm quite happy to give them their fight.

Cage match! Chuck (with a capital ‘C’) versus normal parents. He and his fellow pederasts must be surrounded by lots of lefty women to think that taking on real American mothers wouldn’t be a doomed proposition.

JK Brown said...

I like the contrast. RFK Jr. still has the old people idea that the SPLC is a decent organization. It hasn't been for over 40 years, but those in college in the early '70s are nostalgic.

Ramaswamy on the other hand, a Millennial, doesn't suffer from delusion and sees them for what they are. Ignoring their Democrat party propaganda pronouncements.

Yancey Ward said...

Groomer Chuck willing to go to the mat against Moms For Liberty- raise the hands of those who are surprised by this?

PB said...

SPLC seems more like a terrorist group to me.

RigelDog said...

I was excited to hear that Moms for Liberty would be meeting where I am, in Philadelphia, and planned to attend. Then I read about the planned protests etc and realized that if Antifa types showed up, me getting smashed with a bike lock to the head was within the realm of possibility.

They're making it harder and harder for anyone who wants to push back on Woke, even a little.

Rusty said...

No, Chuck. You won't.
You have neither the intellect or the courage to take them on.

rcocean said...

The SPLC and the ADL are Leftwing organizations that hide behind "Fighting Hate" to censor and destroy those on the Right. too bad many conservatives are too stupid to see that.

The correct response to "The ADL/SPLC says..." is "Fuck You Commie". but the center-right will continue to play defense and plead for "reasonableness". If you're on the Right, they're NEVER going to give you the coveted "You are Not a Racist" card, no matter how much you beg them for it. Or claim nobody hates racism more.

Face reality.

Jupiter said...

"The 'extremist' label is justified", said Esther Prins, a professor at Penn State University ..."

Oh. So she works for a hate organization?

Tina Trent said...

I've never been prouder than to be targeted by these grifters.

One off the bucket list. Next, Al Sharpton.

Tina Trent said...

I'm already a declared enemy of the ADL. Abe Foxman's henchman woke me up by phone one morning to tell me. And I helped put Dominic DiPaoli in federal prison for stealing worker's funds -- and lived to tell the story.

I think I have a lot to be grateful for this Fourth. Folks should check out Teaching Tolerance, Hate Hurts, and other garbage forced on children by the SPLC and the ADL.

Now down to the creek to use my grad school Marcuse for target practice.

Last year it was the diplomas.

gilbar said...

Chuck said...
"Moms for Liberty" want a fight.
I'm quite happy to give them their fight.

I'm Assuming someone assumes that 'their fight' will include "tittie twisting"??
You're a sick puppy Chuck; Not many people BRAG about their desire to sexually assault women.

Drago said...

Big Mike: "Cage match! Chuck (with a capital ‘C’) versus normal parents. He and his fellow pederasts must be surrounded by lots of lefty women to think that taking on real American mothers wouldn’t be a doomed proposition."

I suspect the very last place our Violent Homosexual Rage Rape Fantasist Chuck wants to be is around women...of any political stripe.

NTTATWWT

Assistant Village Idiot said...

SPLC does minimal online research and condemns groups. They make big money doing this. It is unsurprising that they "target" people of color and LGBTQ+ groups, because those groups disproportionately create controversial content. That is their intent, and it's okay that they create that content. But that also means they are going to cross boundaries, especially age boundaries, with their material.

Most book controversies can be solved by moving the material from elementary to middle school or middle to high school, or generally available to available by request. But everyone loves high dudgeon. (Is there low dudgeon, BTW?)

Assistant Village Idiot said...

Correction - I don't mean that SPLC targets those categories, but that Moms For Liberty and similar groups do.

Free Manure While You Wait! said...

"Wifey is degreed MSW w/ACSW."

I left my acronym dictionary in my other pants. Help me out here. Thanks.

Free Manure While You Wait! said...

""Moms for Liberty" want a fight.

I'm quite happy to give them their fight."

This is how you do comedy people. This right here.

Free Manure While You Wait! said...

"finger in the wind?"

My mind read that as fingering the wind. Made me smile.

jg said...

RFK jr is a vain old man on supraphysiological levels of exogenous testosterone (and perhaps more). Not saying he can't usefully lead (compare to Trump) - haven't looked into it.

Greg the Class Traitor said...

"The 'extremist' label is justified, said Esther Prins, a professor at Penn State University who has studied the intersection of education advocacy and Christian nationalism in America. Prins said the activities of Moms for Liberty chapters — especially efforts to remove books nationwide,"

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/feb/18/roald-dahl-books-rewritten-to-remove-language-deemed-offensive

So everyone pushing "sensitivity refers", or demanding that books like "Huck Finn" be removed from schools for using teh N word, or demanding that "To Kill A Mockingbird" be removed because it denigrates women making rape accusations, those are all "extremists" who need to be drive from public life?

I'm pretty sure if we took her metric, we could fire just about every single left wing librarian in America as an "extremist" following it

Greg the Class Traitor said...

Free Manure While You Wait! said...
"Wifey is degreed MSW w/ACSW."

I left my acronym dictionary in my other pants. Help me out here. Thanks.


Pretty sure that's "Masters in Social Work" with "Academy of Certified Social Workers" credential

BUMBLE BEE said...

MSW = Masters in Social Work... from UW-Madison.
ACSW = Academy of Certified Social Workers... Like "CPA" rather than bookkeeper.

Leora said...

I'd like to see the Venn diagram of the people objecting to the removal of "Genderqueer" and similar works from elementary and middle school libraries and those who think Abigail Shirer's "Irreversible Damage" about the transgender industry and similar works should be banned from Amazon. I'll bet there's overlap between the folks who want books advocating critical race theory in middle schools and those who don't want "Huckleberry Finn" there.

PM said...

SPLC began as the point of the spear.
It soon became an angry, blind, punch-drunk fighter swinging at anything.