discuss. repress.
Like many of you, I watched with barely contained glee as resident Breitbart troll under the bridge Milo Yiannopoulos went down in flames of his own making this week with the discovery of incendiary statements he made several years back regarding molestation, paedophilia, and the age of consent regarding young, gay men. As a decent human being, I feel sadness and rage at the revelation that Milo was sexually assaulted by a member of the clergy during his youth, and I say this without guile or malice. However, I also feel supreme satisfaction that a man who has delighted in the utter humiliation and discrimination of others has suddenly suffered a blow, albeit minor, to his disgusting platform of assholery.
Yiannopoulos has been the alt-right’s poster boy for “free speech” for well over a decade now, a position that he carved out for himself during the Gamergate Controversy and solidified as an editor for Breitbart and troll on Twitter. He has revelled in his seemingly untouchable status and wielded it like a weapon of provocation and panache. And Conservatives love him for it. He vehemently denies this, referring to himself as a “degenerate, mixed-race Jew” that the alt-right despises, but linger on the Facebook or Twitter feed of many a Libertarian or Conservative Trump supporter and you will find that the opposite is true. Or perhaps they have simply chosen to ignore Yiannopoulos’s race and sexual preferences entirely because they matter little compared to their feverish obsession for what he does that they feel they cannot: spew hatred and defend it as free speech. My suspicion is that while they claim they do not agree with Yiannopoulos’s views but support his right to say what he has to say, they absolutely do agree with his views, feel too wary of a blowback to say so, and support him more for finally giving voice to everything they believe than for having something meaningful to say. He is not their hero because he represents one of the most cherished freedoms of our great nation. He is their hero because by supporting his right to say whatever he wants, they are able to support in secret what he is saying.
It is this humble writer’s opinion that nearly all speech is free, but true “free speech” should, ultimately, advance a cause.
Free speech is a tricky thing. On the surface, it seems simple: no one should be silenced for speaking their mind, regardless of what they say. They have a deep and sacred right to say it, and even though there may be those who do not agree with it, it must be respected. Seems reasonable enough, right? Even if what they have to say criticizes the leaders of our nation. Even if it challenges rules and regulations. Even if it is different, taboo, shocking. Their words have the potential to open up a discussion and exact real change, or at the very least, awareness. It is how people change. It is how nations change. And it is the very reason that our great country reveres this right, and others cannot abide by it. Free speech brings about change, and sometimes there are casualties as a result of that change. There are some that defer to progress and the neverending forward movement of humanity, and accept change with grace. There are those who attempt to hang on to their power, their way of life, with every breath in their body and see free speech as the catalyst to the loss of everything they hold dear, attempting to stem the tide by silencing what they fear. And then there are those who just have an opinion, and demand to be heard — and therefore validated — come what may. Most often, it is these individuals who rage and spit and shout who often have the most ugly things to say because they are not speaking to defend, to enlighten, or to change, but to hurt, and to elevate themselves at the expense of others.
What humanity is experiencing with Yiannopoulos is what happens when free speech descends into unabashed hatred. Take for example these two statements:
Statement 1: I disagree with feminism. When women are strong, intelligent, and capable, they intimidate me because I do not feel as though I can control them, and I feel as though they are not attracted to me. I feel as though this is a threat to my superiority and dominance as a man.
Statement 2: Feminists are stupid ugly cunts who think that they are better than men. They are sluts because they demand birth control (which makes them fat) and they are just mad because no man wants to fuck them.
The first statement addresses a (ridiculous) concern many insecure men have about the changing role of women today. This sort of speech is controversial in many spheres, but it is not directly harmful to women. It merely states how the particular speaker feels about feminism. It opens up the possibility of a dialogue to address the speaker’s own sense of insecurity and inferiority without attacking or insulting the women in question. Do I, as a woman, feel threatened or insulted by the statement? Not at all. In fact, I take it as a compliment that there are men who may find me so strong and intelligent that they would be intimidated by me.
The second statement is repulsive. It serves no function except to tear women down in the cruelest possible way. Not only is completely untrue, but full of expletives and grotesque slurs that are difficult to read, let alone type.
People like Yiannopoulos and his supporters do not see the difference between these two types of speech. They believe that they are merely “telling it like it is” and that if the listener is insulted, they must be a sensitive snowflake who cannot handle blunt talk. It is hard to imagine an open-minded, intelligent woman being insulted at the first statement, seeing rather an opportunity to begin a discussion about how men can change in order to further equality between the sexes. I think I would be hard pressed to find any sane human being not insulted by the second statement.
Unfortunately, the distinction between free speech and hate speech is not one that our Constitution recognizes, emboldening those like Yiannopoulos and his supporters who see political correctness as the scourge of our nation, turning entire generations into sensitive, thoughtful souls ripe for destruction by ISIS because they are too soft to fight. As exemplified by Donald Trump’s election, there are quite a few individuals in this country who have been living in the woodwork that think terrible, vitriolic things about women and minorities in this country. They worship Yiannopoulos — and have done so even through his fall from grace — because he makes it okay for them to think the way they do. They don’t even have to admit that they agree with him! All they have to do is defend his right to free speech as they see it and he can continue to spew hatred and inspire others to do the same, and they finally feel as though their deep, dark, nasty views are vindicated and accepted.
It is not necessarily a victory for Yiannopoulos’s critics that he has lost his book deal, was disinvited to speak at CPAC, or that he was forced to resign from Breitbart. The fact that it took pedophilia to finally cause the right to condemn Yiannopoulos is ghastly. Someone should’ve stepped up and yanked his platform out from under him long ago, when he made raging against women in tech and fat-shaming popular. And I very much doubt that Yiannopoulos will slink off into some hole, allowing his persona to die in shame and obscurity. Based on the number of Twitter users calling for his supporters to stand by him despite all of the pedophilia (which honestly made me throw up in my mouth a little bit because, what?), his particular brand of internet supervillain is still alive and well, if slightly dented. He will find another box to stand on to preach his bile and the assholes of America will support him, and all will continue as it has. As I write this, Breitbart has already labeled the attack on Yiannopoulos to be a well-timed execution from the left.
I am smart enough to know that I will change no minds with my take on the matter. Greater writers than I have already tread these paths with sharper intellect and elegance. But I prefer to speak rather than remain silent, if only to know my voice has not grown hoarse with lack of use. And I am grateful that in expressing myself freely — and without hatred — the only ramification I may face is a meme with John Lithgow’s face and the words “shut up cunt” on my Twitter feed.
