In one of the all-time great moments in the history of schadenfraude, the career of conservative personality/provacateur/real-life super villain milo yiannopoulos appeared to come to an abrupt end Monday. The surfacing of comments from an old interview in which Yiannopoulos appeared to defend pedophilia caused the controversial commentator to lose his speaking slot at the Conservative Political Action Conference and his book deal with Simon & Schuster. Breitbart News, according to multiple media reports, was under pressure to cut ties with Milo as well.
After years of vile behavior, from his role in the harassment campaign Gamergate to numerous threats and hateful statements directed at just about every minority imaginable, Milo’s sudden fall comes as music to the ears of a whole lot of people. But it’s also a hint that perhaps the political moment of which he’s a part may have finally reached a breaking point.
Milo and the Nasty Style
Much like the man he calls “Daddy” — the president of the United States, Donald Trump — Milo has for years stood at the forefront of a particularly ugly tendency in the conservatism of 21st Century America: Say the most vile, offensive thing possible, usually directed towards women, overweight people, or various sexual and religious minorities.
Wait for liberals to respond with outrage, and then defend, martyr and elevate yourself based on that outrage. Claim heroism based on “censorship” and “not being politically incorrect,” and build a whole career on doing this over and over again. And after all, if you’re angering liberals, you must be doing something right.
Ann Coulter practically invented this, politicians like Michele Bachmann and Steve King perfected it, and now we have Trump, Milo and the alt-right.
Sure, Milo took this further than most, dabbling in such disgusting acts as outing trans people, organizing actual real-life harassment campaigns and playing a huge role in the rise of the alt-right movement. When, as they often have, liberals and leftists foolishly took the bait and started a riot to prevent his speaking in Berkeley last month, it only served to elevate his odious message further.
But just as the comical bumbling of Trump’s first month in office has exposed the limits of his version of the schtick, Yiannopoulos’ musings on sex with children have shown that yes, there is a limit to how nasty the nasty style can go.
Milo and the many hypocrisies
Of course, the fall of Milo exposes a laughably long list of hypocrisies. For the last month, we’ve been told that disinviting Milo Yiannopoulos from a speech, especially under pressure, is censorship, un-American and the literally the worst thing an institution could do. Then CPAC… disinvited Milo from a speech.
Both CPAC and Breitbart have hosted dozens and dozens of racist, sexist and otherwise vile statements over the years- but this, and only this, is a bridge too far.
The group of Breitbart staffers threatening to resign didn’t resign at numerous junctures in recent years, including the time a Breitbart reporter was assaulted by Trump’s campaign manager and Breitbart took the side of the campaign manager.
And in the end, aren’t CPAC, Breitbart, and anyone else cutting ties with Milo just “snowflakes,” who are “triggered” and “need a safe space”?
The pedophilia comments, on the offensiveness scale, is probably a 10 out of 10, and the worst thing Milo has ever said. But throughout his career there have been a whole lot of 8s and 9s.
Milo Yiannopoulos’ fall is long overdue, and if this scandal means we never see him again, it will be a blessing. But let it be a further lesson: If a public figure makes a career of saying and doing hateful things, there’s probably something way darker lurking below.
