Milo and Me

Milo Yiannopoulos, now that's a mouthful. That's not an oral sex joke. Okay, it was an oral sex joke, aren't I outrageous? No? You're right of course, I'm very boring compared to Milo. Like Cher or Prince, you only need to say one name, Milo.

I freely and proudly admit that up until about a year and a half ago I really didn't know who Milo was. His name and contribution to public dialogue was on my periphery. So I did a little research to see what all the chatter was about. A young gay guy from Britain with Greek heritage who's political opinions are slightly to the right of Attila the Hung, I mean Hun. That phrase to the right of Attila the Hun, is that really accurate, I can't see how. Milo is a self described provocateur and champion of free speech. He debated Boy George on British Television over gay marriage. Milo was opposed at that time and yes he was an out gay man. At the time he wrote for a Catholic newspaper, yeah I know, go with it. He did some other pressy things and in 2014 he was hired by Breitbart News Chairman Steve Bannon, where he met with great success pissing off as many people as possible. He became a popular, if not always hated, lecturer.

Flash, get your mind out of the gutter, forward. In recent weeks Milo has been caught up in a whirlwind of controversy and has taken a real creaming. He was invited to speak at Berkeley but a bunch of ninja suited asswipes created a violent riot. It was so bad that Berkeley officials had to cancel the event and have security get Milo off campus for his own safety. Later Milo would blast the Berkeley officials for shutting down free speech, even President Trumpelstiltskin got in on the act threatening Berkeley. Both Milo and Trumpy were wrong about who was to blame. It was the assholes who turned to violence who are to blame. Let's keep it real.

The past few days have seen the meteoric fall of Milo or so it would seem. Milo was invited to speak at C.P.A.C., this was opposed by a number of conservatives and behold video of an interview with Milo purporting to suggest that Milo endorses pedophilia. At first it might appear that way but in reality he doesn't. This major drama resulted in Simon and Schuster dumping a book deal with him, for which they paid him a $250,000.00 advance, C.P.A.C. dumped his appearance and most importantly he lost his job as an editor at Breitbart. He says he resigned for the sake of his colleagues but other reports suggest some of his colleagues made it clear they would leave if he remained, either way he's out. Milo held a press conference and did indeed state firmly that he does not support pedophilia and that he himself was in fact a victim of sexual abuse as a teenager but did not realize it at the time. You can watch all of these things for yourself. The original interview with Joe Rogan and all that has followed. If the story interests you, you should, if not, fuck it.

Has Milo been treated unfairly? Not really. It goes with the territory of being outrageous and it is the outrageous that has enabled Milo to become somebody certain audiences follow and for which he has made a lucrative living. Milo may be going down right now but I suspect he will rise again. He will find platforms to promulgate his views and he certainly will have lecture opportunities. Many people are gleefully spewing on Milo's face but he will have the last laugh. The shock talkers of the world never go silently away, they stroke the erogenous zones of a public longing to be titilated with bold thrusts of thought.

You may be wondering why I have written this commentary but I should think it's obvious, for my own personal delight. The pleasure of manipulating my words is orgasmic and is all the prodding I require.

The big difference between Milo and Me is that he casually wears pearls, while I only wear them to funerals and weddings.