I certainly hope that more people hop on board with this, if only to throw a wrench into the gears.  For an organization that touts itself as anti-hate, they sure seem to hate a lot of independent-minded people.  Like most collectivists, hate is fine as long as you’re not actually hating a group (hating specific individuals is fine to them).  Interestingly, they don’t see the hypocrisy.

I am quite familiar with Dr. Block’s interpretation and I do agree with it.  My support of those who would sue the SPLC is in the form of throwing a wrench into the gears of the SPLC’s hate machine, nothing more. 

The most disturbing thing about the SPLC is not that they are a typical left wing fascist group wanting to take away first and second amendment rights, but that they act as a private law enforcement info gathering group to get around the law on data mining of the American people.  They also had informants in Elohim City prior to the OKC bombing as FBI documentation shows, yet refuse to discuss who and why they were doing this. 

They are basically a legal civilian group who works hand in hand to promote more fascist laws for the ATF and FBI.  Their involvement also stems from briefing local and federal law officials — how they are given the credibility to do this is beyond me — and have come up with some of the more hilarious things like warning posters about how people who buy firearms or camping equipment or have Ron or Rand Paul stickers on their cars that they are anti-government extremists.  They also recently hired as a spokesperson “Waco Jim” — the guy who was proven to have perjured himself under oath to congress in his Waco Testimony. 

This doesn’t even get into issues that the press has covered like how they do not have any minorities on their board of directors, how with the huge amount of money they have won off cases that the victims receive just a tiny fraction and the SPLC takes in loan shark percentage levels then turns around and scares more people fundraising this way.  Unfortunately for the SPLC, the internet is a great equalizer of information, and their fascist attempts at curtailing freedom for Americans while working hand in hand with federal police to create more power for themselves is beginning to be exposed.

In libertarian terms, Mack probably is a violent extremist.

No, they haven’t, though I’d be flattered if they did.

depends what libertarianism you pick.

it would be nice to have the exact allegations and as much information as possible before starting to form an opinion on this!

yeah, all i said was that we should not think of SPLC as extremist or at least temper the response. 

i understand they maybe a leftist org but to call them fascist is a bit too much.  then again its not like you or the right wing do not do the same thing.  you often compare leftist to stalin or at least compare them to truly bad dictators and regimes…FDR was bad but he was not as bad as stalin!

not sure if this case he is bringing is worth the cost.  

as a side, i always wonder what would happen if both sides simply come together and talk, like Jesus would have done.  i would REALLY love to see Woods go and talk and interact with lets say a teachers’ union.  Milton Friedman did that quite often!!!  woods should go and talk to acorn!!!  oh, that would be SOOO good!!!

 Greg,

The problem is that the SPLC writes a lot of reports without even discussing, interviewing, or give the individuals/groups they write about a chance to respond to their charges.

They secretly attend meetings of the organizations and twist what was said at those meetings without reporting things that the general public might actually approve of or like.

If they showed any character and follow these steps, they would not be in the position of being sued by Sheriff Mack. 

I would have to disagree with you because of their actions, they are receiving the criticism they deserve.

Greg

Talking to zealots is pointless.

I once saw a video of Gov. Christie trying to “come together and talk” with the teachers’ union members in NJ.  It was a nauseating, chaotic joke because the teachers, in general, were horribly uninformed and misinformed and had wildly unrealistic and selfish expectations and Christie was frankly dealing with facts and budget realities.  It was entertaining, but did not promote better understanding and solved nothing.  

John Stossel spoke with a school board chair about how much money per student should be spent in public schools.  He asked her, “How much should be spent? They’re spending $10,000 per student now. $15,000?  $20,000?”  The woman said, “$25,000…  $30,000…  The more, the better!”  In other words, there is simply no limit.

The teachers in Wisconsin showed how they react when you try to enact some, minor austerity measures when they took over the state capital and acted like children while the Democratic legislators fled the state (and their duties) to deny a quorum so the process could not continue.

Anti-abortion people will actually murder people who disagree while the Westboro Church folks demonstrate at soldiers’ funerals because the US is, somehow, a “fag-loving” nation.  It’s a form of insanity.

The list is endless because people are wildly emotional about issues like their own pay or about abortion or patriotism and war while the people like Ron Paul who worry about budgets, fiscal policy and the Constitution are arguing from a basis in logic.  

The starting point for people like Ron Paul is logic.  The starting point for people who disagree with him is almost always strong emotion.  The two cannot sit and have a profitable discussion.  Paul will listen and respond but the others will almost always close their minds and shout shibboleths and mindless mantras.  It’s a waste of time.

Notice how it ended for Jesus…

It is certainly better to be ignorant than to rely on the mainstream press, think tanks, and other subsidiaries of Washington that rely on forced revenue to come to conclusions about what is good for people; who is to be labeled enemies of society, etc. Even if I disagreed with libertarianism ( I don’t, I embrace it), it is so important to expose yourself to these different viewpoints, to think, to ask questions, and also to read serious books from all ages of human history.  It can be difficult to sort out the intricacies of right and wrong, yet if one has developed a principled stance, as those who study and develop the Austrian school have, it becomes much easier to prevent being duped by charlatans and demagogues.