Bob Onder Questions Witness on SPLC Hate Group Definitions

SPLC's 'Hate Map' and Expanding Definitions

• 🎯 The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) operates a 'hate map' that has expanded its definition of hate groups significantly since 2000.
• 📈 The number of groups labeled has more than doubled, not due to increased extremism, but due to the SPLC's broadening criteria.
• ⚠️ This expansion increasingly targets traditional Christian beliefs and conservative viewpoints.

Witness's Stance on Defining Hate Groups

• ❓ Miss Tyler, when questioned, stated she does not work for the SPLC and would not use the term 'hate group' for organizations like Alliance Defending Freedom, which has argued 16 cases before the US Supreme Court.
• 🚫 She also declined to label Turning Point USA, Family Research Council, Focus on the Family, and Prager University as hate groups, stating her organization does not label groups.
• 🤷 When asked about Catholics who attend Latin mass, she stated they are not a hate organization.

Government Use of SPLC Lists

• 🏛️ The testimony highlights concerns that government entities are using SPLC's lists to target certain groups.
• 📢 The Biden administration, and previously the Obama administration, allegedly used the SPLC's 'hate map' to target groups, including Latin mass Catholics, based on the SPLC's suggestions.
• ⚖️ This practice is criticized for turning a list created by a private organization into a tool for government marginalization.

Ideology vs. Action

• 💬 The SPLC's labeling is described as being based on ideology that the organization disagrees with, rather than on actions like violence.
• 🚫 Organizations like Family Research Council and ADF explicitly state they do not advocate violence and have been targets of violence themselves.
• 🗣️ The core issue is when the government uses these ideologically driven lists to target citizens.