Regarding the American Enterprise Institute – a leading neocon group considered a principal architect of Bush Admin policies – the Southern Poverty Law Center says:
Not quite calling the AEI a “hate group,” but, whew!
(How many posts before someone comes along to counterPit the SPLC?)
I shan’t counterpit the SPLC (mostly because I don’t know anything about them), but I’ve never really respected wishy-washy phrasings like “whose views are seen by many as bigoted or even racist.” Really? Who are these many? If the SPLC thinks the views are bigoted or racist, they should say so affirmatively, preferably listing some of those views as examples. (It’s similar to the same lazy/sleazy reporter’s tactic of saying to an interviewee “some have said that you’re a lying, cheating scumbag. How would you respond to them?”)
It’s fine to make such a list, I guess, and the little of Dinesh d’Souza that I have seen over the years is enough to convince me he’s a race-baiting asshole, but it would be nice to have a little more background and a little more directness in their accusations.
For many, SPLC stands for “stop peddling licorice candy”. Stuff’s godawful.
Says you… :rolleyes: Some say it stands for Stop Poor Liberal’s Conservatism. YMMV…
Let me try to splain the joke. See, Vinyl Turnip said, “I’ve never really respected wishy-washy phrasings like ‘whose views are seen by many as bigoted or even racist.’ Really? Who are these many?”. So see, I responded with the sort of phrasing that he lambasted. Granted, it’s not the Funniest Thing Ever™, but damn — a hurtful retort? A roll-eyes? A political swipe? And even a whole new Pit thread? Jesus, man. Take a purge.
Guilt by vague association–always one of my favorites.
Vague? For the AEI to fund Charles Murray – who wrote The Bell Curve and who also has been funded by the Pioneer Fund – is pretty definitely incriminating.
The article doesn’t even assert that Murray was funded by the Pioneer Fund. It merely asserts that he cited 16 people (in a book that probably has hundreds of footnotes) who were partly financed by the Pioneer Fund.
The Minnesota Twin project, so far as I know, is considered perfectly acceptable research, and is cited in contexts having nothing to do with race. But according to the SPLC, anyone even citing it would be racist, because it’s partly funded by the Pioneer Fund. This is guilt by association of the slimiest kind.
Well, in the case of The Bell Curve we don’t just have guilt by vague association, fortunately. There has been plenty of direct criticism of it and the methods it employs. Two whole books of comments, in fact, and a few threads on this very Board.
It could be that the original isn’t trying to imply guilt by association, but may have already stated some of this in an unquoted portion, or assumed the reader knew it, and is offering up the additional information that 16 of the sources Murray cites were funded by the same organization that funded him.
I don’t buy guilt by association on principle anyway. Al Gore had a brief fling with Fred Phelps some time back. So what.
Said fling was the inspiration for the novel Love Story, I’ve heard.
Frankly, I’m shocked that a left-wing think tank would attempt to discredit a right-wing think tank.
Next thing you know, dogs will be chasing cats.
BG: If something is worth debating, put it in GD. If you plop it down here in the Pit, don’t be surprised if everyone doesn’t share your “outrage”. In fact, don’t be surprised if no one shares it. One agenda driven group says bad stuff about another agenda driven group. OMG!! What is this world coming to??? Next thing you know, someone is going to want to chop down 10 redwood trees!!
Tsk. That took twelve posts. You’re losin’ it, Sam!