home

Milo Y. Loses Book Deal, Gets Canned from Conservative Conference

By Jeralyn, Section Media
Posted on Tue Feb 21, 2017 at 08:07:00 AM EST
Tags: (all tags)
Share This: Digg! StumbleUpon del.icio.us reddit reddit

I don't know who Milo Y. is, but apparently he is with Breitbart News (which I never read.) Some old video of his that has popped up and is recirculating is apparently bad enough that Simon and Schuster has canceled his book deal and CPAC has canceled his speaking invitation.

What did he do in the video?

[He]criticiz[ed] age-of-consent laws and joking about a teenage sexual encounter he had with a Catholic priest.

I'm not sure why anyone cares about this guy, but apparently those who do think he endorsed ped*philia. He denies it (on his Facebook page which I haven't looked at). The Post repeats his comments:[More...]

“I do not support pedophilia. Period,” Yiannopoulos wrote. “It is a vile and disgusting crime, perhaps the very worst. There are selectively edited videos doing the rounds, as part of a co-ordinated effort to discredit me from establishment Republicans, that suggest I am soft on the subject.”

As far as I'm concerned, he botched his defense when he then played the victim card:

“I’m partly to blame,” he wrote. “My own experiences as a victim led me to believe I could say anything I wanted to on this subject, no matter how outrageous. But I understand that my usual blend of British sarcasm, provocation and gallows humor might have come across as flippancy, a lack of care for other victims or, worse, ‘advocacy.’ I deeply regret that. People deal with things from their past in different ways.”...“I am certainly guilty of imprecise language, which I regret.”

The Post says Breitbart may dump him. On Twitter he says he will survive.

One less right wing journalist to contend with? Fine by me.

If you comment, please use asterisks in your explicit terms so you don't invite spammers and web-censors here. Explicit comments will be deleted since I can't edit them, only delete them.

< Former CIA Analyst: Trump Is Too Demoralizing | "Not My President's Day" Protests >

  • The Online Magazine with Liberal coverage of crime-related political and injustice news

  • Contribute To TalkLeft


    • Display: Sort:
    Milo Y. Loses Book Deal, Gets Canned from Conservative Conference | 81 comments (81 topical)

    Readers Must Login or Create an Account to Comment

    CPAC has cancelled his speaking invite... (5.00 / 1) (#1)
    by desertswine on Mon Feb 20, 2017 at 11:50:54 PM EST
    This guy is more of a comedian than anything else.  Crazy how the right is so afraid of him.  He's politically incorrect, big deal. Let him speak. - Hey that sounds familiar.

    I agree (5.00 / 3) (#7)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Feb 21, 2017 at 03:54:01 PM EST
    I know nothing about him or his politics that I have not read in the last couple of days but my honest opinion is he has some interesting things to say.  Taboo things.  I can tell you this, there are many gay men who had experiences with older men while underage who do not remember it as abuse.

    It's a very thorny and complicated issue.  So many layers .  I think looking things that make us uncomfortable is usually worth while thing to do.

    Parent

    I don't mind taking a look at it (5.00 / 3) (#70)
    by Militarytracy on Wed Feb 22, 2017 at 05:09:49 PM EST
    But fourteen yr old girls usually don't prey on older men. So his horse$hit that it isn't molestation when someone is aware of their genitals is disgusting. If that were true then I couldn't be molested after five.

    I don't tell men when they've been molested, don't tell women or anyone else for that matter that they haven't been! Don't read anyone who was hurt like that such a riot act. He is IMO a PIG! He's an a$$hole who doesn't care to understand anyone else. He loves hurting people.

    Parent

    ...and there are many who do. (none / 0) (#11)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Tue Feb 21, 2017 at 04:35:31 PM EST


    Parent
    Would you (none / 0) (#12)
    by FlJoe on Tue Feb 21, 2017 at 04:42:16 PM EST
    think the same way about a young-old hetrosexual relationship? I bet that many of those young victims did not feel abused, but most of those cases did involve abuse of some form.

    In sexual matters there is way too much potential for mature predators to take advantage of immature prey and that's why it is taboo and should remains so.

    Milo, IMO is a vile self-loathing bigot and a proven and proud cyber bully. My first amendment allows me and my civic duty compels me to decry him and shout him and his ilk down every chance I get.

     

    Parent

    If by "the same way" (5.00 / 3) (#15)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Feb 21, 2017 at 05:09:54 PM EST
    You mean seeing each individual case as involving two humans capable of making choices then yes, I would think about it the same way.  
    I believe one of the interesting things about this is the way it's socially less taboo between the sexes.  Yes it's taboo.  I believe it is not "as" taboo.    That could be changing.  But no main stream same sex Lolita I can think of.
    The ranting about this is all so predictable it really not worth responding.  
    The fact is, it's complicated.  Probably only a d!ck with nothing to lose will discuss it.  Good for the d!ck.


    Parent
    This video is one of the first to (5.00 / 2) (#16)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Feb 21, 2017 at 05:38:46 PM EST
    Come up if you google milo defends ped****lia.  
    I think its very instructive.  He says a lot of very provocative things.  Apparrently shocking things to many on the Internet.  I was neither shocked or surprised except for thinking this guy is really freakin fearless.  
    What he is doing is talking the way gay men talk to each other.  I heard this stuff all my life.  We all have.  But you don't talk about it with "others" because they will not hear what you are saying.  He is being completely frank with a clearly hostile interviewer who is constantly reshaping what he is saying into things he never in fact said.

    If you wish to have an opinion on this particular subject (not Milo, please) you should watch this video

    Parent

    i watched the video (5.00 / 1) (#31)
    by linea on Tue Feb 21, 2017 at 08:58:18 PM EST
    re: "If you wish to have an opinion on this particular subject... you should watch this video"

    he admits to being sexually molested as a child. he doesnt appear to advocate paedo in that video. he makes light of his abuse. my feelings, if he admits to acting-out at 14 than he was molested by an adult when he was even younger. children who are molested will act out their trauma.


    Parent

    many unproven and unproveable assumptions (none / 0) (#45)
    by Mr Natural on Wed Feb 22, 2017 at 12:19:45 PM EST
    in your post, linea.  Usually you're one of the smarter posters here, despite the constant attacks by the more credulous.

    Parent
    The most interesting par of that interview (5.00 / 2) (#49)
    by CaptHowdy on Wed Feb 22, 2017 at 12:30:24 PM EST
    IMO is when he is trying to explain that he was a 14 yo predator.  Preying on adult men.

    Clearly this is a difficult idea for some to get their head around.  Trust me, the world is full f current, past and future 14 yo predators of grown men.   I was one.  Pretty much everyone I know was one.    I knew who I was and what I wanted earlier than most.  But certainly not all.  
    This is a difficult concept for parents.  Duh.

    Parent

    im sorry (none / 0) (#80)
    by linea on Wed Feb 22, 2017 at 07:16:33 PM EST
    re: "many unproven and unproveable assumptions"

    i agree that i shouldnt have posted in this thread. some topics are best for me to avoid.

    and thank you.

    Parent

    Most people aren't ready for a frank (none / 0) (#17)
    by McBain on Tue Feb 21, 2017 at 05:56:03 PM EST
    discussion of human sexuality.  We're still somewhat of a puritan society.

    Parent
    Somewhat (5.00 / 2) (#18)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Feb 21, 2017 at 05:56:55 PM EST
    Being a masterpiece of understatement

    Parent
    My all-time favorite quote about sex (none / 0) (#81)
    by jondee on Wed Feb 22, 2017 at 07:39:12 PM EST
    was from a woman who grew up working in a brothel in the Storyville red light district of old New Orleans. She went on long litany of all the unusual and at times downright bizarre things that she had witnessed over during her career and her final summation was "I don't really blame the men; sometimes it seems like the Good Lord just ain't got no sense".

    Parent
    I'll have to take your word for it, Cap'n. (none / 0) (#23)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Tue Feb 21, 2017 at 07:33:29 PM EST
    From a hetero perspective, the 1962 film "Lolita" (and its 1997 remake) similarly explored a middle-aged man's obsessive fantasy about seducing a nubile but otherwise innocent young teenage girl who was oblivious to his actual intentions. It still made my skin crawl.

    Call me old-fashioned and a prude if you will, but I just don't find it proper that older adults -- gay or straight -- should be having sex with or otherwise attempting to sexually seduce teenagers, particularly those who are under the age of legal consent.

    The potential risk factor for the subsequent exploitation of an impressionable youngster by the adult is very high. I lived through this personally as a 6th-7th grader with a charismatic baseball coach who was in his early 30s at the time, and I neither found it an enlightening nor rewarding experience. Quite the opposite, actually -- and it further turned me into a homophobe, an irrational but still very real fear which subsequently took me many years to finally overcome.

    Let's please let kids be kids and teens be teens, and allow them both the courtesy and the joy of discovering life's mysteries with one another, rather than for our own prurient and self-serving gratifications. I was never allowed that opportunity, thanks to that coach, and that's something which I very much regret to this day.

    I apologize to those here who might think I'm oversharing, but the direction of this conversation really struck a raw nerve with me, and I just had to put it out there and state my own feelings about the subject. I'll shut up now.

    Aloha.

    Parent

    I never saw the movie (none / 0) (#26)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Feb 21, 2017 at 07:42:54 PM EST
    Lolita is a 1955 novel written by Russian American novelist Vladimir Nabokov. The novel is notable for its controversial subject: the protagonist and unreliable narrator--a middle-aged literature professor called Humbert Humbert--is obsessed with the 12-year-old Dolores Haze, with whom he becomes sexually involved after he becomes her stepfather. "Lolita" is his private nickname for Dolores. The novel was originally written in English and first published in Paris in 1955 by Olympia Press. Later it was translated into Russian by Nabokov himself and published in New York in 1967 by Phaedra Publishers.


    Parent
    From a cinematic standpoint, Cap'n, ... (none / 0) (#29)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Tue Feb 21, 2017 at 08:45:16 PM EST
    ... and its subject matter from a personal standpoint aside, Stanley Kubrick's 1962 version of "Lolita" is highlighted by some truly outstanding performances by James Mason (engagingly creepy), Shelley Winters (as Mason's wife / doormat), Peter Sellers (in probably the darkest and most unsympathetic role of his storied career), and a young Sue Lyon as the title character.

    I would recommend this particular version over the darker 1997 one with Jeremy Irons and Melanie Griffith, even though the latter is supposed to be much more faithful to the eroticism of Vladimir Nabokov's 1955 novel.

    Kubrick much later admitted in an interview that he likely never would have agreed to make "Lolita," had he known just how strict the '60s-era censors would be about it, thanks to the Hays Code which was then still in force. As it was, the Catholic Legion of Decency waged war on Kubrick's film and in Britain, "Lolita" received an "X" rating, although it's actually quite restrained by contemporary standards.

    Nevertheless, "Lolita" was well-received by critics and audiences alike, and Kubrick received a Directors Guild of America award nomination for outstanding director. Further, its primary cast members were all nominated for Golden Globes that year -- Best Actor (Mason), Best Actress (Winters), Best Supporting Actor (Sellers) and Best Supporting Actress (Lyon). Nabokov himself received an Academy Award nomination for best adapted screenplay.

    I've seen the film, and really have no desire to watch it again. But as a film aficionado yourself, I've no doubt that you'll probably enjoy Kubrick's "Lolita." It's in TCM's vault and rotation, so it does air on that station every so often. Keep an eye out for it.

    Aloha.

    Parent

    There's another somewhat related James Mason (none / 0) (#30)
    by McBain on Tue Feb 21, 2017 at 08:55:26 PM EST
    film, Age of Consent, with Helen Mirren making her debut. It did well in Australia where it was filmed but was panned in Amercia as a skin flick.  I believe there were two versions released... in one a young Mirren swims around nude for about half the film.

    Parent
    You get a 10 for that post, Howdy (5.00 / 1) (#37)
    by Mr Natural on Tue Feb 21, 2017 at 11:59:53 PM EST
    Homophobia is coupled with the politically correct/legally mandated belief that somehow, in the minimum limiting case, a single day, the day of a birthday, makes the difference between a minor pathetically unable to decide anything or have a will of his own, and a fully functional adult who can do whatever he pleases.  Or whatever he's permitted to do by the surrounding protective hordes of self righteous prigs.

    You're also right about the scariest subjects being the most deserving of discussion.

    What do we get instead?  Soap Boxes and self important 'decrying' into a void.

    On the other hand, I personally watched "Milo" get his butt kicked out of a room yesterday.  And it was good.

       

    Parent

    The age (5.00 / 3) (#39)
    by FlJoe on Wed Feb 22, 2017 at 07:54:36 AM EST
    of consent may be arbitrary, but IMO unavoidable and it is definitely not limited to sexual relations. Age limits are set for a multitude of human endeavors including drinking, driving, voting, military service, signing contracts and more. It is both silly and impossible to take any much less all of these on a case by case basis. Are we self righteous prigs for not allowing 17 year olds to vote?

    As far as I can tell the legal system is full of arbitrary constraints, statues of limitations come to mind. There is no doubt that sexual predation of minors does exist, is wrong to try and protect them?

    Until some universal "maturity test" is developed and implemented chronological age is the only  tool we have to set limits on any issues that involve consent.

    IMO, allegation of homophobia is a giant straw man, as age of consent limits are "arbitrarily" assigned to a wide range of issues, most have them having nothing to do with sexual relations, and the ones that are were mostly written when homosexuality was closeted to the point of invisibility and probably were written  mostly for the protection of young girls.

    Parent

    Not sure who alleged homophobia (none / 0) (#47)
    by CaptHowdy on Wed Feb 22, 2017 at 12:24:37 PM EST
    It wasn't me.  But natural is very correct about the arbitrary nature of "legal age"

    The second-highest age of consent is 20 in South Korea, while the majority of other countries have an Age of Consent between 16 and 18. The lowest Age of Consent in the world is 11, in Nigeria. The age of consent is 12 in the Philippines and Angola, and 13 in Burkina Faso, Comoros, Niger, and Japan.

    To be clear I'm not sure I would lower the American age of consent much. Mostly because those of that age group are not allowed to grow up here as they in other countries.    IMO it is sociological more than biological.  

    But picking an age is arbitrary by nature.


    Parent

    "You connect the dots. (5.00 / 1) (#59)
    by Mr Natural on Wed Feb 22, 2017 at 01:20:56 PM EST
    ... You pick up the pieces."

    Under*g* sex was quite giddily turned into p*d*philia in this thread - despite a lack of any evidence of p*d*philia.  Anyone with questions can easily google the definition of p*d*philia.

    Why?  Because Milo is a deliberately provocative and offensive person who had the temerity to honestly describe a homosexual underage experience.  

    Since all anyone had to work with was the 14 year old Milo, Donald dragged in a fictional twelve year old girl.

    Having any sexual feelings at all was turned into 'acting out' being evidence of earlier sexual abuse by at least two posters.  In other words homosexual feelings aren't normal; they must be explained as the result of trauma.  ?????

    Parent

    Repeating myself (5.00 / 1) (#68)
    by NYShooter on Wed Feb 22, 2017 at 02:48:20 PM EST
    "According to surveys, 4.6 percent of the overall U.S. population has self-reported a suicide attempt, with that number climbing to between 10 and 20 percent for lesbian, gay or bisexual respondents. By comparison, 41 percent of trans or gender non-conforming people surveyed have attempted suicide.....Mar 5, 2015"
    ----------------------------------------

    The cold, hard fact of the matter is, no one can experience another's experience.

    Unless you've experienced it yourself, you can't begin to know what it's like to be incarcerated, fighting in war, or, an LGBT.

    You can sympathize, empathize, imagine, but, never....experience.

    That's what LGBT's understand......thus the suicide numbers. We've got a long way to go.

    Parent

    The transition occurs in less than a femtosecond (none / 0) (#54)
    by Mr Natural on Wed Feb 22, 2017 at 12:54:52 PM EST
    Anybody who ever passed a calculus course knows that the actual amount of time separating incapable from capable exists only as a vanishingly small number, as close to zero as it is possible to get.

    Are we to believe that a miraculous transformation occurs during that infinitesimal interval?  The instantiation of judgement, perspective, and caution in the brain of the transitioner?

    Parent

    He was hired by President Bannon (5.00 / 2) (#2)
    by Towanda on Tue Feb 21, 2017 at 12:05:30 AM EST
    and that ought to be worrisome about this White House.

    And now Milo is playing the victim -- after, yes, promoting pedophilia . . . as if all of his other horrors were not bad enough.

    This is NOT a comedian.  Try that claim with the trans student at my campus, who was publicly humiliated by Milo.

    But that his other horrors were not enough to stop right-wingers -- and President Bannon -- until now is telling.  And, of course, CPAC still is promoting an admitted sexual assaulter at its conference. . . .

    Astounding to me (5.00 / 4) (#3)
    by Ga6thDem on Tue Feb 21, 2017 at 06:26:37 AM EST
    that Neo Nazi views are fine at CPAC until this you tube interview went viral. Gawd what is wrong with these people.

    Parent
    Nymag on (5.00 / 1) (#8)
    by Nemi on Tue Feb 21, 2017 at 04:17:34 PM EST
    what happened at UW Milwaukee: Alt-Right Troll Milo Yiannopoulos Uses Campus Visit to Openly Mock a Transgender Student, including a link to the scathing email the student later wrote in response to Chancellor Mark Mone's email to campus. Part of the very long email from the student who was herself attending the speech:

    ... I was prepared in case they realized I'm trans (thankfully they didn't). I also knew Milo was going to regurgitate a profound amount of racist and transphobic hate. What I did not anticipate was being specifically targeted and called out in the way he did. I hadn't said anything or made even the slightest disruption: He had his harassment of me planned out well in advance. I'm sitting there and I hear him say "(my name)" and I just froze up. I have never, ever, ever been more terrified in my life of being outed. Ever. He put my picture up, which as already stated, was taken from a prior period when my masculine features were significantly more sharp and extremely noticeable. And I am sitting there frozen in total terror that somebody around me would recognize me, point me out, and incite the mob of the room against me. Nobody did point me out, thank god. But do you have ANY idea how much power Milo had and how it feels to pray that your ability to "pass" doesn't fail you now? That's what it was like. F*ck, you can't even appreciate what I'm writing. You say you do but you really don't. You do NOT have this perspective. I was looking at the stage, consciously aware of trying to not look "suspicious" and reveal I was the person he was talking about (even as I could feel the color draining from my face), but also not looking at Milo directly `lest he recognize me and instantly set off dozens of people screaming at me.


    Parent
    Towanda, I watched that video ... (5.00 / 1) (#27)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Tue Feb 21, 2017 at 08:01:10 PM EST
    ... or most of it anyway, and my immediate impression was that he wasn't so much defending pedophilia, as he was attempting to minimize its real and perceived impact upon its underage victims, which was horrific enough. Maybe that's one and the same, I don't know -- but he's still creepy and cringe-worthy, nonetheless.

    I've spent more than enough time discussing Milo Yiannopolous in other threads, so I'll take my leave here. Personally, I find him to be nothing more than an attention-seeking shock queen for whom any publicity is good publicity -- that is, until yesterday's and today's events, I'm sure.

    I just really wish that the mainstream media would cease using this self-loathing and malevolent yahoo as clickbait by granting him so much airtime and bandwidth, which serves only to further provoke an emotionally-driven confrontation between left and right, rather than prompt or stimulate some honest dialogue.

    Aloha.

    Parent

    Exactly (none / 0) (#4)
    by Nemi on Tue Feb 21, 2017 at 07:06:18 AM EST
    as if all of his other horrors were not bad enough.

    Like harassing people on Twitter to the extend that Twitter had to ban him. Which I believe takes quite a lot.

    His targets seems to have been mostly women and black people, so to him Leslie Jones must have felt like a 'twofer'! The whole Leslie Jones Twitter feud, explained. But obviously neither that nor his other harassments were enough to stop invitations or a book deal with Simon & Schuster. He has since been disinvited to the CPAC and the book deal has been cancelled, but still that too, like being banned from Twitter, took quite a lot. A lot more than 'just' being sexist and r*cist.

    After having watched Milo Yiannopoulos -- being all coy and flirty -- a couple of days ago on the Bill Maher Show, I realized that up until then I had actually only read about and seen still photos of him. So searching for videos I learned two more things, 1.: He looks very different in different videos and not only due to the changing hair colour. I still wouldn't recognize him if not for the name.

    And 2.: Many of the videos on YouTube indicate they must have been uploaded by his fans, with titles like 'Milo Owns Feminist' and similar.

    Actually I learned one more thing, 3.: If viewing numbers are any indication his fan base must be huge.

    Parent

    Towanda, I believe Desertswine was being (none / 0) (#10)
    by vml68 on Tue Feb 21, 2017 at 04:27:27 PM EST
    sarcastic with his "comedian" comment.
    He/she basically repeated verbatim what McBain said in the Friday Open Thread and just changed the words "left" to "right".

    Parent
    You are correct vml... (5.00 / 1) (#38)
    by desertswine on Wed Feb 22, 2017 at 01:23:51 AM EST
    thank you;  perhaps I could have expressed myself better.

    Parent
    In the context of the entire comment (none / 0) (#19)
    by Towanda on Tue Feb 21, 2017 at 06:04:39 PM EST
    that does not make sense to me.

    If it does to you, that's fine for you.

    Parent

    First CPAC and now Breitbart News. (5.00 / 1) (#6)
    by KeysDan on Tue Feb 21, 2017 at 03:34:38 PM EST
    Milo Yiannopoulos has resigned from Breitbart; Milo claims that he did not speak with Bannon, chair of Breitbart now on leave of absence, about his decision.  Milo stated that he used a "poor choice of words", which apparently gets you in a lot of trouble at Breitbart as well as with CPAC.

    And, it is easy to see why. (from the transcript): "I'm automatically attracted to beautiful (women). I just start kissing them.  It's like a magnet. Just kiss.  I don't wait. And when you are a star they let you do it.  You can do anything. Grab them by the pussy.  You can do anything."

    Oops.  that was the wrong transcript.  I'll try to find the outrageous choice of words by Milo.  

    And now, Milo ought to be deported (5.00 / 1) (#9)
    by Towanda on Tue Feb 21, 2017 at 04:18:21 PM EST
    because his 0-1 visa is for employment here.

    President Bannon will get right on that, for sure.

    Parent

    Maybe Bannon can (5.00 / 3) (#13)
    by KeysDan on Tue Feb 21, 2017 at 04:51:39 PM EST
    use this defense for his pal, Milo:  "Just locker room talk."  It has worked before.

    Parent
    Southern Poverty Law Center calls Milo (5.00 / 3) (#35)
    by Towanda on Tue Feb 21, 2017 at 09:41:50 PM EST
    "the person who propelled the alt-right movement into the mainstream."

    There is no defense of that bully and what he has done.  

    While it now appears that MY's bullying, (5.00 / 2) (#36)
    by Peter G on Tue Feb 21, 2017 at 10:37:49 PM EST
    attention-seeking, and otherwise negative behavior toward others may very well stem from an unresolved reaction to his own childhood sexual abuse -- something I see in far too many of my criminal clients -- that does  not mean that we have to side with him, justify his behavior, or ignore its impact on others. It happens that he is also very bright, witty, handsome and sometimes charming. (Reminds me a bit in this regard of the late Christopher Hitchens.) These attributes have allowed him to become successful in alt-right media circles, which sadly hold some power in the White House. This makes him dangerous to America. That his downfall may be triggered by something that is basically "off-topic" from the heart of his nefarious impact -- and which, as Howdy points out, is being partly misrepresented -- is not a sufficient reason to stick up for him now.

    Parent
    Is this big news (5.00 / 1) (#56)
    by jondee on Wed Feb 22, 2017 at 01:00:42 PM EST
    that a helluva a lot of things that are ultimately bad for us and others feel good in the moment?

    This was covered in the Vedas and Homer, fer f*ck sake.

    "Sometimes I think it's a sin when I feel like I'm winnin' when I'm losin' again"

    The fact that people can claim "we haven't had this Adult conversation" is more a reflection of growing illiteracy and the orgy of ignorance that mass-popular culture has degenerated into, than a lack of easily accessible information and "discussion" taking place.

     

    Parent

    I hear zero Hitchens in Milo (5.00 / 1) (#69)
    by Militarytracy on Wed Feb 22, 2017 at 05:00:04 PM EST
    And as my son points out, someone who has studied Milo for months and argued with me about the free speech thang, Milo's stories about what he has experienced sexually at 14 have changed a couple times.

    Parent
    Maher called him Hitchens (none / 0) (#43)
    by Dadler on Wed Feb 22, 2017 at 10:46:06 AM EST
    Hitchens was a difficult cat, but he had a very robust intellect he was working from. M.Y. has no such thing. Zero.

    Parent
    Right (none / 0) (#55)
    by Nemi on Wed Feb 22, 2017 at 12:54:56 PM EST
    From article by Dorian Lynskey in The Guardian, The rise and fall of Milo Yiannopoulos - how a shallow actor played the bad guy for money:

    In the incriminating clip, Yiannopoulos prefaces his remarks with a coy, "This is a controversial point of view, I accept", this being his default shtick. Maher absurdly described him as "a young, gay, alive Christopher Hitchens" - a contrarian fly in the ointment, rattling smug liberal certainties - but Hitchens had wit, intellect and principle, while Yiannopoulos has only chutzpah and ruthless opportunism. Understanding Yiannopoulos requires a version of Occam's Razor: the most obvious answer is the correct one. What does he actually believe in? Nothing except his own brand and the monetisable notoriety that fuels it. That's Milo's Razor. Understanding how he got this far is more unnerving.

    And Peter Bradshaw on the same subject, I put Milo Yiannopoulos through the Christopher Hitchens test. He failed:

    ... But his writing was and is glorious. Read any review, any essay by Hitchens, and you see him meet the mighty on equal terms. Where most journalists, however grand, are scribbling away up in the bleachers, Hitchens strides out on to the field and confronts his subject - a player. He was a writer who was never a provocateur for its own sake. He was interested in books, ideas, people. Even Yiannopoulos's reedy voice is nothing to Hitchens's basso profundo. Actually, Maher got it right earlier in the interview: he compared Yiannopoulos to Sacha Baron Cohen's gay Austrian fashion model Bruno. Yes. Minus the laughs.


    Parent
    Hitchens did, on rare occasions (none / 0) (#74)
    by jondee on Wed Feb 22, 2017 at 06:14:10 PM EST
    play the contrarian provacateur for the sake of it. Especially when he was moving into his neocon phase and sounded at times like he wanted to be the fourteen year old to Paul Wolfowitz's Roman Senator.

    He also once wrote an ignorance-fueled essay in the Nation about Columbus Day, in which he basically celebrated the barbarous wiping out of the Arawak Indians as some sort of victory of the enlightened West over the "forces of reaction".

    But, you're right, juxtaposed to someone like Milo, Hitchens could mistaken for another Voltaire.

    Parent

    Otoh (none / 0) (#76)
    by CaptHowdy on Wed Feb 22, 2017 at 06:19:37 PM EST
    The argument could be made Milo is the perfect Hitchens for the age of Trump.

    And yes Hitchens was the original agent provocateur, or one of them.

    Parent

    As Jackie Treehorn said (none / 0) (#79)
    by jondee on Wed Feb 22, 2017 at 06:27:40 PM EST
    standards in adult entertainment have fallen in recent years..

    Parent
    "may?" Counselor? (none / 0) (#48)
    by Mr Natural on Wed Feb 22, 2017 at 12:26:31 PM EST
    Assumptions, sir... make guesswork of the best reasoning.

    Parent
    He's a clown and, my hunch, a liar (5.00 / 6) (#42)
    by Dadler on Wed Feb 22, 2017 at 10:43:13 AM EST
    I don't believe a word coming out of his mouth. No one who was truly molested (in the criminal sense) talks about it that way. As a kid violated twice by adults, eff you to anyone who thinks this clown has anything to say. He opens his mouth and harms people. He behaves and harms people. He's a certifiable piece of sh*t with peanuts encrusted in his face. He has nothing of value to contribute. If he did, he wouldn't be cowering in front of the media he has spent a "career" lambasting trying to get his cash cow back. His mea culpa is proof positive he has a charlatan and a phony. Eff him, couldn't are less what happens to him. When you make it your life to spread bullshit that wounds already wounded people, just go away or drop dead or both. Assh*le.

    Milo has plenty to say (none / 0) (#46)
    by McBain on Wed Feb 22, 2017 at 12:20:25 PM EST
    Some of it self serving, some of it insulting (like your ridiculous post), but he does make some interesting points.  I'm not sure I'd want to read his book but hope Bill Maher continues to have him as a guest.

    Parent
    From (none / 0) (#5)
    by FlJoe on Tue Feb 21, 2017 at 10:40:17 AM EST
    Milo to Yahweh Ben Yahweh . Who says that Trump doesn't have a big tent?

    Let's not pretend (none / 0) (#14)
    by smott on Tue Feb 21, 2017 at 04:59:19 PM EST
    That S&S (or of course CPAC) suddenly grew a conscience.
    Milo just went from money-maker to money-loser, that is all.
    No morals in capitalism.

    Couldn't happen to a nicer pedophile, I suppose though.

    I understand the Breitbart and CPAC part (none / 0) (#20)
    by McBain on Tue Feb 21, 2017 at 06:16:46 PM EST
    I don't necessarily agree with it but I understand....  conservatives uptight about sex/ rush to judgement.... but not losing the book deal.  I would think he's even more interesting now.  If nothing else, Milo will be the subject of an interesting documentary some day.

    Rather (5.00 / 1) (#21)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Feb 21, 2017 at 06:26:35 PM EST
    Mercinary.  And a typical useful lamp for the fog of the right.

    And probably true.   There will be other book deals.  

    Above Dan mentioned Trumps locker room talk excuse working on this.  No.  This is a whole other thing.   Watching the CPAC weasels run for cover is really fun.  

    Parent

    What I find interesting here (none / 0) (#22)
    by McBain on Tue Feb 21, 2017 at 06:37:28 PM EST
    is how our society reacts to certain things. We seem to want our sexual abuse victims to have eternal disdain for their abusers. No forgiveness and certainty never mention that they enjoyed any part of the assault in anyway or now have fantasies based on it.  It can become like a second assault because now they feel guilt.

    Parent
    A very serious misunderstanding, McB (5.00 / 1) (#24)
    by Peter G on Tue Feb 21, 2017 at 07:33:58 PM EST
    of what Howdy was saying. IMHO. Not about "enjoying" an "assault." Not at all. That misinterpretation is unfortunately all too consistent with your repeated excuse-making for rape, as you have done on this blog in numerous comments over the years. Read Howdy's first comment again with an open mind, if you can.

    Parent
    Thank you (5.00 / 2) (#25)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Feb 21, 2017 at 07:40:33 PM EST


    Parent
    I have a very open mind (none / 0) (#28)
    by McBain on Tue Feb 21, 2017 at 08:33:49 PM EST
    I was referring to what I find interesting in Milo's comments.. both in the video Howdy linked and others. I hope to one day see that explored in a well made documentary.

    Show me where I ever made an excuse for rape or apologize for your false accusation.

    I happen to find this topic interesting because of how hypocritical people are... both left and right.  In a somewhat related case, Roman Polanski's victim has repeated forgiven him.  She wants him to be able to return to this country.  That's not making an excuse, that's someone who doesn't want to be a "victim" all her life.

    This goes back to what Howdy and I were discussing ealier, this country isn't ready for a honest discussion of human sexuality.  I'd like to go into more detail but I don't think you and others here are mature enough to handle a talk about older/younger, dominant/submissive sex.  It probably isn't what Jeralyn wants on her blog either.

    Parent

    A review of your comments over just (5.00 / 3) (#32)
    by Peter G on Tue Feb 21, 2017 at 09:01:44 PM EST
    the last year shows a frequent return to your view that there is widespread injustice in rape allegations. The thread beginning here is particularly informative. Our hostess dislikes rehashing old comments, however.

    Parent
    So, basically, you have nothing (1.20 / 5) (#33)
    by McBain on Tue Feb 21, 2017 at 09:11:28 PM EST
    A view of injustice in rape allegations isn't making excuses for rape.  You know it.  I didn't think you would sink the level of others in here but I guess I was wrong.  

    What our hostess really doesn't like is false, potentially libelous accusations.  All you have to do is admit you were wrong here and all is forgiven.  You can tell me my overall view is incorrect but you need to apologize in some way or else you don't have any honor.

    Parent

    Your overall view is incorrect (5.00 / 1) (#34)
    by Peter G on Tue Feb 21, 2017 at 09:19:23 PM EST
    I don't agree with any part of the rest of your comment. And please don't presume to tell me what I "know." What I do know is that I don't want to distract any further from the important and nuanced point that Cap'n Howdy was making.

    Parent
    What you know (1.00 / 1) (#40)
    by McBain on Wed Feb 22, 2017 at 10:25:47 AM EST
    is that you got caught making a false accusation/ personal attack and now you're making excuses.  Dress it up anyway you want, you made a libelous claim you couldn't back up.

    There are others in  here that do that all the time.  Sometimes Jeralyn deletes their comments and gives a warning, sometimes she doesn't' see it.  I stopped responding to those people because they don't deserve the time of day. Should I add you to the list?


    Parent

    Oh Peter! What are you going to do?! (5.00 / 3) (#41)
    by vml68 on Wed Feb 22, 2017 at 10:38:51 AM EST
    I stopped responding to those people because they don't deserve the time of day. Should I add you to the list?

    Be strong. You will survive this. :-)

    Parent

    Oh ... dear .... GAWD (none / 0) (#52)
    by Yman on Wed Feb 22, 2017 at 12:43:29 PM EST
    Not "the list"!!!  Anything but "the list"!!!

    Pffffttttttt ...

    BTW - PeterG's claim was 100% accurate and not remotely "libelous".

    Parent

    I mentioned before a recurrent thread (none / 0) (#58)
    by jondee on Wed Feb 22, 2017 at 01:17:00 PM EST
    in your posts, Mc, that may extend beyond the present "assault" discussion..

    A seeming sense of solidarity with abusers of different stripes..like brutal cops for instance, and gun-wielding Stand Your Grounders..

    Parent

    You can rush to judgement all you want (1.00 / 1) (#62)
    by McBain on Wed Feb 22, 2017 at 01:45:38 PM EST
    just don't make false allegations like Peter did.   If you don't like something I said be specific, be honest and don't be a coward.  

    Parent
    I'm liking this Peter guy (5.00 / 1) (#64)
    by jondee on Wed Feb 22, 2017 at 01:48:45 PM EST
    more and more, all the time.

    Parent
    PeterG's response WAS honest (5.00 / 3) (#67)
    by Yman on Wed Feb 22, 2017 at 02:44:49 PM EST
    Moreover, people can choose to respond however they like.  Suggesting that responses you don't like are "cowardly" is ridiculous.

    Parent
    I'll tell what's unforgiving (none / 0) (#61)
    by jondee on Wed Feb 22, 2017 at 01:35:08 PM EST
    and eternally disdainful: shooting someone five times in the back..

    When a bright, sensitive (in his way) guy like Milo publicly spouts the way he did, I sense a masochistic urge to self-sabotage and be punished.

    Which what is happening.

    Hopefully it's the start of the law of karma flushing Breitbart down the toilet hole, as well.

    Parent

    Being a good conservative (none / 0) (#73)
    by KeysDan on Wed Feb 22, 2017 at 05:52:21 PM EST
    these days seems to have less to do with tax policy, trade, deficits, abortion, and more to do with  outrageous, carnival atmospherics. The foundations of which are attacks on "liberals" and political correctness served up with misogyny, laced with bigotry of all stripes, with a special focus upon immigrants and that real threat to the democracy: trans people and their bathroom usage.

    Milo Yianopoulos (b.Hanrahan) became a Bsnnon and CPAC darling owing to his attaboy provocateurism. While CPAC would not accept the Republican gay group, Log Cabin, they were able to overlook (if not, in some cases, look over) Milo and his gayness. And, probably, had no clear notion of his conservative bona fides, if any. And, did not care. Berkeley  so called riots and all.

    And, yes, Milo's belatedly ascertained comments were one provocation too much.  He did not stick to the acceptable con based on harmful and hateful attacks. And, getting liberals goat. Not a real, modern day conservative.  And, yes, this is a case where what worked for his Daddy, as he calls Trump, will not work for him. More lock him up talk likely, than locker room talk.

    Parent

    What is currently happening to (none / 0) (#75)
    by CaptHowdy on Wed Feb 22, 2017 at 06:16:38 PM EST
    "Conservatism" makes me think of what was happening to Christianity before the put the bible together.  All these crazy fringe groups calling themselves conservatism.  

    Seriously, a step back please.  A whack job pushing the libertarian side of underage sex.

    Tell me you expected that.


    Parent

    The GOP has its limits (none / 0) (#44)
    by ruffian on Wed Feb 22, 2017 at 11:59:24 AM EST
    They may be remembering that in 2006 the scandals around Mark Foley, Sen. 'Wide Stance', and others were a big part of what cost them the House. They will put up with Nazis and all other manner of other misbehavior. MY with them until he went down that particular road.  

    Where (none / 0) (#50)
    by CaptHowdy on Wed Feb 22, 2017 at 12:34:36 PM EST
    "The libertarian meets the road"

    Parent
    I brake for animals (none / 0) (#51)
    by jondee on Wed Feb 22, 2017 at 12:43:20 PM EST
    but I draw the line at libertarians.

    Parent
    Wonder how he likes the view (none / 0) (#53)
    by CaptHowdy on Wed Feb 22, 2017 at 12:52:04 PM EST
    From under that bus wher he threw so many.

    Parent
    Well, it may be that (none / 0) (#57)
    by jondee on Wed Feb 22, 2017 at 01:10:17 PM EST
    as Peter suggested, this guy had an early experience of a kind of oppression and exploitation and his unconscious psychological solution was to side with the oppressors, so to speak..

    The most glaring examples of that that we've all heard about are the stories of vicious prison trustees and people who became kapos in concentration camps.

    Parent

    I honestly don't think so (none / 0) (#60)
    by CaptHowdy on Wed Feb 22, 2017 at 01:33:40 PM EST
    I think he was being completely honest.  I think he may have a sort of chip on his shoulder resulting in a need for confrontation about it mostly because of the range of the political spectrum he chooses to exist in but IMO if you think he was "traumatized" by the encounter he described you were not listening.  

    IMO two completely different (at minimum) things are being jumbled together.  Some on discussed being molested as a child.  Milo, as far as I can tell from the story that sounds like a thousand others I've heard, was not molested.  
    Not in that way,  
    You see you hear all the time about young men being seduced by priests or whoever and why do you hear about it?   Because they were seduced.  They were violated and so we hear anout it.  As we should.  

    What you don't hear about is the many many times a day that under age persons lure adult persons into a compromising situation and exploit it.  I've done this hundreds of times before the age of 21.  Or whatever the age was at the time.  Why don't we hear about this, you might ask?
    It's pretty simple.  No one is aggrieved.  I have personally manipulated adult straight men into sex that I'm sure they regretted later.  Probably a lot.
    It's not like they will go to the police and say this evil 15 yo seduced me, arrest him.  Is it?

    Anyway, the point of this arguable over share is weep not for Milo.  The priest did not traumatized him.  Milo is just fine.  Thank you very much.

    Parent

    To me it looks like he wants (none / 0) (#63)
    by jondee on Wed Feb 22, 2017 at 01:46:37 PM EST
    to punished.

    I don't think he's being the Rosa Parks of older man-younger man sex.

    He's knows the hard-right and their attitudes about sex better than anyone and he's very aware of all the stuff that went down with the abuser priests and young boys and girls..

    He had to be aware on some level of the shit-storm he'd illicit by saying what he did.

    Parent

    Of course he did (none / 0) (#65)
    by CaptHowdy on Wed Feb 22, 2017 at 01:57:47 PM EST
    He is a provocateur.  He's now a household name.  Not a small thing with a name like Milo Yiannopolous.

    Parent
    At least he's Greek, right? (5.00 / 1) (#66)
    by jondee on Wed Feb 22, 2017 at 02:10:11 PM EST


    Parent
    From (5.00 / 2) (#72)
    by Nemi on Wed Feb 22, 2017 at 05:37:41 PM EST
    previously linked article:

    Yiannopoulos was born Milo Hanrahan in Kent in 1984 and grew up in a financially comfortable but emotionally fraught family. He later adopted his beloved Greek grandmother's surname, but prefers the pop-starry mononym Milo. On Twitter, before he was permanently banned last July, he operated as @nero. After dropping out of two universities - Manchester and Cambridge - he wrote for the Catholic Herald and covered technology for the Daily Telegraph. On the Telegraph's blog pages, under editor Damian Thompson, he became a professional troll; a clickbait provocateur who hated the left more than he loved anything.


    Parent
    I don't think that is (none / 0) (#77)
    by CaptHowdy on Wed Feb 22, 2017 at 06:20:31 PM EST
    What he meant.  Really.

    Parent
    No. He changed his name (none / 0) (#71)
    by Towanda on Wed Feb 22, 2017 at 05:34:55 PM EST
    to his stepfather's name.

    His birth name was Hanrahan.  

    As my Celtic clan says, the bully Is shanty Irish.  

    (That is not a compliment.)

    Parent

    In retrospect (5.00 / 1) (#78)
    by jondee on Wed Feb 22, 2017 at 06:24:05 PM EST
    maybe the twitter name Nero should've been a heads-up.

    Parent
    Milo Y. Loses Book Deal, Gets Canned from Conservative Conference | 81 comments (81 topical)

    Readers Must Login or Create an Account to Comment