The religious fundamentalists are coming! The religious fundamentalists are coming! Daily Beast writer Dean Obeidallah frantically warns, in his Jan. 27 piece “Bobby Jindal’s Love Affair with hate [1].” Obeidallah clearly imagines himself some kind of Paul Revere warning America of the impending doom at the hands of ISIS-like Christians and the rest of the media is locking step [2] in his mission to expose Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal’s “hate.” So what did Jindal do to earn so much condemnation? Well he was caught leading a prayer rally in Baton Rouge over the weekend, in an event hosted by the American Family Association (“AFA”.) Truly deplorable stuff.
That’s because the AFA is a hate group and Jindal should know better than speaking for such a radical group. He might as well be speaking at a pro-ISIS rally, according to Obeidallah.
“They are a hate group. It’s really that simple. And that’s not just my opinion, but the view of the Southern Poverty Law Center,” he confidently declares.
Well alrighty then! And who is the SPLC again?
Oh that’s right. They’re that direct mail racket that profits by preying on the nostalgia of liberal Baby Boomers with lurid tales of right-wing hate. Of course, since the KKK and its ilk are no longer much more than an anachronistic nuisance, SPLC has had to find new bogie men (and new victims thereof). Christian family groups have become the former, and gays, trans, etc. are the latter.
And SPLC’s map of “hate groups” inspired a hate crime against the conservative Family Research Center in 2012. But wait, Obeidallah doesn’t mention that small but significant detail. He’s in good company – the rest of the media continues to cite [3]the SPLC’s hate map as a legitimate source (it’s not) to identify hateful extremists ... when in reality the SPLC hate map has inspired it’s own violence.
SPLC co-founder Morris Dees even defended his group in a 2013 interview with CNSNews.com [4], saying the group’s “hate map” “doesn’t cause anybody to attack.” But that’s not what Floyd Lee Corkins admitted to when he cited the hate map as the motivation for attempting to shoot up the FRC headquarters in 2012.
But the SPLC isn’t the real villain. No, it’s the AFA, Obeidallah insists. They “can’t simply be ignored” because the group is “indisputably powerful.” He demonstrates the hate by citing a number of cherry-picked, context-free quotes from Bryan Fischer, who hosts a radio talk show for the organization. Apparently Fischer’ opinions are equivalent to a terrorist entering a building and shooting dead 12 people, as ISIS did recently, because Obeidallah compares the organization to radical Islam several times.
While the media continues to cite “hate group” lists from liberal trolls like the SPLC and the Human Rights Campaign [5], which unfairly target peaceful conservative and Christian organizations, the media also continually ignore the violence and death threats these hate maps and lists inspire. How ironic.
As for Jindal, he was already in trouble with the left for citing the existence of “no-go zones” in some parts of Europe – that is, Muslim-controlled neighborhoods or areas unwelcoming to civic authority and outsiders. Such zones are a fantasy, according to liberals and Muslim activists, a figment of Jindal’s bigoted imagination. Except that they aren’t [6].
Jindal may or may not throw his hat in the 2016 GOP primary ring. If he does, he already has all the right people hating on him.
— Kristine Marsh is Staff Writer for MRC Culture at the Media Research Center. Follow Kristine Marsh on Twitter. [7]