Darby Shunned By Another Set Of Allies
Only these allies aren’t nice people, they’re bastards.
Austin Cline has some interesting news about that lunatic Larry Darby. Here’s the brief story as I know it: Darby was involved with American Atheists, and started the Atheist Law Center in Alabama.
He briefly attempted to run - in 2002 - for attorney-general in Alabama, but ended his campaign after a few weeks. He was awarded “Atheist of the Month” for August 2002.
Then he invited David Irving to give a lecture, which earned him the scorn of a large number of atheists and organisations like the IHS.
He seems then to have left - perhaps been booted from - his position at American Atheists, although it would certainly have been nice if AA had perhaps put up a statement condemning Darby’s actions. The Atheist Jew has a report that AA briefly mentioned Darby in an August 2005 newsletter, but it’s really rather silly. He’s getting huge amounts of media attention. There ought to be a clear statement on the AA website explaining the story and stating that his views are not shared by AA. If you Google for larry darby site:atheists.org, you get nothing but praise for his work, but nothing that states that AA isn’t affiliated.
I don’t think atheist organisations should take political positions, because it devalues what we have to say about atheism and secularism etc. Darby is an extreme case, though, as we shall see.
There is still an issue here. Darby invited Irving in July 2005, and was given the award by AA in August 2005. Did no thoughts cross the minds of those at AA?
Similarly, Scouting for All, another organisation he represented, has not publicly stated their opposition to Darby’s view - even though their position statement says quite clearly: “We must not turn our backs on those who are being discriminated against.”
Since then, Darby has attempted to run for office - for governor of Alabama. He first tried to run as a Libertarian, but they didn’t want his company. Then he managed to register as a Democrat, and they cannot do anything about it, since the period in which they can object to his standing is closed.
Then he got involved with white nationalism and started playing the game of white nationalism. He attended a meeting last month of the National Vanguard in New Jersey, where he met people like Kevin Strom, David Duke and the singing duo Prussian Blue - Lamb and Lynx Gaede. He has also appeared in other white nationalist venues, including on a white nationalist radio show.
His views include support for the idea that the U.S. government is a “Zionist Occupied Government”, saying that “Someone needs to speak up for the white man”, and denying that the Holocaust happened. A quick Google search will bring up a large amount of material along these sorts of lines by Darby if you wish to see any more of this tripe.
And now, it’s been revealed that Darby has had children with a Chinese wife, which has pissed off all these white nationalists who are dubbing him a “race traitor” and so on.
There is a moral issue here. Mr Darby’s views are his own, and they are reprehensible. What is also reprehensible is the way that groups like American Atheists and Scouting for All have been completely silent. Yes, Darby has done good things in the past. That work is commendable. There is a duty though, when someone goes completely off the deep end, to say “Wait a second, this guy’s a nutter and we don’t agree with him!” In this age with quick and efficient communications - thanks to the Internet and blogs - there is no excuse for this. Yes, we should, in our role as secularists, be otherwise apolitical. But when someone who is affiliated with our movement becomes an extremist of any stripe, we should stand up and condemn that person and state unequivocally that they no longer have anything to do with us as a movement.
The silence, as they say, has been deafening. If you are involved with the groups which Darby has also been affiliated - namely, AA or SfA, you should contact them and ask: why haven’t you stated, on your public facing website for Google and others to see, a statement pointing out that Darby’s offbeat political views have nowt to do with us?
For more information, I can reccomend Eugene Volokh who has a detailed post about this and seems to have sensible views on the subject.
