The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has been waging a decade-long smear campaign against anyone who opposes its political views. Recently the SPLC\u2019s over-the-top behavior caught the ire of\u00a0 well-known journalist and commentator John Stossel.<\/p>\n
Stossel explains in a widely-publicized video<\/a> that while he once believed in the center\u2019s position, today\u2019s SPLC regularly \u201csmears people who don\u2019t deserve to be smeared.\u201d\u00a0 As an example, Stossel points to Ayaan Hirsi Ali<\/a> , a Somali woman who survived female genital mutilation and now speaks out against extremist fundamentalism in Islam.\u00a0 Because Ali has been willing to publicly discuss what happened to her, she\u2019s been accused of \u201canti-muslim rhetoric\u201d and added to the SPLC\u2019s \u201chate list.\u201d<\/p>\n Stossel also notes the case of Majid Nawaz<\/a>, who was once a radical jihadist but today speaks out against radical, political Islam.\u00a0 For opposing religiously-motivated violence, the SPLC has labeled Nawaz an \u201canti-Muslim extremist,\u201d despite the fact that he remains a practicing Muslim.<\/p>\n In addition, Stossel points out that the SPLC\u2019s designations have resulted directly in violence aimed at conservative organizations. For example, the SPLC decided to list the Family Research Council (FRC) as a \u201chate group\u201d for opposing gay marriage on biblical grounds. In 2012, Floyd Lee Corkins, a volunteer at a Herndon, VA LGBT community center, attacked the FRC\u2019s Washington, DC headquarters and shot an FRC employee. \u00a0After his arrest, Corkins told<\/a> FBI Agents that his goal was to \u201ckill as many people as I could\u2026\u201d He also told investigators that he chose the FRC as a target<\/a> after seeing it listed as an \u201canti-gay\u201d group by the SPLC.<\/p>\n Stossel joins a long list of Independent journalists, including many who share\u00a0 the SPLC\u2019s political viewpoints, that have accused the organization \u00a0of libeling its political enemies. \u00a0Similar, well-documented charges against the SPLC have appeared in Harper\u2019s<\/em><\/a> magazine, Politico<\/em><\/a>, the SPLC\u2019s hometown newspaper, the Montgomery Advertiser<\/em><\/a>, and other well-known publications.<\/p>\n But why does the SPLC\u2019s hate list continue to grow? Stossel says:\u00a0 \u201cI suspect the center keeps its hate list long because crying hate brings in a lot of money\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n It seems the SPLC has invented a machine that converts hate into greenbacks.\u00a0 And the organization\u2019s top executives have decided that ginning up quick money by flinging baseless accusations is a lot easier than actually assisting the poor and downtrodden of the American South.