4 ms·

I believe the SPLC has done a lot of good over the course of its history. There have been a few recent occurrences where I think they've lost a bit of perspecti

by grzm 9y ago

I believe the SPLC has done a lot of good over the course of its history. There have been a few recent occurrences where I think they've lost a bit of perspective and nuance. You may disagree, but if you want to see some examples, you may want to look at their listing of Ayaan Hirsi Ali[0] and Maajid Nawaz[1] as "anti-Muslim extremists"[2] for why people may view the SPLC this way. Please don't read this as a blanket condemnation of the SPLC (nor as agreement with your parent), as that's not my intent; rather, that there's more nuance there than some (not all) rather recent SPLC stances would seem to admit. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayaan_Hirsi_Ali https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayaan_Hirsi_Ali [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maajid_Nawaz https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maajid_Nawaz [2]: https://www.splcenter.org/20161025/journalists-manual-field-guide-anti-muslim-extremists https://www.splcenter.org/20161025/journalists-manual-field-...

stareatgoats 9y ago
SPLC does an amazing job in identifying hategroups and their supporters, across the political spectrum, and should be a household resource on par with Google. Which doesn't mean they are infallible: I agree about Maajid Nawaz. As for Ayaan Hirsi Ali I for one find the quotes that SPLC attributes to her pretty extreme. Are any of them incorrect, or has she modified her stance more recently?
- Steko 9y ago
  That Reason interview SLPC links makes her look effing bonkers. ‘Extreme anti-Muslim’ is exactly how I’d characterize her views.
- grzm 9y ago
  I'm not well-read enough to speak on her behalf, and would hope that the quotes SPLC references are accurate. In interviews I've heard with her, she definitely comes across as strident, and more so than I would prefer, but not uncritically anti-muslim in a bigoted sense, and wouldn't put her in the same category as Richard Spencer, for example. That's one of the problems with lists like these: people will look at the names and not necessarily dig into why each is included. It's to the SPLC's credit that they include supporting material. As for her changing her stance, the Wikipedia article references a Max Rodenbeck article from the New York Review of Books in 2015 that she has "mellowed". If this is something you're interested in, I encourage you to look into this deeper yourself, if only because I don't think I can do full justice to the issue. Stuff like this is complicated, and one needs to weigh one's own values and their rankings as a whole, rather than as a single issue, which often gets missed in a lot of discourse today. And to reiterate, I agree with you that the SPLC has historically been a force for good for the reasons you mention.

by grzm 9y ago

stareatgoats 9y ago

SPLC does an amazing job in identifying hategroups and their supporters, across the political spectrum, and should be a household resource on par with Google. Which doesn't mean they are infallible: I agree about Maajid Nawaz. As for Ayaan Hirsi Ali I for one find the quotes that SPLC attributes to her pretty extreme. Are any of them incorrect, or has she modified her stance more recently?

Steko 9y ago
That Reason interview SLPC links makes her look effing bonkers. ‘Extreme anti-Muslim’ is exactly how I’d characterize her views.
grzm 9y ago
I'm not well-read enough to speak on her behalf, and would hope that the quotes SPLC references are accurate. In interviews I've heard with her, she definitely comes across as strident, and more so than I would prefer, but not uncritically anti-muslim in a bigoted sense, and wouldn't put her in the same category as Richard Spencer, for example. That's one of the problems with lists like these: people will look at the names and not necessarily dig into why each is included. It's to the SPLC's credit that they include supporting material. As for her changing her stance, the Wikipedia article references a Max Rodenbeck article from the New York Review of Books in 2015 that she has "mellowed". If this is something you're interested in, I encourage you to look into this deeper yourself, if only because I don't think I can do full justice to the issue. Stuff like this is complicated, and one needs to weigh one's own values and their rankings as a whole, rather than as a single issue, which often gets missed in a lot of discourse today. And to reiterate, I agree with you that the SPLC has historically been a force for good for the reasons you mention.