ADL CRITICIZED FOR ATTACK ON 'PARANOID' RIGHT
By Rev. Ted Pike
30 Nov 09
Two weeks ago the Anti-Defamation League released a 27-page
report "Rage Grows in America: Anti-Government Conspiracies" in
which it alleges that there exist a host of conspiracies against President
Obama within various levels of the religious/conservative right.
A week ago I posted my article “ADL
Blasts ‘Paranoid’ Right.” It went viral, stimulating
postings or comments on dozens of websites and has dominated search
engines all week. I was correct in predicting that most Christian/conservative “watchdog” groups,
fearing ADL’s legendary powers of recrimination, would say
nothing against this attack on them and their constituents. One outstanding
exception: Although I did not know it at the time, Joseph Farah,
editor of WorldNetDaily and criticized in ADL's report, had, two
days earlier, hit back at ADL in his own article. (See, The
ADL targets WND) Farah says, "…the ADL is after
me and my news organization." Farah defiantly informs ADL that
they are not going to succeed in making an anti-Semite out of him
and millons of other Americans - just for protesting Obama. Way to
go, Joe!
A number of the largest Jewish-owned internet media were also roused
to voice opinion about ADL's report. Here is an overview of what the
Jewish press is saying.
Commentary Magazine , founded in 1945, is a Jewish-owned,
respected bastion of neoconservatism from a largely Jewish perspective.
Executive editor Jonathan Tobin agrees that ADL is way out of line
in portraying anti-Obama protesters as involved in a conspiracy to
take down Obama any way they can. (See, ADL
Crosses the Line with Report Bashing Obama Critics)
But if the Anti-Defamation League has its way, the election of
Barack Obama will herald a changing of the rules. Opponents of this
president are apparently going to have to tread a lot more lightly
or face all the opprobrium that this group can muster…
…“ Rage
Grows in America: Anti-Government Conspiracies ”…claims
that those who are disgruntled with the president have unleashed
a “toxic atmosphere of rage in America” since Obama's
election…
But “Rage Grows in America” isn’t content with
smoking out the nuts. Its goal is to link them to the broad spectrum
of activists, writers, and thinkers who are less than enthralled
with the age of Obama…
In one tidy package, the ADL links not only “mainstream” critics
but also radio and television talkers like Glenn Beck and peaceful “tea
party” protests against higher taxes with those who talk of armed
resistance to the government and even those responsible for the 1994
Oklahoma City bombing. Seen in this light, those who merely cry that
they “want their country back” from the Democrats while
standing outside a town-hall meeting become the thin edge of the
wedge of a new threat to democracy and, by extension, a threat
to the Jews…
…what the ADL seems to forget is that the right of the people
to feel “anger and resentment” against the government of
the day — be it Republican or Democratic — is what we call
democracy in this country… But by choosing to frame its report
denouncing this brand of extremism in such a way as to associate all
those who have opposed Obama’s policies in one way or another
with the far Right, the ADL has stepped over a line that a nonpartisan
group should never cross.
The Jewish Week’s article, “ADL
report on ‘toxic atmosphere of rage’ ignites…well,
rage,” by James Besser, says:
“Predictably, the right has gone ballistic over last week’s ADL
report describing a “toxic atmosphere of rage in
America” and tying that to the “birther” and “tea
party” movements, this summer’s health reform
town meeting disruptions and some conservative talk show hosts.
I googled “ADL” and “tea parties” and “rage” and
came up with dozens of hits, many of them from renowned conspiracy
theorists who see in the report proof that the ADL is interested
only in stifling dissent, undermining Christianity and promoting
a radical left agenda.
I found this comment - “The ADL is allegorically pinning a yellow
star on ‘conspiracy theorists,’ Oath Keepers, Tea Party
protesters, and anyone else who dares express dissent in response to
the financial looting of the country or Barack Obama’s big government
agenda” – repeated on at least 52 Web sites and blogs…”
Yet Besser disagrees with Commentary’s claim that ADL
is singling out the right for suspicion. He claims ADL is “an
equal opportunity nag,” which has also criticized liberals and
is entitled to take on conservatives this time around.
He also says, “This week’s anti-ADL outbursts were amplified
by Christian groups that insist hate crimes laws – which ADL
has long and successfully advocated – are the leading edge of
a conspiracy to foist homosexuality on the nation, undermine marriage
and limit the free speech and religious rights of Christians.”
The Jewish-owned Los Angeles Times, featuring an opinion
by Tim Rutten, not only agrees with the Jewish Week but says
the ADL is right on target: Scrutiny and warning against the danger
of the anti-Obama right – particularly talk show host Glenn Beck – should
be heightened. In his opinion piece “Who’s
Watching Glenn Beck?” he says:
“As a Jewish organization, the ADL's first preoccupation naturally
is anti-Semitism, but in the last few decades it has extended its scrutiny
to the whole range of bigoted malevolence…For the first time
in living memory, the ADL is sounding the alarm about a mainstream
media personality: Fox News' Glenn Beck, who also hosts a popular radio
show.”
Rutten says, Beck “intends to use his TV and radio shows to
promote a mass movement that will involve voter registration drives,
training in community organizing and a series of regional conventions
that will produce a "100-year plan" for America to be read
from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to a mass rally Aug. 28.”
Rutten soon goes in for the kill, saying, “Beck is an offensively
dangerous demagogue,” who reminds him of “anti-Semitic” Father
Charles Coughlin in the 1930’s. He says Beck should be “unplugged” at
FOX News now, before his “extremist political campaign” does
real damage.
The Jerusalem Post earlier lent credibility to ADL's report,
saying, "The sections of the report that draw our concern…spotlight
the activities of a minority on the Right who have crossed the line
between criticism of President Barack Obama's policies to denying the
legitimacy of America's political system itself."
Who are these transgressors? The Post says, "…it
is destabilizing conspiratorialists who trouble us. They say Obama
is a closet Muslim, or assert that his Hawaii birth certificate is
a forgery so he is constitutionally ineligible to be president." This
is a description of Joseph Farah, whom ADL identifies as chief promoter
of the "birther" conspiracy theory. The Post concludes: "We
worry, however that Foxman's claim of 'a toxic atmosphere of rage'
in America is not hyperbole, but a true assessment of the political
system's condition."
ADL: Educator of U.S. Police about Hate Crimes
Is this debate merely about ADL’s opinion versus the conservative
right's? No. Under ADL’s Hate Crimes Statistics Act of 1990,
ADL appointed itself the federally approved teacher of everything having
to do with “tolerance,” “prejudice,” and hate
crimes education and enforcement to all federal and local law police
agencies in America. ADL boasts of its total involvement with hate
crimes mentoring of police and that it has the loyalty of more than
150 police chiefs who testify concerning the acute need of ADL’s
federal hate crimes law. Every time ADL issues a warning of this importance,
it is sent to law enforcement ranging from the US Justice Department
and FBI to every local precinct in America. This spring, Missouri State
Police finally realized they were being manipulated into issuing a
similar ADL/SPLC directive profiling possible Christian/conservatives
as potential terrorist threats. They quickly and responsibly rejected
such input.
The same must take place now. ADL’s latest declaration that
the anti-Obama, conservative right is paranoid and conspiratorial has
undoubtedly further prejudiced thousands of members of law enforcement
against millions of well-meaning Americans. ADL should undo such damage.
It should tell law enforcement to disregard its stereotyping, as conspirators,
of many tea parties, town hall, and anti-Obama protesters.
This summer and fall, hundreds of thousands of concerned Americans,
perhaps for the first time in their lives, took action, feeling pride
as patriots during tea party and healthcare protests. Yet ADL says
even though much behavior at townhall meetings was "ugly," similar
behavior at the massive Washington, DC rally in September was “uglier.”
ADL should do more than remove “Rage in America” from
its website. ADL has offended the American people and the American
way.
It should apologize to the nation.
Let the Anti-Defamation League teach you how they have saddled 45 states
with hate laws capable of persecuting Christians, and spearhead attempts to pass
the federal hate crimes bill: http://www.adl.org/99hatecrime/intro.asp.
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