Hate groups in the US show explosive growth

[August]

Originally Posted by NeonSamurai

As Tribesman pointed out, They seem to be counting different branches separately, which I think is fair if you are trying to map how much hate groups are spreading/growing as they are unlikely to give you a member's count. Also they are counting all intolerant groups that spread a message of hate of someone or something. I would also certainly include publishers of hate texts as separate entities, as they often are associated with many different groups.

The only way I would see an issue with their counting scheme is if they have changed the way they do the counting, and did not properly update previous counts so as to inflate the changes.

I didn't read what Tribesman pointed out but you bet that nobody is giving member counts, on either side.

Really it's nothing but an accounting trick played by both the counters and those being counted. No, you don't have one group of 10 people you have 10 groups of undetermined size. Sounds scarier. It helps the SPLC get funding and it makes the hate group seem far larger and therefore more relevant than they really are. Win - win.