Comment and Opinion

The Eagle Forum

How did I miss this one? (19/4/2003)
Somehow, until now I have overlooked Phyllis Schlafly and the Eagle Forum. I can only assume that it was such an obvious candidate for inclusion in The Millenium Project that I thought it must already be here. I was reminded of Mrs (never Ms) Schlafly this week when someone suggested that she was active in a campaign to send the Statue of Liberty back to France because of froggish failure to fight on the side of the White Hats in Iraq. While this sounds like the sort of loopy thing she might be involved with, it was actually a joke.

Most of the sites listed in The Millenium Project are easy to dislike, because they deal with only one topic. The Eagle Forum is an example of the minority where there are flecks of gold amongst the dross. There are some things there that I strongly agree with, such as the correct way to teach English and the need for a country to have a single official language, and there are some other topics where I can broadly agree with Mrs Schlafly's point of view. On balance, however, the racism (expressed as opposition to immigration), the religious and sexual bigotry, the opposition to vaccination, the denial of treatment (and even existence) of psychological and behavioural disorders, and the general tone that some people are inferior by birth and therefore less equal than others all make it an appropriate inclusion in the lists here. In fact, the Eagle Forum has set a new record by being listed in more categories than any other site.