The SPLC has identified eight active Hate Groups in Minnesota. This is so un-Minnesotan: we’re only supposed to have Passive Aggressive Groups here. In case you want to know who to avoid on your trip to the Mall of America or the Spam Museum, here’s the abbreviated list:
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Aryan Strikeforce. The name just says it all, doesn’t it?
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Israelite Church of God in Jesus Christ. These are the black Hebrews: they believe slavery made them God’s Chosen People.
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National Socialist Movement. The original Nazis.
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Parents Action League. They say they’re just pro-family, so how can they possibly be a hate group? When pro-family means you hate gay people, I guess.
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Remnant Press. Radical Catholics. They want to get back to the basics of their faith, like hating Jews and keeping women pregnant.
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Vinlanders Minnesota. OOODDDIIIIINN! These guys probably really hate Idris Elba.
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Weisman Publications. If we’ve got a gang of crazy Catholics pumping out hate pamphlets, you know there’s got to be a gang of crazy Protestants doing likewise. They hate Jews, too.
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You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International. Oh, yeah, I know this one. I haven’t met any of the others, but this group I’ve seen all over the place: they have very colorful vans. They also fund-raise and pamphleteer at the gas station in Sauk Centre I stop at on trips to the Twin Cities. They’re also best known for their lunatic front man, Bradlee Dean, and the mutual love and respect between Dean and Michele Bachmann.
We should probably add the American Family Association, which was outraged that the SPLC had dared to label these fine upstanding organizations as Hate Groups. It seems to me, though, that the Bad 8 were rather obviously nasty organizations — shouldn’t they instead be casting out the rotten apples, rather than defending them? But no, instead, they decided to play so’s-your-mother and name their vision of Evil in Minnesota:
The Red River Free Thinkers, Freedom From Religion Foundation affiliate in Grand Rapids and Duluth, Minnesota Atheists, Atheists for Human Rights, Campus Atheists Secularists and Humanists, and Americans United.
Uh-oh. I know all those groups. I’m a member of some of them, and I’m the nominal faculty advisor for CASH. I think that makes me the nexus of evil in this state.
I have no point, I just like saying “Passive Aggressive Group.”
Now to put that into my lexicon for future use.
If the AFA considers you to be the nexus of evil, that probably means you’re doing some good.
So, what are they against?
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED
Passive Aggressive groups host really boring debates. Both sides sullenly watch TV together and insist that “It’s OK, let’s just watch what you want to watch, like usual.” Both sides forget to pick up the dry cleaning, even though it was ready yesterday.
How does the actual National Socialist Movement feel about socialism?
I’m surprised the American Family Association didn’t list the U of M as a hate group because, you know, you work there.
davidnangle
It’s too internationale??
I f*ckin hate Minnesotan Nazis.
*guns engine as I take off towards a bridge full of Nazis.
I think that makes me the nexus of evil in this state.
Heck, we all knew that already.
As opposed to what? “Pro-family = bigotry” is as reliable as “truth = lunacy”.
The so-called “pro-family” groups are masters of the passive-aggressive approach to hate.
“We aren’t against gays, we’re in favor of family, we protect marriage, and we love the sinner but hate the sin. Plus, we SMILE when we explain this. So it’s the opposite of hate. Remember, God is love: people choose to go to Hell, He doesn’t put them there. Salvation! Good news! And won’t someone think of the children?!”
Nothing, and I mean nothing, could keep me from visiting the Spam museum.
Mark DiDomenico, sounds like a nice place, but you do NOT want to be on their mailing list.
Like the “family values” Texan who said that Gays are free to marry, just like everyone else, they can marry a woman…”(and a lesbian can marry a man). And then goes on to assert that a person wanting to marry another person (who just happens to be the same sex as the first) is asking for a “special” right. Where in “marriage” does it specify that the two parties can only be a man and a woman? That is why there is so many attempts to force that into the legal definition. And if so, can it really be classed as a RIGHT? Doesn’t it then become a specialized privilege, like the pseudo-right-to-drive? The only RIGHT could be, “The right of two people to be bonded as a unit, shall not be infringed,…” To throw in clauses, limiting it to only a man and a woman can be joined such, is stretching the definition of right a little too far.
ahhh, “family values” means the couple must be able to produce babies without any technologigous interventionistic assistance. So only a man and a woman can be married, so as to produce a family. A family, by definition [supposedly], means two adults and one or more children of the adults genes. Funny that there is never any objection to elderly people, or sterile, or … getting married, even though it is blatantly obvious that a family will not result. But “consistency” is not a part of “family values”.
I’ve had the misfortune of talking to a young member of the National Socialist of Minnesota, AND having them flyer my townhouse complex years ago (in the dead of night, naturally). Both events took place when I was living in the Twin Cities years ago. They were pretty active on the East Side of St. Paul in the late ’90s and early ’00s, largely trying to recruit young men (their targets were often teenaged and 20-something disaffected men who felt that the world owed them something.)
If I want to send you a donation by cheque, who should I make it out to?
We knew that before, didn’t we?
So carry on the good… err, evil… work, Sir!
Bah. If you aren’t ambitious enough to claim the mantle of Nexus of Evil in the World, I won’t waste my time on you.
David Marjanović @ #3:
I’m gonna guess hiding, internationally.
Also @David Marjanovic #3:
Whattaya got?
In 2011 Bradlee Dean, the Grand Poobah of You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International, sued MSNBC, Rachel Maddow, Minnesota journalist Andy Birkey and Birkley’s paper, alleging that they intentionally misrepresented Dean’s homophobic statements in order to advance a “homosexual agenda”, and seeking more than $50,000,000 in damages. Dean was represented by one of Ed Brayton’s two favorite lawyers, Larry Klayman (the dumbest lawyer in America not named Mat Staver). In June 2012 Dean was ordered to pay a total of $24,625.23 to defendants MSNBC and Rachel Maddow.
OK, I’m stumped…why would the vinlanders not like Idris Elba?? Heimdall was a fairly nice guy as far as those drunken norse gods went.
Appropos of nothing, may all time most favorite best line ever in the Avengers movie is when Loki confronts the Hulk near the end:
Loki:”I am a god, you dull creature, and I will not be bullied by…”
Hulk: WHAMWHAMWHAMWHAMWHAMWHAMWHAM
Hulk: “puny god”
Loki: “owwww”
Okay, so when someone has the bright idea to start an organisation named You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International I’d actually expect them to go to the local town hall to try and register as a hate group. Why would you go for that kind of name if this wasn’t your express (and concious) objective?
Numenaster @20
Either that’s Brando or Kryten. Either way: two thumbs up!
It seems that the SPLC has supplanted the ACLU as the most-hated organization by Christian theocrats. Good work, SPLC.
I don’t know what gets me more – the “polite” passive aggression or all the Orwellian doublespeak. Discrimination is religious freedom; not wanting to be discriminated against is an agenda. Hate is pro-family; love between gays is anti-family.
brucej:
I’m not sure if you’re making a joke? If not, it’s because there’s a huge overlap between lovers of Nordic (or “viking”) culture and white supremacists, who see the Nordic people as the most purely White you can get. They all had a screaming shitfit about Elba’s casting because, well, he’s not white.
brucej @22: Yes, that was one of the best gags in the whole movie.
Nentuaby @27: Nope, the problem with Elba’s casting was that it was inaccurate on historical levels. Viking gods were the gods of Vikings, white-skinned nordics, which meant that they had white skin (even if they knew other skin tones existed).
Let’s face it: Most people imagine their gods to resemble them, or usually imagine themselves to resemble their gods. It’s a nice cultural ego boost.
Let’s play reverse: What would your reaction be, if some future generation decided to have Shaka Zulu or MLK played by a white actor (or even actress in these days of gender equality!) in some movie? It simply doesn’t fit.
Overlap between white supremacists and lovers of viking culture is another kettle of fish.
mirrorfield@28
Please tell me that was sarcasm
Since we have actual historical records of black vikings, having one out of all the Asgardian gods portrayed as black is completely consistent on historical levels.
Unlike mythical figures, Shaka Zulu and MLK were real people with a real, documented ethnicity and appearance.
mirrorfield:
Unlike the rest of the film, which was notable for its focus on historical accuracy?
@28: The Aesir in the movie weren’t Norse gods who got their power from believers on Earth. They were space aliens with magic-level technology. How the Norse might have “imagined” there gods has no bearing, since in the movie world they were were real things that pre-existed the Norse and had whatever skin color they wanted.
Why people who don’t care enough about the movie enough to understand the basic premise do care enough to invent invalid reasons why blacks (or females) should be absent is beyond me.
mirrorfield, #28
MLK being white would have an impact on the plot, background and actions of MLK in the movie. It either wouldn’t work at all or would come across as a total re-imagining. MLK’s race is inextricably linked to the plot of such a movie.
Heimdall having dark skin interferes with no aspect of the actions he took in the movie. In fact, there’s simply no intersection at between his ethnicity and his actions in the film.
Nope, the problem with Elba’s casting was that it was inaccurate on historical levels.
OMFG this line of thinking is ridiculous and thoroughly racist. Which means *you’re* racist.
It is a series of movies about SUPERHEROES, for fuck’s sake. It is FICTION to begin with.
Aaand i can’t block quote today. D’oh.
On a related note, Idris Elba apparently hated the filming of those movies. Superhero filming is INTENSE!
@Marilove: That’s a shame. He’s SO GOOD in the role, I would have wished he enjoyed production as much as the RDJr and the Chrises.
@mirrorfield: Oh, speak of the devil.