When a self-promoter trolls the online outrage machine, freedom of travel and assembly wind up as collateral damage [Elizabeth Nolan Brown, Reason on the “Roosh” furor and resulting shut-him-down efforts; Daily Mail] The Washington Post’s Caitlin Dewey speaks to Southern Poverty Law Center official Heidi Beirich who seems to find it regrettable that “a guy with a blog” should get so much free publicity, seeming to forget who gave him so much of it.
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The SPLC sees an opportunity to agitate its huge donor base and will rake in hundreds of thousands of dollars by railing against “pick-up artists.” (Really? “Pick-up artists”? Dr. Beirich must have watched too many episodes of “Mad Men.”)
The SPLC dropped the “non-profit civil rights organization” descriptor from its website in 2004. It now refers to itself as “an advocacy group” in its press releases and other fundraising materials, just like any other special interest group.
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This frees the company to go after the most inane topics-du-jour without having to make any attempt at linking their actions to civil rights.
Last year the donors sent the company more than $54 million tax-free dollars, do Dr. Beirich’s “advocacy” campaign is doing something right.