# SPLC Pits "mainstream" RW think-tanks -- includuing the AEI **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 13, 2007, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/splc-pits-mainstream-rw-think-tanks-includuing-the-aei/411611 "2007-07-13T05:01:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2007, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/splc-pits-mainstream-rw-think-tanks-includuing-the-aei/411611/1 "2007-07-13T05:01:22Z")
[Link.](http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?pid=105) Regarding the [American Enterprise Institute](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Enterprise_Institute) – a leading neocon group considered a principal architect of Bush Admin policies – the [Southern Poverty Law Center](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Poverty_Law_Center) says: > [@](#): > > Founded in 1943, the Washington, D.C.-based American Enterprise Institute (AEI) is one of the most influential conservative think tanks in America. While its roots are in pro-business values, AEI in recent years has sponsored scholars whose views are seen by many as bigoted or even racist. > > For example, Dinesh D’Souza, the author of The End of Racism, holds an Olin Foundation research fellowship at AEI. D’Souza has suggested that civil rights activists actually help perpetuate racial tensions and division in the United States, and has even called for the repeal of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. After his book was published, black conservatives Robert Woodson and Glenn Loury denounced it — Woodson released a statement saying it “fans the flames of racial animosity” — and broke their own ties with AEI. > > Another AEI-sponsored scholar, Charles Murray, is more controversial. Murray, who has a Bradley Foundation research fellowship at AEI, is the co-author of The Bell Curve, a book that argues that blacks and Latinos are genetically inferior to whites and that most social welfare and affirmative action programs are doomed to failure as a result. The book, described as a reheated “stale stew of racial eugenics” by historian Godfrey Hodgson, cites the work of some 16 researchers financed by the racist Pioneer Fund\*. Not **quite** calling the AEI a “hate group,” but, whew! (How many posts before someone comes along to counterPit the SPLC?) ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2007, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/splc-pits-mainstream-rw-think-tanks-includuing-the-aei/411611/2 "2007-07-13T06:31:02Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2007, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/splc-pits-mainstream-rw-think-tanks-includuing-the-aei/411611/3 "2007-07-13T08:11:39Z")
For many, SPLC stands for “stop peddling licorice candy”. Stuff’s godawful. ---
**Author:** ![if6was9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47c2d/32.png) [@if6was9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/if6was9)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2007, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/splc-pits-mainstream-rw-think-tanks-includuing-the-aei/411611/4 "2007-07-13T09:20:50Z")
[QUOTE=Liberal] For many, SPLC stands for “stop peddling licorice candy”. Stuff’s godawful. [/QUOTE] Says you… :rolleyes: Some say it stands for Stop Poor **Liberal** ’s Conservatism. YMMV… ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2007, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/splc-pits-mainstream-rw-think-tanks-includuing-the-aei/411611/5 "2007-07-13T10:06:11Z")
[QUOTE=if6was9] Says you… :rolleyes: Some say it stands for Stop Poor **Liberal** ’s Conservatism. YMMV… [/QUOTE] 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. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2007, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/splc-pits-mainstream-rw-think-tanks-includuing-the-aei/411611/6 "2007-07-13T13:38:10Z")
> [@](#): > > The book, described as a reheated “stale stew of racial eugenics” by historian Godfrey Hodgson, cites the work of some 16 researchers financed by the racist Pioneer Fund. Guilt by vague association–always one of my favorites. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2007, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/splc-pits-mainstream-rw-think-tanks-includuing-the-aei/411611/7 "2007-07-13T17:15:37Z")
[QUOTE=Freddy the Pig] Guilt by vague association–always one of my favorites. [/QUOTE] Vague? For the AEI to fund Charles Murray – who wrote _The Bell Curve_ and who also has been funded by the [Pioneer Fund](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_Fund) – **is** pretty definitely incriminating. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2007, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/splc-pits-mainstream-rw-think-tanks-includuing-the-aei/411611/8 "2007-07-13T18:26:18Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] For the AEI to fund Charles Murray – who wrote _The Bell Curve_ and who also has been funded by the [Pioneer Fund](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_Fund) – **is** pretty definitely incriminating. [/QUOTE] 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. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2007, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/splc-pits-mainstream-rw-think-tanks-includuing-the-aei/411611/9 "2007-07-13T18:39:21Z")
> [@](#): > > Guilt by vague association–always one of my favorites. 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. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2007, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/splc-pits-mainstream-rw-think-tanks-includuing-the-aei/411611/10 "2007-07-13T18:41:00Z")
I don’t buy guilt by association on principle anyway. Al Gore had a brief fling with Fred Phelps some time back. So what. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2007, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/splc-pits-mainstream-rw-think-tanks-includuing-the-aei/411611/11 "2007-07-13T19:52:43Z")
Said fling was the inspiration for the novel _Love Story_, I’ve heard. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2007, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/splc-pits-mainstream-rw-think-tanks-includuing-the-aei/411611/12 "2007-07-14T04:26:25Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2007, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/splc-pits-mainstream-rw-think-tanks-includuing-the-aei/411611/13 "2007-07-14T15:53:21Z")
**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!! ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2007, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/splc-pits-mainstream-rw-think-tanks-includuing-the-aei/411611/14 "2007-07-14T22:38:35Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > (How many posts before someone comes along to counterPit the SPLC?) [QUOTE=Sam Stone] 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. [/QUOTE] Tsk. That took twelve posts. You’re losin’ it, **Sam!**