Re:On Being Midwestern: The Burden of Normality
by extra88 on Thursday November 16, 2017 @01:52PM
(#15715366)
While I think their definition of "hate group" is sometimes too expansive (e.g. religious groups that are mostly about something else but disagree with gay marriage), SPLC is still credible.
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Re:On Being Midwestern: The Burden of Normality
by creaghpatr on Thursday November 16, 2017 @03:51PM
(#15716499)
That's the point here. The parent comment is leveraging the credibility of the SPLC to smear a community/region based on the organization's subjective definition of 'hate groups'.
An interactive 'hate map' seems to encourage this form of stereotyping. It's all about the branding. It works because there's always a kernel of truth in stereotypes (I'm sure there are true hate groups in Indiana), but that raises larger questions about stereotyping regions or races or religions or anything for that matter.
Re:On Being Midwestern: The Burden of Normality
by extra88 on Thursday November 16, 2017 @06:11PM
(#15717565)
I don't think they're smearing. There is a cluster of white nationalist groups in southern Indiana but I don't think that means people are generally more racist there than say, Ohio.
The two things I take away from looking at the map are 1) it's not just a southern thing (which I think is a misconception they're explicitly trying to correct) and 2) the hate group density correlates with population centers pretty well (which is often the case for maps of people).