Yesterday, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) released a new report titled, "The Second Wave: Return of the Militias.," http://www.splcenter.org/news/item.jsp?aid=392&splcnewsletter=newsgen-081209 In my humble opinion, it deserves a C minus for its glaring lack of rigor. Instead of providing readers with a systematic analysis and hard data supporting its warning about a growing threat, the SPLC's report was chocked full of vague generalities and unnamed sources. Most importantly, it made no serious effort to distinguish between individuals exercising their constitutional rights and groups that might actually pose a threat to society.
Clearly, the SPLC's compiled this report hastily. Further, the timing of its release is suspect. On Monday, I published a blog accusing the organization of having fallen victim to "mission creep." (Mission creep occurs when an organization strays from its original purpose and begins to engage in action antithetical to its original goals.) My biggest complaint is that the organization has strayed away from the task of targeting hate groups on a race neutral basis. Now, it uses its vast resources and public trust to pursue conservative groups and individuals in the media who cover issues the SPLC would prefer ignored. These issues include social movements and the legitimate concerns of Americans who don't normally have the ear of politicians and other elites. America will never heal herself as long as free speech is suppressed.
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