The SPLC Is Massively Overcounting ‘Hate’ Groups—and It’s Not Just Moms for Liberty – By Robert Soave (Reason) / June 9, 2023
At this rate, the Southern Poverty Law Center’s notorious hate map might eventually describe everyone as an extremist.
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has released its yearly report on the number of hate groups in the U.S.—a number that is always rising, thanks to the watchdog organization’s characteristically clever counting. By adding Moms for Liberty, a conservative grassroots organization that bears little resemblance to the neo-Nazi groups the SPLC has historically tracked, the 2022 report manages to set a new record.
The SPLC has long drawn criticism—not just from the right, but from libertarians and the left as well—for maintaining that hate in America is always growing, whether or not the ranks of the purportedly hateful are actually increasing. Its infamous “hate map” is representative of this problem: No matter how small and insignificant a hate group may be, it still counts toward the total number—and if it breaks apart because of infighting, it might end up counting as two groups on the next year’s list.
Even so, the SPLC hit a snag in 2020: The overall number of hate groups in the U.S. had appeared to decrease slightly since the previous year, from 940 to 838. The following year, 2021, produced just 733 hate groups.
CONTINUE > https://reason.com/2023/06/09/southern-poverty-law-center-moms-for-liberty-splc-hate-extremist-list/
