Marketing the 'Hate' brand

There is one way you can get away with slander, libel, bullying and abuse in America today: Become a self-appointed leftist arbiter of "hate." Identify your chosen targets to feature in your new "Hate" brand, and then let the attack dogs loose. I mean, it's OK to hate "haters," right?

Homosexual activists and their allies have become quite skilled at marketing the Hate brand. Jeers, vulgarities and name-calling are only the beginning. The goal is to keep their easy-to-manipulate followers simmering in a bitter stew of misinformation and sexual entitlement, and then unleash their power in focused humiliation/intimidation campaigns.

The Hate label has been affixed to an array of conservative luminaries recently. The newest enemies list of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, GLAAD, is a who's-who of respected leaders and journalists: Chuck Colson, Robert George, Joseph Farah, Albert Mohler, Don Wildmon and Tony Perkins are just a few of the names. GLAAD has decided that Hate is the shameful badge these folks must now wear. Isn't this what used to be called "shunning"?

And then the legal arm of Hate brand management just lobbed a grenade at pro-family lawyer and pastor Dr. Scott Lively. A Uganda homosexual pressure group deployed a law firm with ties to George Soros to sue Lively in a U.S. federal court for "crimes against humanity." The claims are trumped up using the Alien Tort Statute, but Scott must mount a defense anyway.

I have many friends on the GLAAD list, and I've known Scott Lively for years. Not only do they not deserve a "Hate" designation, they deserve to be lauded and honored for their brave and principled stands against the corruption being unleashed by the "gay" bullies in America. They also deserve our heartfelt thanks for the baloney they take on a daily basis.

The GLAAD list, added to the ongoing "anti-gay" tracking of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), takes in some enormous territory, representing a wide slice of Americana. (Full disclosure: My group, Mission America, was recently added to the SPLC list.)

Those who favor traditional marriage are now routinely called "haters" and "bigots" by most of the major homosexual groups. Who's next on their "Hate group" list– Lucy and Desi? Ozzie and Harriet? Mickey and Minnie?

At the base of this trend is a chilling reality: Conservative Christians are not really humans any longer in much of the leftist mindset. They are worthy only of contempt. You don't "dialogue" with them because they don't have any ideas worth assessing.

They don't deserve "freedom of religion" or "freedom of conscience." A person's right to homosexual sex, or a newly devised gender, blessed in the public square, needs to trump all these old (read: hateful) attitudes. And constitutional rights.

Given the way these folks think, frankly, Christian conservatives need to watch their backs. And they are learning to do so, unfortunately. Talk to the growing list of those persecuted for taking a public stand against homosexuality, like Viki Knox, Julea Ward, Jennifer Keeton, Natalie Johnson, Jim Walder, to those on the GLAAD list, to those of us on the SPLC "hate group" list, to Scott Lively, to the supporters of Prop 8 in 2008, to students Dakota Ary and Daniel Glowacki.

This persecution walks hand-in-hand with a broad-based disinformation campaign. For instance, the "Intelligence Reports" of SPLC cover alleged incidents of vandalism, phone harassment, physical assault and threats perpetrated because of "hate." OK, but strangely, there are never any homosexual aggressors – only victims.

One will search in vain the SPLC "hate incident" listing for any reports where conservatives were victims and those opposing traditional values were the harassers. Yet incidents have been reported to SPLC from around the country of harassment, slander, libel and more perpetrated boldly by advocates of "gay" rights. Somehow these never made their list.

If the target of bullying has been labeled as a "hate" group, or individual, then it seems that de-humanizing, destructive behavior is generally OK with the left. When confronted, liberals will momentarily seem confused until the indoctrination kicks in, and they remember not to feel compassion for the alleged suffering of conservatives.

As soon as they remember the Hate label, the wheels begin to turn once more as they process this information. It goes under "the cost of equality," or "getting everything back in balance."

Or perhaps it's "social justice."

The carefully cultivated Hate brand is a big seller among marginally informed youth who quickly process whom to heed and whom to dismiss. This volunteer sales force moves throughout the nation with whistleblowing at speeches, interruption of church services, heckling and predictable "H8" protest signs. Demanding the "hater" lose his/her job ups the ante. Online petitions keep the pressure high. And of course, the N.Y. Times, Huffington Post, MSNBC and others will feature Hate product press releases verbatim.

Recognize this? Hate branding, focusing on Jews, succeeded in branding them as the "enemy" in public opinion in Nazi Germany. It's the method used today by Islamic radicals who spread ludicrous fables about Jews in many mosques.

You would think the SPLC and even GLAAD might recognize this, search their hearts and say,"What are we doing here? Christians are not monsters and traditional values are not Hate!"

We have to call this what it is – an attempt at revolution. We need to come up with a no-nonsense response. I am of course not advocating anything abusive or violent. Unlike our ideological opponents, we tend to play by the rules, which is why truly honorable people are easy targets.

But playing by the rules, with the truth of the Lord in our corner, gives us more than enough advantage. We just need to think more strategically, we need to join forces, and we need to do it now.