Thursday, May 12, 2016

The Dangerous Faggot Tour



Milo Yiannopoulos: The Dangerous Faggot Tour (Rutgers)


Where do we begin? I think that posing the question, "Is there ANYTHING dangerous about this faggot?" would be a good place. Seems to me to get at the crux of any real meaning we might walk away with here...

I think NOT, by the way.  I mean, not dangerous. I think that what we see here are some bright, young people (and let's face it, for university students  self-righteous certainty that they see clearly what everyone else can't, and that they understand how dumb the rest of the world is because of that, is often the drug of choice)... and here we see them high on that drug and consequently thoroughly enjoying a speaker who embodies for them what we might call the power and glory of Smarter-Than-Thou Contrarianism.

This video, by the way, is the recording of an event, the Young Americans for Liberty - New Jersey Chapter's convention (held at Rutger's University) and its featured speech by Milo Yiannopoulos, a hyper-bright and successful young man who describes himself as a "dangerous faggot." It's a description he waves like a red flag to a world that, I think, he hopes will charge it like an enraged bull. The moderator of the session introduces him stating to the crowd (roughly 450 young people according to the video poster's description) "As you know, we are here talking about PC Culture - talking about Freedom of Speech...  We have Breitbart Technology Editor, and Media Firebrand, Milo Yiannopoulos... so please give him a warm welcome!" And the crowd obliges, applauding and cheering loudly... 

And with that the moderator leaves the stage to be replaced by a figure who might have just walked off a movie set to take the podium. For a man who's been introduced to talk about Freedom of Speech vs. PC culture (Political Correctness) he looks little like what traditionalists might expect. Tall and handsome, he's wearing the very hip white shirt, dark sports coat, and purple tie combination made popular by the likes of Charlie Rose and Bill Maher in recent years, and doing the "check out my dark, dark glasses even though we're indoors thing... glasses that go well with his high styled coif of bleached blond hair with little bits of dark roots showing through. He casts a general impression of a David Bowie with a little Tom Wolfe (the apotheosis of sartorial splendor, novelist) and a soupcon of the ultra groovy (also bleached blond) John 5, guitarist for Rob Zombie and Marilyn Manson thrown in. When he opens his mouth and as his upper crust, British accent rolls out he seals the deal. He IS the world's reigning fop, metrosexual intellectual of the moment. Don't even think about finding a worthy opponent.

And although we might wonder about all the effort he's put in to the visual figure he cuts, he's not there to be seen; he's there have his ideas heard. So let's move on...


He opens with a flourish, dramatically swapping his sun shades for more conventional glasses, stating "Your sassy gay uncle has come to spread the love here..." and then goes on to explain  "Let me tell you briefly why I think there are some problems on campus at the moment... particularly with Free Speech and... why it matters, although you might think that the people who are asking for Free Speech to be shut down, demanding safe spaces and talking of trigger warnings, with all manner of other bollocks, actually have a sort of outsized influence compared to their actual numbers..."

And then he turns to the audience and asks "Is there anyone here who hates me?" and in response to what could only be (off camera) the show of a few hands, he brightens and ebulliently gestures broadly to the crowd crowing "Yes! There we go! Thank you!" and with his eyes turned heavenward he lets the crowd cheer and jeer and boo and hoot those few who've taken the bait and offered themselves up as sacrificial lambs. And with that, all present (and us watching via YouTube) know that some sort of juggernaut has been launched and pushed out into the center of the stream for a hell of a ride. The guy's good!

Milo works his way through a few bits of low hanging fruit "the politically correct descriptions of our age." first, 1) feminism and the gender wage gap... "Does anyone in here believe that women are paid less than men for the same work? Put your hand up!.. Everyone who put your hands up... you're idiots!" he states, getting the laugh he was after from a crowd that is so thoroughly in his corner. But to be fair about it, he does say it in good fun... and then, 2) "Does anyone here believe that there is a pervasive culture of rape... that means that American universities have higher rates of sexual assault than The Congo... more than 1 in 5 women have been sexually assaulted... Does anybody believe that? Anyone? No?.. Fewer idiots on that one! Good. Well that's something!..  These claims, based on advocacy research, repeated by credulous journalists are designed to do one thing; they're designed to push a particular political ideology on you that is divisive, hateful, bigoted, in many cases racist, in many cases sexist..." and then Milo lowers his voice and curling his lips and shrugging his shoulders in imitation of a conspiratorial 'just between the two of us' says "and there just not much fun... and I like fun!"

... and then he goes on to explain in detail why he's right about these things. And, as this is an educated, shrewd, eloquent dude who's clearly done a bunch of homework, his explanations seem pretty knowledgeable and eminently sensible. And, of course, as he is preaching to a very enthusiastic choir, his point go over really well.

By the way, our dangerous faggot here saves what seems to me to be his show stopper for a while and doesn't uncork his disdain for the Black Lives Matter movement until  enough of  these proceedings have gone on to establish the extraordinary context in which he shares it. But at 10 minutes and 10 seconds in, Milo informs his audience that "Ladies and Gentlemen, there is no one to whom Black lives matter more than me!" Titters of laughter from the crowd. "But what I find interesting about the movement, regardless of their stated name, is just how much like the KKK their objectives are."

And to be fair to Mr. Yiannopoulos, I have cherry picked the things I quote him as saying in this piece and have chosen the ones that I feel help me highlight what's noteworthy here and make whatever point it is that I am trying to make, although at this point I'm not sure what that really is.  I guess all I really have to say is that through this YouTube video, I have stumbled on something that I find truly fascinating and that I feel somehow has significance for those trying to grok the spirit of our age. But before I close here, thoroughly recommending that you not take my word on any of what I've said and watch the video through for yourself a time or two to get it  - and I admit that in our day and age that's a hollow recommendation because, let's face it, we are no longer the kind of humans who are often willing to invest that sort of time or effort - let me say that I am NOT one of those in the room who hates Mr. Yiannopoulos. In fact, I simply do not see him as dangerous enough, or actually anything enough, for that to be the case. This is a talented man who has some things to say and that's nothing to hate or lose sleep over.


The above would have been a good, or good enough,  point at which to finish this piece; but  then... then… that YouTube pile of other, related videos that one might be interested in, the one over on the right of the screen sucked me back in with the gem below. And so, here we go again.... What does this one show? Why, it’s the very people that Yiannopoulos has just railed against, likely the ones who raised their hands during his opening to show their solidarity with the points that drew his disdainful comments and the boos and hoots of the vast majority of audience members  surrounding them, who are now shown. We are viewing this scene from a vantage point that trains the lens on them in the audience and not on Yiannopoulos on the stage.  And my, what carrying!  We see what are described to us by the poster of this video as feminists who are smearing their faces with mock menstrual blood and then “a bunch of Black People stand up and start changing ‘Black Lives Matter!’ and then a bunch of White People stand up and start chanting ‘Trump, Trump, Trump!”

OK, so help an old man out here… is this: Politics? Entertainment? Theater? Recreation? Bizarre bonding? Coming of age in an age of confusion? Some sort of blend? All of the above? None of the above? Which is it?

Surprisingly, I feel compelled to point out after sharing all of the above that these kids are all so polite in their outrage and acting out. Even the feminist with the red paint smeared on her face who gives the entire crowd the finger, does so in a contextually well called for manner as she storms out of the auditorium.  Maybe there’s hope yet…


Rutgers Students Hold ‘Group Therapy Session’ After Milo Yiannopoulos Leaves Them Severely Butt-Hurt

 

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