Elon University professor Megan Squire has developed a system called “Whack-a-Mole,” which collects information on 400,000 Facebook accounts belonging to people she believes to be “far-right extremists,” reported The Daily Wire. She then passes this info along to both the Southern Poverty Law Center and an Antifa activist. But here’s the catch: Squire is not just collecting data on genuine Nazis when she uses keywords like “anti-SJW,” “No Sharia Law,” and “patriot” to identify “far-right extremists.” She’s collecting data on men’s rights activists, people concerned about Islamism, even followers of satirist and comedian Gavin McInnes.
Oh and, of course, Squire’s also tracking the Family Research Council. The Southern Poverty Law Center labeled this group, which supports traditional marriage, a hate group and a man found the group’s office location on SPLC’s “hate map” and tried to shoot up the place. A guard stopped him, fortunately, but not before the shooter wounded the man’s arm.
I’m sorry, but I don’t trust the SPLC. I don’t trust this progressive professor. And I certainly don’t trust Antifa. Identifying so-called Nazis or other haters dehumanizes targets and implies their speech can — and should — be punished with violence. You can either talk to these “far-right extremists,” debate their ideas and humiliate them in the public square, or you can stalk them and incite arbitrary, vigilante “justice.” You can either be a respectable human being or some sort of cowardly, partisan, ginger Batman.
