The Patriot Post® · Threat of Lawsuit Pushes SPLC to Back Off 'Hate' Claim
The Southern Poverty Law Center quietly removed a reference to Maajid Nawaz from its “Field Guide to Anti-Muslim Extremists.” Who is Nawaz? He’s founder of the anti-extremist think tank Quilliam and a former Islamic extremist himself who has dedicated his life to fighting the hateful ideology. Prior to removing his name, the SPLC classified Nawaz as a propagator of anti-Muslim hate, explaining, “A shocking number of these extremists are seen regularly on television news programs and quoted in the pages of our leading newspapers. There, they routinely espouse a wide range of utter falsehoods, all designed to make Muslims appear as bloodthirsty terrorists or people intent on undermining American constitutional freedoms. More often than not, these claims go uncontested.”
During a recent appearance on Joe Rogan’s popular podcast, Nawaz expressed how much pressure and pushback he gets from the Left, and how he has been labeled anti-Muslim. He noted that he had just been removed from the SPLC’s “hate group” list after he threatened legal action. Nawaz explained, “We have retained Clare Locke; they are writing to the Southern Poverty Law Center as we speak. I think they’ve got wind of it — the Southern Poverty Law Center — and as of yesterday, or the day before, they’ve removed the entire list that’s been up there for two years.”
The SPLC has a history of labeling conservative groups as “hate groups” based solely on the fact that they hold conservative political positions on hot-button issues. However, the fact that a Muslim speaking out against the ideology of radical Islam is labeled a hater by the SPLC indicates just how extreme the SPLC has become. And the fact that it takes the threat of a lawsuit to get the SPLC to back down is telling. Evidently, the SPLC has no interest in promulgating truth; rather it is simply interested in promoting leftist propaganda — profiteering off of hate.
Here is part of that interview in which Nawaz discusses the challenge of speaking against Muslim extremists and Islamists, because the Left in the U.S. and Europe has labeled it hate speech and Islamophobia.