Whenever someone commits violence for what appear to be Right Wing ideological causes (shooting abortion doctors, flying a plane into an IRS office, going on a shooting rampage at a Democratic representative's appearance, etc.), even in cases where the target has been vilified and demonized in the Right Wing media as a traitor, a killer, a heretic, a vile and disgusting and devil-possessed pervert, a purveyor of evil and corrupter of all that is good, someone out to steal our guns or our children or our sovereignty or our precious bodily fluids …
… then there's an immediate push back from the Right that such vilification had nothing to do with it, and this was an isolated case of a crazy person doing a crazy thing which was just awful (but, y'know, you could almost understand why the victim drove them to it).
In an isolated case where it looks like someone committed violence for what appears to be a Left Wing ideological cause, then those same folks from the Right are quick out of the gate to blame the folks they claim are vilifying them.
In this case we have Tony Perkins accusing the SPLC of some level of culpability in the shooting at the FRC yesterday.
"Corkins was responsible for the wounding of one our colleagues and one of my friends yesterday here at the Family Research Council, but I believe he was given a license by a group such as the Southern Poverty Law Center, who, as you pointed out earlier, labeled us a hate group because we defend the family and we stand for traditional, orthodox Christianity."
And
"Floyd Corkins was given a license to shoot an unarmed man by organizations like the Southern Poverty Law Center that have been reckless in labeling organizations hate groups because they disagree with them on public policy. I believe the Southern Poverty Law Center should be held responsible that is leading to intimidation of what the FBI has characterized as domestic terrorism."
And.
“I’m not saying that the Southern Poverty Law Center is responsible for the shooting. Mr. Corkins is responsible for the shooting. They are responsible for creating an environment that led to yesterday’s shooting.”
Now, for Tony Perkins to be calling a group "reckless" in what "labels" it gives organizations is, in and of itself, a morbid hoot. This is a man who asked about folks calling for a repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, "How many brave men and women are liberals willing to sacrifice so that homosexuals can flaunt their lifestyle?" He called gay rights "destructive to society" and an agenda of "intolerant, hateful, vile, spiteful" activists — "pawns of the Enemy" out to "undermine the future of our country", doing things that will "destroy them and our nation." Gay rights activists, he's said, aren't after equality, but seek to "destroy innocence, religious freedom, and ultimately, the family".
The Southern Poverty Law Center's rationale for labeling the FRC a "hate group" seems positively staid by contrast (http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-files/groups/family-research-council). And while "hate group" is, in fact, not a nice thing to be called, the SPLC has presented a cogent case for the label.
The question becomes, how does one communicate such a fact-based critique without providing the opportunity — the "environment" — for some "unhinged lunatic" to turn to violence?
In the SPLC's response, they say, "The SPLC has listed the FRC as a hate group since 2010 because it has knowingly spread false and denigrating propaganda about LGBT people — not, as some claim, because it opposes same-sex marriage. The FRC and its allies on the religious right are saying, in effect, that offering legitimate and fact-based criticism in a democratic society is tantamount to suggesting that the objects of criticism should be the targets of criminal violence."
We do need to be careful of our words, of turning those we oppose or even dislike into demons and enemies and inhuman monsters who threaten all that we love. That sort of rhetoric doesn't justify violence, but Perkins is right that it can in fact lead to an environment where people strike out in a violent fashion.
But what is the threshold of that rhetorical excess? It's not clear to me that calling someone a "hate group" qualifies (the KKK has been on that list for a while, and I don't read about lots of violent attacks against them). But if it does, then Tony needs to pay a bit more attention to the beam in his own eye before complaining about the splinter in someone else's.
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Family Research Council Blames Shooting On Prominent Civil Rights Group
The Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins accused the Southern Poverty Law Center — a civil rights organization dedicated to fighting hate and bigotry — of providing “license” for a man to shoot a se…
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