Photo credit: Dave Davidson – Prezography.com
This news broke last night. The Southern Poverty Law Center apologized to Ben Carson for adding him to their “extremist files.“
Here is part their statement:
In October 2014, we posted an “Extremist File” of Dr. Ben Carson. This week, as we’ve come under intense criticism for doing so, we’ve reviewed our profile and have concluded that it did not meet our standards, so we have taken it down and apologize to Dr. Carson for having posted it.
We’ve also come to the conclusion that the question of whether a better-researched profile of Dr. Carson should or should not be included in our “Extremist Files” is taking attention from the fact that Dr. Carson has, in fact, made a number of statements that express views that we believe most people would conclude are extreme.
They are described below. We laud Dr. Carson for his many contributions to medicine and his philanthropic work, and we, like so many others, are inspired by his personal story. Nevertheless, particularly because Dr. Carson is such a prominent person, we believe that his views should be closely examined.
So they apologize for calling Dr. Carson extreme, but they still think he’s extreme? Most people do not believe preserving traditional marriage is extreme. There may be a growing number who have given up the battle or may be ok with it, but that’s not the same as saying opposing gay marriage is extreme.
Frankly SPLC’s intolerance and hate of people and organizations with whom they disagree is extreme. Also Maggie Gallagher brought up a great point this morning:
Congrats to Ben Carson, whose stature achieved something even a gunman shooting Family Research Council staff could not: getting the SPLC to admit that mainstream social conservatives are not extremists like the Klan.
Indeed!