Milo Yiannopoulos is trying to convince colleges that hate speech is cool

CNN ^ | 02 Feb 17 | Dan Lieberman

[Drew68]

Sacramento, California (CNN)It's a recent Friday night in downtown Sacramento, and there's a man in a hotel lobby wearing a fur vest and sunglasses. He has a British accent.

A line of college-age fans stretches out the door.

They're waiting for autographs and selfies. Some are wearing "Make America Great Again" caps.

"Milo I love you! Oh my god, thank you -- I love what you do," says one woman to the man in the fur vest.

"Thank you for what you're doing," says another college student wearing a Donald Trump hat.

The subject of their adulation is not a rock star or a crusading politician but Milo Yiannopoulos, 32, an outspoken editor for the far-right Breitbart News. He's on a flamethrowing tour of college campuses -- including an event Wednesday night at UC Berkeley that was canceled after protests became violent -- and has made it his goal to take on the traditionally left-leaning college establishment.

"I just want to burn it down," Yiannopoulos said in an interview last month with CNN. "I am speaking on college campuses because education ... is really what matters. It's a crucible where these bad ideas are formed. Bad ideas like ... progressive social justice, feminists, Black Lives Matter ... that I think is so cancerous and toxic to free expression."

[Chode]

[tumblindice]

Not clicking CNN. Suppose it’s just CNN trying to convince dummies that violence is a legitimate response to things one doesn’t like.

[Steve_Seattle]

"Can’t help but notice the writer never quite gets around to substantiating the “hate speech” slur."

The article quotes him thusly:

"I just want to burn it down," Yiannopoulos said in an interview last month with CNN. "I am speaking on college campuses because education ... is really what matters.

That's kind of an odd quote; it's like they cut off the first part, making it unclear what he wants to "burn down," but implying that he wants to burn down college campuses.

The quote sounds like something that's being taken out of context, or deliberately edited to create a misleading impression. Based on the second half of the sentence, I would not be surprised if what he wanted to "burn down" was the climate of intolerance on college campuses, or political correctness, not actual buildings.

But even if the latter, is that any worse than wanting to blow up the White House, advocating a military coup, or many of the other things coming from the left?

[Steve_Seattle]

"They quote him as saying that feminism is for the unattractive. And they quote a quip where he said if you hug a Muslim and feel a bulge it’s probably a bomb. That’s about it."

That's no worse - and not even as bad as - a lot of the stuff that the left celebrates when it's said by Samantha Bee, Chelsea Handler, Madonna, Ashley Judd, Bill Mahar, Sarah Silverman, Kathy Griffin, Lena Dunham, or any number of others. But none of them have ever been called out for hate speech.

[Tzimisce]

CNN: an outfit that works in the media of free speech is lecturing us about how that is a dangerous thing that needs to be banned.

Obamaland rolls on. :)

[Yardstick]

He’s obviously using “burn it down” figuratively. He’s saying he wants to defeat the climate of toxic, closed-minded PC liberalism that is currently smothering higher education. That is not even close to hate speech. I don’t see anything in the article that constitutes hate speech.

[cgbg]

Years ago Chris Rock (a black man) had a routine where he said "If you find yourself in any major city on Martin Luther King Avenue, run for your life!"

If a white person said it then it would be racist.

That is the double standard the left has set.

[Steve_Seattle]

I agree that’s he’s probably using the phrase “burning IT down” figuratively, with “it” referring to the culture of intolerance or some similar idea. But I think the quote was DELIBERATELY edited to suggest that he’s talking about burning down actual buildings.

[Steve_Seattle]

"hate speech"

They are ok with hate speech emanating from Madonna, Ashley Judd, Lena Dunham, Kathy Griffin, Sarah Silverman, Chelsea Handler, Samantha Bee, Bill Mahar, Keith Olbermann, Whoopi Goldberg, Louis C.K., Matt Taibi (Rolling Stone), and any left-wing protester. For years, we've seen the signs, the posters, the costumes, the props, the slogans, the obscenities - and they are pretty much NEVER called-out for it by the media.

Remember the national media outcry - the utter SHOCK! - when Rush Limbaugh called Sandra Fluke a "slut"? All of the above have said as bad - and usually much worse, unprintable stuff - about conservatives, conservative women, Republicans, whites, Christians, and white males, and they've said it with impunity.

[TBP]

Even if that’s true, the answer is to:

Hand out fliers.
Picket peacefully.
Walk out.
Stay home.
Use the Q&A period to debate his views.

It is not to riot, destroy things, and shut down his ability to speak.

If you can’t defend the right of speakers to say things you completely disapprove of, then you don’t believe in free speech. Defending speech you like is easy.

[Yardstick]

Yes, I think it was deliberately edited to give, or at least allow, that impression too. It would be interesting to hear his full remark and the question he was responding to.

[exDemMom]

IIRC, Chris Rock also has a video on how not to get killed by the police if you are black. If he were white and did the same kind of video, he’d no doubt get lynched.

[exDemMom]

The left dishes it out, but can’t tolerate even a tiny fraction of the hate and intolerance they show towards conservatives/libertarians every day.

[bray]

Fake CNNews trying to convince America that Fake News is real.

[Bellflower]

I know a teacher at a college who is Conservative and fears for her job because the teachers and staff are rabid leftist. The students are fine with Trump’s bans but the school is doing everything in their power to stir them up into a froth and convince them that they are upset victims.

I wonder, are there not Conservative students who are offended by their constant agitating? I would think that lefties would even begin to wonder about these lefty adults, if they aren’t flakey and and also a little nuts. I really hope that all of this exaggerated frothing will have a reverse action and some of the more level headed students will want to distance themselves from leftism on the whole.