In an amazing piece of pseudo-history, Worldnet daily<\/a> is bizarrely claiming the Ku Klux Klan as an invention of the Democrats, set up to target Republicans, no less. (With an implicit suggestion that this is where Democratic politics really lead, in sharp contrast to Republicans’ tolerance and diversity.) Snurfle. Choke on your coffee. You think I’m joking?<\/p>\n

I am going to quote WND. (Sorry.) Richard Barton is the author of:<\/p>\n

….”Setting the Record Straight: American History in Black & White,” which … that not only did the Democrats work hand-in-glove with the Ku Klux Klan for generations, they started the KKK and endorsed its mayhem.
\n“Of all forms of violent intimidation, lynchings were by far the most effective,” Barton said in his book. “Republicans often led the efforts to pass federal anti-lynching laws and their platforms consistently called for a ban on lynching. Democrats successfully blocked those bills and their platforms never did condemn lynchings.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now, I am pretty certain that enough Democrats were implicated in the activities of the KKK. However, there is something that could politely be called “disingenuous” in the WND attempt to whitewash the Republican’s major role. Indeed to present the Republicans a dogged fighters against the KKK hamstrung by Democratic opposition. (It could less politely be called lots of things, such as “barking mad”, “lying” and so on. For any WND readers who’ve strayed here by the grace of Google, I’ll have to admit “Yes, that is in fact what I mean. I was using the word disingenuous, because I was pretty sure you wouldn’t know what it meant.”)<\/p>\n

All the same, I do recognise there has been something of great leap forward in the US. At least, the actions of the KKK must now be recognised as so universally repellent that you can really harm your political opponents by making spurious attributions of relation to them.<\/p>\n

I found some interesting observations on Christian Ethics Today<\/a> about Nicholas Barton whose spreading this crap.<\/p>\n

Barton has become the guru of Religious Right antiseparationism.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(referring to the separation of church and state)<\/p>\n

A careful look at that material, however, shows that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Mythbuilders\u00e2\u20ac\u009d would describe it more accurately than \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Wallbuilders,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d for the essence of his message rests on eight historical fallacies regarding the Constitution<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Basically, they are politely saying he’s a far-right nutjob and that Wallbuilders is a pseudo history site with anti-separation of church and state agenda…. This point of view is put rather more forcefully on Right Wing Watch blog,<\/a> where a Sept 19 post said<\/p>\n

A Right-Wing Three-Fer<\/strong>
\nRight-wing pseudo-historian David Barton will be addressing the Regent Law School chapter of the Federalist Society….<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In fact, now I’ve got to Right Wing Watch, I see that there’s an much more elegant deconstruction<\/a> of this ludicrous David Barton story than I can manage. (Because I’m too busy laughing at the effrontery of it)<\/p>\n

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    In an amazing piece of pseudo-history, Worldnet daily is bizarrely claiming the Ku Klux Klan as an invention of the Democrats, set up to target Republicans, no less. (With an implicit suggestion that this is where Democratic politics really lead, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

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