Florida state rep. Mike Hill was wrongly accused last week of entertaining legislation to execute gay men.  It has ignited social media attacks and calls for Hill's resignation.

It all started on May 23, when a man asked Hill to introduce such legislation while Hill was speaking to the Women for Responsible Legislation in Pensacola.

The outrageous comment took Hill off guard.  Within a few seconds, Hill laughed it off and said, "Enough of that stuff."

It should be noted that laughing off a crazy comment that nobody took seriously is not the same as laughing along with it.  Anyone who suggests otherwise is acting in bad faith.

Pensacola News Journal columnist Andy Marlette spearheaded this faux outrage in his column

last week that accused Hill of musing over legislation to execute gay men.  Marlette went so far as to invoke the Klan against Hill, who is one of only two black Republicans in the Florida Legislature.

The white cartoonist called Hill's non-comment "Klan-like hate speech."  Could you imagine Marlette bringing up the KKK while lying about a Democratic black legislator?

It doesn't happen.  And it shouldn't happen.

But this isn't the first time the News Journal has labeled people with whom they disagree Nazis or Klansmen.  Former columnist Troy Moon did it, and even called for violence against people opposed to tearing down monuments in a column last year on Aug. 18.

"We should fight back.  Both literally and figuratively," Moon wrote.

As it happens, Hill was one of the people Moon was targeting.  Rep. Hill sponsored a bill last legislative session to protect the historical monuments that Moon wants destroyed.

A newspaper that has called for violence against Hill should be called out.  After all, that' s real hate speech.

There's plenty for his critics to complain about that Hill actually says and does.  Hill is a Bible-believing Christian who sponsored the Heartbeat Detection Bill last legislative session and says God has told him to do it again next year.

There's no reason to make stuff up about what Hill never said — unless there's something else going on entirely.  Why, for example, is the state GOP leadership piling on?

Because this is about political payback, that's why.

Florida House speaker Jose Oliva wants nothing to do with Hill's controversial fetal heartbeat bill with an election year around the corner.  It's a political hot potato that Oliva burned himself on during the last legislative session when he repeatedly referred to a pregnant woman as a "host body."

In trying to be overly sensitive, the speaker was actually insensitive. After all, we're talking about new mothers here, not science experiments.  But Hill didn't join the chorus condemning the speaker.  Only those acting in bad faith did.

Speaker Oliva and his Republican colleagues have now sided with the deceitful news media and opportunistic Democrats for a common goal: to avoid Hill's fetal heartbeat bill during next year's election year legislative session.

They hope to force Hill into resignation and be done with him.

You don't have to look far to find more evidence that this controversy is really about nipping the fetal heartbeat bill in the bud: the sponsor in the Florida Senate was Dennis Baxley, who is also facing demands to resign over comments his critics deem racist.

You'd expect this from Democrats and the media.  But it's reprehensible for Republicans to still link arms with them when Hill has said in a statement, "I believe that no matter one's race, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, economic status or otherwise, that all lives are created equal in the image of God.  I served in the U.S. Air Force to protect the many freedoms we have in the United States for all Americans."

The weaponization of faux moral outrage for the purpose of character assassination is the entire reason for the existence of the P.C. industry.

Marlette's column exemplifies that in this sentence: "Welcome to Pensacola: Where our legislator would sentence you to death — but thank you for the bed taxes."

It's a ridiculous lie.  And it's ugly.

Especially nauseating is watching nasty people pretend to be horrified while their political allies all pretend to care about a fabricated affront rather than debate the real issue at hand.

Someone tweeted today that the internet picks a new villain every day.  This is the lifeblood of the P.C. crusaders.

They've perfected Saul Alinsky's method of character assassination: "Pick a target, personalize it, freeze it, and polarize it.  Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy."

Right now Rep. Hill is the target of faux outrage for political gain.  And his supporters will either rally around him or allow him to be picked off for something he never said.

"The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity," wrote poet W.B. Yeats in "The Second Coming."  The P.C. mob capitalizes apathy to cut off support networks.

Alinsky also emphasized, "A good tactic is one your people enjoy."

One thing is clear: those attacking Rep. Hill right now are delighting in their phony self-righteous indignation.  The real reason for the attacks isn't hard to see.

Thompson hosts The Burnie Thompson Show® weeknights from 5 to 7 P.M. CDT in Pensacola on FM Talk 103.7 (WPNN).  Email him at burnie@burniethompson.com.

Image: Nogwater via Flickr (cropped).