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The past few days have been anything but pleasant for Milo Yiannopoulos. During his press conference on February 21st, the right-wing provocateur announced his resignation from Breitbart News where he served as a senior tech editor for the website. This followed on the heels of him being disinvited by sponsors of the Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) where he was scheduled to be a featured speaker this weekend. Shortly after, publishing house Simon and Schuster’s conservative imprint Threshold Editions canceled the June publication of his book, Dangerous.
For those of you who are unaware of who Milo Yiannopoulos is or what he said, let me break it down for you. It was recently discovered that, in an interview last year, he concluded that sexual relationships between adult men and teenage boys could be “beneficial.” He did not stop there. He said that, in some cases, such sexual relations are often “hugely positive.” He was not done yet. He opined that in many cases these older men often help younger boys “discover who they are.”
The relationship between Milo and the right boiled down to “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” It was a relationship of convenience.
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Understandably, condemnation from across the political spectrum was swift. In fact, many of his fellow employees at Breitbart threatened to resign if Yiannopoulos was not terminated for his remarks. During his press conference, the alt-right flamethrower offered a quasi-apology and awkward defense of some of his commentary, blaming his current predicament for “deceptive editing” in addition to his tendency to use “imprecise language.” He went on to say that he absolutely does not support pedophilia and that he had been the victim of sexual abuse as a young child.
Well, thank goodness he believes that pedophilia is criminal and is unacceptable. Secondly, if he was, in fact, the victim of sexual abuse at the hands of perverted and unscrupulous men, this was terrible and he deserves our sympathy. That being said, then it is inconceivable to me that Yiannopoulos could harbor even the most remote belief that sexual relationships between adults and children are healthy. They are not, period! Yiannopoulos is not the only guilty person in this sordid saga. It was widely known that he had a history of making outlandish, abrasive and offensive comments about marginalized groups of people.
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Yiannopoulos, a Greek-born, British-raised, half-Jewish, gay man, had no problem denouncing, denigrating and disrespecting others. In fact, he seemed to take perverse and sadistic delight in doing so. He was all too eager to engage in the dirty work for many people on the conservative/political right as he hurled vicious and salacious attacks on immigrants, Muslims, certain Blacks (in particular Black Lives Matter), gays and lesbians (despite being openly gay himself), transgendered people, Hispanics, feminists, women in general, people with disabilities, and all those whom many on the political right and far right in particular harbor intense disdain for, view with a politically and socially jaundiced eye, and see as “the other.” What would normally be seen as Yiannopoulos’ own disqualifications for acceptance among many people in this group was overlooked and he was given a pass. These are the people for whom racism, misogyny, homophobia, xenophobia are very acceptable. In fact, such vices are often par for the course. The relationship between Milo and the right boiled down to “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” It was a relationship of convenience.
The “inclusion” afforded to Yiannopoulos was only temporary and came with strings attached. The provisions being that he genuflect to his alt-right audience and financial benefactors. That he never spoke ill of true, genuine racists, anti-Semites, homophobes, xenophobes, and others who revel in intolerance and that he stick it to the left by increasingly ramping up the acerbic, acid-tongue rhetoric. By pleasing his masters, he would be well compensated from right-of-center business groups to college conservative student groups to conservative political organizations. Such psychological adoration came to an abrupt halt upon the recent disturbing and sordid revelations. Supporting Yiannopoulos was never about free speech.
The organizers who pulled his invitation to speak at the Conservative Political Action Committee and the publishers who canceled his lucrative book deal at Threshold Books did so because they found his outlandish comments about children abhorrent and indefensible, and rightly so. However, as long as he skewered other marginalized groups, his rhetoric was tolerable. The level of hypocrisy is foul. All parties — Yiannopoulos, CPAC and Threshold Books — have egg on their faces and blood on their hands.
No one should feel too sorry for Milo Yiannopoulos. Despite whatever temporary setbacks he may face, he is very likely to rebound and land on his feet, whether as a reconstructed public figure or as a well-paid, behind-the-scenes propagandist. In our current, divisive political climate, mischief and opportunism, in particular, political mischief and opportunism often produces ample financial dividends for those who brazenly and shamelessly are willing to sell themselves to the highest bidder. If his past behavior is any indication, Milo Yiannopoulos is well suited for such a role.
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Photo Credit: Getty Images
Progressives have entire “believe her” thing and also say that we cannot look at the actions of a rape victim after a rape and use them to inform on whether an allegation holds true or not. Yet, here is a gay man who states he experienced sexual abuse by an older man and has rationalized his experience as not a bad thing…You guys want him deported. In addition to the Eve Ensler and George Takei stories this is just disgustingly hypocritical. I don’t support Milo but the crawfishing done by those on the progressive left to justify nasty behavior is… Read more »
I stand with Milo!
This guy is such a shit bag, I wish he would land on his head instead.
Elwood, Thanks for you article. It helped me get a better take on this guy. As a psychotherapist (and GMP writer) I know all too well that the most virulent hate and attacks on others, often comes from people who were abused as children. There is ample evidence that Donald Trump suffered from some degree of abuse, neglect, and abandonment. It’s clear this guy has as well. While we can be empathetic, as you point out, we also need to be clear that hurtful behavior towards others is not justified, regardless of the trauma the perpetrator may have experienced as… Read more »
Thank you as well.
Elwood Watson, Ph.D.
Author of article
And George Takei’s nearly identical comments?
Nobody cares when people on the left endorse pedophilia.
See: Eve Ensler, George Takei, Salon… Plenty of people did and still do stand behind Roman Polanski…
NO ONE cares? NO ONE? Now you know that isn’t true! No one cares, is just not , so! Do YOU care. I don’t condone. Milo’s defense mechanism is of a 3 year old, so and so said it, so and so and my invisible friend, and so and so. Magical Thinking! You spew hate, you get hate back! America has turned into a Country of hate, Milo is NOT of this country. He should be sent back to his homeland!
I honestly have no idea what you’re trying to say here.
Anyway, Lena Dunham is another example.
Obviously a smear campaign to try to take down a brilliant, funny gay man who has the misfortune of being conservative. Liberals can tolerate every time of diversity except when it comes to diversity of ideas.
He is one of the !most disgusting human beings on planet earth. In the top 10. He should be sent back across the ocean w/banned from America papers. Why is he allowed to remain here, spewing hate. I am curious about the medium age range of his worshippers, and their education level. Let’s hope he does not land on his feet. No Bill, he reminds NO one of Christopher Hitchens. Milo is dumpster trash.
I am a huge Milo fan with a PhD in a physical science discipline. Of course, that is sample size of one.