And only talk, and no action, because an actual defamation suit would show that the claims made by the SPLC are absolutely correct.

I am willing to bet $10,000 that the FRC would never win a defamation suit. Are you willing to take it?

“I believe that if the term “hate group” is not defined in terms that are both (a) precise and (b) clearly linked to specific behavioral lines being crossed, then calling someone a “hate group” is itself a hateful act ”

Again, that is your personal definition. And your personal definition excludes, for example, the Nation of Islam, which defines us as white devils created by a mad scientist. And more groups like that, if you think about it for a second. Surely, that is not your intention?

FRC is blaming SPLC:

“[Floyd] Corkins was responsible for the wounding of one our colleagues . . . here at the Family Research Council, but I believe he was given a license by . . . the Southern Poverty Law Center, who . . . labeled us a hate group because we defend the family and stand for traditional, orthodox Christianity.” — Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council, where a gunman who objected to the group’s positions shot a security guard

I understand there is talk of a defamation suit against SPLC.

I believe that if the term “hate group” is not defined in terms that are both (a) precise and (b) clearly linked to specific behavioral lines being crossed, then calling someone a “hate group” is itself a hateful act – both defamation and incitement, as the entire point of the term is that it is associated with domestic terrorists such as the KKK at its heyday.

I did answer your question.

I do not grant to you the right to decide what a hate group is. The people who are the most inclined to use that term are just coincidentally the ones who are also most inclined to project onto others.

So what is it? If you persist in claiming that only groups that advocate violence are hate groups, you would have to say that Nation of Islam is not a hate group, even though it calls us white devils. And that’s just scratching the surface.

I have avoided a response to your main point, regarding whether it is right to hate some people, because I expect you would avoid the points I have made here above, if I did.

And you yourself can just tell when someone is motivated by “hate”, whether they themselves use that word, or claim that as their motivation.

In other words, any group you hate = hate group. (But you yourself are free to hate, because obviously it’s logical to hate those who hate, right? So it’s not that you’re hateful if you hate those who hated, even if they didn’t hate, because your own hate is the only real measure here, isn’t it?)

Like the FRC, whose senior officials advocate for criminalizing and “exporting” gays. It even fits your definition of intending to perpetrate violence, unless you believe that jailing people is not violence. If you do, then that opens up a whole new can of worms.

It is true: calling them a ‘hate group’ is irresponsible and should not be tolerated.

And the shooting can be construed as a reminder of this without necessarily going so far as to say the SPLC is actually culpable.

The SPLC does very much need to stop abusing the term “hate group”. A hate group is one that perpetrates or incites violence against a demographic, and it’s just plain lying to use that rhetoric against groups that have done no such thing.